Epoxy vs Vinyl Flooring for Commercial Kitchens: Which Is Better?
Vinyl and resin flooring are both commonly considered for commercial kitchens. Vinyl is generally cheaper upfront, looks good and is easy to clean, so it can seem like an attractive option.
The problem we see with vinyl in commercial kitchens isn’t usually the surface itself. It’s what happens when the seams or edges become damaged and water gets underneath.
Commercial kitchens are wet, heavily used environments. Once water gets beneath vinyl flooring, the adhesive can begin to break down and the vinyl can start lifting. What begins as a relatively small repair can progressively become a much larger flooring problem.
This is one of the main reasons we generally prefer seamless resin flooring for demanding commercial kitchens.
Where does vinyl flooring fail in commercial kitchens?
Commercial vinyl is normally installed in sheets, with individual sections joined together.
Those joins create potential weak points in a kitchen that is regularly exposed to water, cleaning, foot traffic, trolleys and equipment.
In our experience, common problems include:
- Tears or damage at seams
- Water getting underneath the vinyl
- Adhesive breaking down after exposure to moisture
- Edges beginning to lift
- Repairs becoming progressively larger as the failure spreads
- Some lower-quality vinyl becoming brittle over time
This doesn’t mean vinyl is a poor flooring product. In the right environment, good-quality commercial vinyl can perform very well.
We simply don’t believe it’s the best choice for many wet, heavily used commercial kitchens.
What advantage does resin flooring have?
One of the biggest advantages is that resin flooring is applied directly to a properly prepared substrate as a continuous system.
There aren’t vinyl sheet joins running across the main floor area.
The flooring can also be installed with integrated coving at the floor-to-wall junction and detailed around drains, penetrations and other areas where water ingress can become a problem.
For a commercial kitchen, removing as many potential weak points as possible can make a significant difference to the long-term performance of the floor.
Is epoxy always the right choice?
No.
“Epoxy flooring” is often used as a general term for resin flooring, but there are several different systems available.
A conventional epoxy system can be suitable for some commercial kitchens.
For more demanding kitchens exposed to hot water, thermal cycling, aggressive cleaning or heavy use, we will often recommend a polyurethane cement (PUC) flooring system instead.
The important thing isn’t choosing epoxy because somebody says epoxy is better than vinyl. It’s selecting the flooring system that suits how the kitchen actually operates.
What about cleaning and hygiene?
Vinyl flooring generally cleans very well, so we don’t consider ease of cleaning alone a strong reason to choose resin over vinyl.
The difference becomes more important when the flooring is damaged.
A properly installed resin floor provides a dense, largely seamless surface without the sheet joins found in vinyl flooring. Coving can also create a continuous transition between the floor and wall.
In wet environments, this reduces the number of joints and edges that need to remain intact to prevent water getting beneath the flooring system.
What about slip resistance?
Commercial kitchens can be exposed to water, grease, oils and food contamination, so slip resistance needs to be considered carefully.
Resin flooring systems can be installed with different surface textures depending on the requirements of the area.
However, more slip resistance isn’t automatically better. Increasing the texture of a floor generally makes it more difficult to clean.
The objective should be to select an appropriate balance between slip resistance, hygiene and cleanability for the particular kitchen.
Is vinyl cheaper than epoxy flooring?
Usually, yes.
Vinyl will generally have a lower upfront cost than a properly prepared and installed commercial resin flooring system.
We wouldn’t recommend resin flooring on the basis that it is the cheapest option.
The consideration is what happens over the life of the floor.
If vinyl is installed in an environment where seams are repeatedly damaged or moisture gets underneath it, what starts as a lower-cost floor can lead to recurring repairs. Once the adhesive and surrounding flooring begin to fail, the affected area can continue to spread.
For a demanding commercial kitchen, paying more initially for a flooring system designed for those conditions can therefore make commercial sense.
What about installation and downtime?
Both vinyl and resin flooring require proper substrate preparation and professional installation.
Resin flooring installation can involve mechanical preparation of the existing concrete, repairs, coving and multiple application stages depending on the system selected.
Different resin systems also have different curing and return-to-service times.
For an operating commercial kitchen, we believe the better approach is to work backwards from the available shutdown period and operating requirements, then select a suitable flooring system and installation programme.
So, should you choose vinyl or resin flooring for a commercial kitchen?
For dry, lighter-duty commercial environments, vinyl can be a perfectly good flooring solution. It is relatively economical, presents well and is easy to clean.
For wet, heavily used commercial kitchens, we generally favour a properly specified resin flooring system.
The main reason isn’t that vinyl is inherently a bad product. It’s that commercial kitchens can be particularly unforgiving environments for seams and adhesive-bonded flooring.
Ultimately, the right choice depends on the kitchen’s operating conditions, including water exposure, cleaning methods, temperatures, traffic, existing substrate and required slip resistance.
Commercial Kitchen Flooring in Perth and Western Australia
Panther Protective Coatings has been installing commercial and industrial resin flooring systems throughout Western Australia since 1999.
We install epoxy and polyurethane cement flooring systems for commercial kitchens, food processing facilities and other demanding environments.
Rather than recommending one flooring product for every kitchen, we assess the operating conditions and substrate before recommending a system suitable for the application.
