What is the best wallpaper for the kitchen: make a choice

Gusevsky Andrey Anatolyevich

Solid color pistachio wallpaper

The kitchen is considered to be the most complex and aggressive room in the house. For her, the most difficult thing is to choose a finish, and in this article we will talk about which wallpapers are best for the kitchen and what you need to build on, so as not to redo the repair with an enviable constancy.

Wallpaper and selection criteria

Vinyl wallpaper imitating natural stone

In this article, we will not talk about the colors and texture patterns of the wallpaper, as this is a matter of your personal taste and features of the interior as a whole. It is much more important to dwell on the qualitative characteristics of the material, because it depends on how long they last.

Repair is always expensive, and very often there is a desire to save money, and if, for example, in the living room or bedroom you can still succumb to this temptation, then with regard to the kitchen, it will adversely affect the entire repair. It should be noted right away that many wallpapers initially did not provide for use in rooms with increased aggressive environments, but the problem is that the manufacturer never indicates this nuance on the package, which is why when choosing which wallpapers are best for the kitchen, you should be guided by a number of rules.

So:

• Even the most zealous and neat housewife, in the kitchen pollution is inevitable, and the wallpaper should be as resistant to them as possible. Most modern coatings are equipped with a special coating that prevents dirt from sticking, and you must pay attention to the presence of this layer when choosing.
• Even wallpaper with a protective coating will get dirty sooner or later, which means that they will need to be washed. Therefore, the wallpaper should not only withstand water procedures, but also be resistant to the use of detergents, some of which are not inferior in chemical strength to chemical solvents.
• Kitchen wallpapers must withstand temperature extremes. Despite the fact that almost all modern kitchens are equipped with special hoods, temperature fluctuations are inevitable in this room. Weak stability, in the best case, will lead to the formation of condensation, and in the worst, to peel off from the walls.

Guided by these simple rules, you can easily decide on which wallpaper is better for the kitchen, but it is very easy for a person who rarely encounters repairs to get confused in all the variety of modern materials, so next, we will examine in detail the most popular types of wallpaper.

Important! When sticking with your own hands, carefully read the rules for this type of wallpaper, since the instructions can vary significantly depending on the material and type of coating.

Natural wallpaper

Vinyl non-woven wallpaper

The very concept of natural wallpaper is very generalized and includes a number of very different coatings that distinguish both the materials from which they are made, and the price, which often becomes a decisive criterion for many buyers.

• Non-woven wallpaper (cm. Let's consider what is better: vinyl or non-woven wallpaper) Material made from fine fabric. The very definition of non-woven wallpaper is not entirely accurate, as most often they have a dense vinyl base, which improves the adhesion of wallpaper to the wall surface.
• Cork. Wallpaper made of thin veneer balsa wood. Easily tolerate pollution and washing, but are very expensive.
• Metal wallpaper. Very controversial material, which we will not describe in detail here, since this is a topic for a separate article.
• Wooden wallpaper. A durable and stable coating, which has one significant drawback, namely, the ability to absorb extraneous odors, which are subsequently very difficult to remove.
• Paper wallpaper. The most common once-type of wall covering, characterized by the lowest resistance to both pollution and water.
• Silk. Expensive wallpapers with high quality specifications. Silk is not afraid of water and does not lose its properties over time, but just because of the high cost, this type of wallpaper is the least common among consumers.

All these types of wallpaper, of course, can be used in the kitchen, but all of them are united by a number of drawbacks related to resistance to dirt and washing, therefore, if the question is in the fundamental use of only natural materials, then the question will be much more relevant - it is better to tile or wallpaper on the kitchen. Moreover, the option with ceramic tiles will look much more interesting.

In addition to all of the above coatings, there are also so-called liquid wallpaper, but because of their low resistance to the aggressive environment of the kitchen and the complete rejection of water, we will not even focus on them.

Interesting! Despite the low stability, liquid wallpaper is often used in the decoration of the kitchen, and in order to improve their quality characteristics, a layer of transparent varnish is applied on top of the coating, which completely deprives the wallpaper of vapor permeability, but they can be washed and they do not absorb extraneous odors.

Vinyl wallpapers

Vinyl wallpaper with a pattern perfect for the kitchen

Many people who choose wallpaper are scared away by the word vinyl itself, and even more so, polyvinyl chloride. Indeed, there is something in them that causes associations with harmful and dangerous chemical production.

In fact, this is a common misconception based on unreliable rumors and speculation. There is nothing in vinyl that could affect health, much less harm it.

Moreover, vinyl wallpapers, thanks to production technology, have a number of characteristic qualities that no other type has:

• The presence of a special protective layer, preventing the adhesion of dirt and dust to the surface.
• Full resistance to water and chemical detergents. Such wallpapers can not only be wiped, but also washed thoroughly, without fear for deterioration of the quality of the material (see How to wash washable wallpaper: do it right).
• A huge variety of patterns and texture stampingsthat other wallpapers do not have. Perhaps this is due to manufacturing technology, since plastic is a very malleable material, and gives the widest design possibilities.
• Vinyl does not absorb odors at all, and accordingly does not need additional surface protection from them.
• High resistance to mechanical damage. Such wallpaper is difficult to scratch or tear, which is also very important for the kitchen.

Of course, this material is not perfect, and a significant lack of vinyl wallpaper can be considered a complete lack of vapor permeability. Vinyl not only does not allow moisture to pass under the coating, but also prevents it from escaping, due to which condensate often accumulates under the wallpaper, which gradually turns into mold and a harmful fungus.

To prevent this from happening, be sure to thoroughly prepare the walls before wallpapering. For protection, you can use deep penetration impregnations, or special antiseptic primers that are applied in liquid form to all walls and form a thin, invisible film that will destroy any fungus even at the stage of its origin.

As for gluing vinyl wallpapers, the process is quite simple and even a person who is far from a construction topic can do it, but despite this, before you start working, we strongly recommend that you watch the video in this article, which clearly shows the whole process and its subtleties.Choosing which wallpaper is better for the kitchen, it is most often preferred the vinyl version, since there is little that can argue with it in quality and resistance to aggressive kitchen environments.

Photowall-paper

Wall mural with the image of a night metropolis

Here, we will move a little away from the topic of qualitative characteristics of wallpaper and talk about the aesthetic component.

Wall mural is a drawing applied onto a thick vinyl canvas using large format printing. The material has all the qualities of polyvinyl chloride, and is resistant to water and pollution, but in this case, it is not as important as the appearance itself.

Today, photowall-paper is presented in the widest assortment that can be imagined, and the style of the picture can be selected for any interior, regardless of its orientation. Moreover, if you are so scrupulous in your choice and you were unable to find a suitable option, then you can take absolutely any photo, and experts will transfer it to the canvas, enlarging it to the required size.

Important! Try to buy wall murals from manufacturers, as they can guarantee you the quality of the canvas that will be printed. Finished Chinese wallpapers, of course, are much cheaper, but also significantly inferior in quality and durability.

Another important quality of photo wallpaper is the fact that they are able to radically change the visual perception of the interior. With their help, you can expand the space, and even visually move the ceiling, if necessary.

In a word - photo wallpaper in the kitchen, this is the perfect combination of business with pleasure, which means that they should in no case be ignored when choosing.

And in conclusion

Kitchen and wall mural in the form of a small wall panel

When choosing which wallpaper to the kitchen is better, you need to follow all the rules described in this article. Only in this case, it is possible to achieve not only the most attractive outward repair, but also durable, which is no less important.

Any repair is always a cost, both material and physical, which is why it is advisable that the new finish serve faithfully for as long as possible.