Kitchen Rugs

Throw rugs are available in a tremendous range of styles and prices. You can find simple oval styles for less than $30 and high-end Persian rugs that sell for more than $1000. Due to this range, it is important to shop around and conduct price comparisons to make sure you are getting the best deal possible. Often you are paying more for high-quality materials, but they aren’t always durable. This wide range of options means that there is an ideal rug for any space or purpose you can imagine, even your kitchen! Kitchen throw rugs should be easy to clean, durable, and should protect the flooring beneath them from stains, scratches, and average wear and tear. If you’re not completely sold on the idea of a rug in the kitchen, start with a simple mat in front of your sink or bar to see how you like it, then venture into larger rugs or bolder colors for the space as you become more comfortable.

Throw Rugs Suitable for the Kitchen

The biggest hurdle to finding a throw rug for you kitchen is that the material needs to be stain resistant. Even if you don’t have small children in your family, we all drop things and spill drinks from time to time. You need something that can stand up to food, grease, hot oil, and anything else you work with in the kitchen. You also want a material that doesn’t absorb odors easily. This is critical to keeping your home smelling clean and fresh. The kitchen is likely to see lots of traffic from hungry kids, friends, and even pets, so plan on cleaning the rug on a weekly basis.

Several options are available that are machine washable, but they require air drying. You should avoid rugs with rubber or latex backings for several reasons. These materials will melt if you try to wash them in the washing machine, and they can also stain vinyl flooring over time. If you’ve ever seen yellow stains on a laminate floor, it is likely due to repeated contact with a rubber or latex based rug or mat pad.

A jute or cloth-backed rug won’t cause any staining to your floor, but it may be slippery. An inexpensive area rug pad can be used to secure the throw rug in place. Cut the pad to be just an inch smaller than the rug in each dimension so that it is easy to align without showing. It may take two people to get the pad and rug aligned.

Affordable Décor

Do you like to redecorate your living space every couple of years? For those of us with ever-changing styles, kitchen throw rugs offer a much more affordable solution than full carpeting. You can quickly and easily change the color palette of your room, or you may even decide to change the rug with each season. A simple inexpensive woven throw rug can be used for six months and then thrown away and replaced without much hassle or waste.

Cleaning and Maintenance

Be sure to ask about the cleaning and care instructions before you purchase a kitchen throw rug. A machine washable option will make life easier for you, and proper care will lengthen the lifetime of the rug itself. While you will have no trouble finding rugs that can be tossed in the washing machine, it is unlikely that the material will withstand repeated trips through the dryer. Instead, you will need to hang the rug outdoors or in a well-ventilated are for 1-2 days until it is completely dry and can be returned to the kitchen.