Kitchen runner rugs bring style, functionality, and safeguards to the heart of your home. They dress up a workspace, help add warmth to cold mornings in the kitchen, and keep spills and crumbs under control. While hardwood floors are beautiful, kitchen runners can help you keep a hardwood or tile floor and still soften the edges of your food prep area.
Spills, Thrills, and Chills: the Practical Benefits of Kitchen Runners
Whether you have a galley kitchen or a wide-open space to cook in, every home’s culinary hotspot needs a kitchen runner to catch all the crumbs that fall from your counter. We all know your pets can’t wait to find the bits of cheese and bread that accidentally slip to the ground when you’re cooking, no matter how hard you try to keep them on the counter. But a kitchen runner can offer style and personality while keeping all the accidents from your furry friends.
Kids and adults alike make messes in the kitchen. While we know not to cry over spilled milk, it can be complicated cleaning it up from your floor. If you have tiles or hardwood floors, the liquid can creep into the cracks of the floor and then become even more difficult to remove. Kitchen runners are easy to clean, easy to replace, and an inexpensive buffer between your little chef and your floor. Speaking of easy cleaning, nothing is easier than tossing your washable kitchen runner into the washing machine for a thorough washing—more on washable runners below.
When you’re looking for kitchen runners, the following sections explain key points to keep in mind:
- Get multiple runners, depending on the size of your kitchen.
- Consider bright runner colors for a more vibrant kitchen.
- Balance great style with helpful functionality.
Don’t Stop at Just One Kitchen Runner
Don’t feel limited by just one kitchen runner in your kitchen. If your space is big enough, your kitchen can host as many kitchen runners as necessary. Consider style and practicality when determining where to unfurl a rug.
Use four different kitchen runners to surround your island, if you’re feeling creative. Your barstools can sit on one kitchen runner, like this Light Gray Native Indoor/Outdoor With Tassels Area Rug.
Meanwhile, you can put another kitchen runner in front of the stove, like this Gray Striated Indoor/Outdoor Area Rug.
The sky is the limit when it comes to the number of runners and mats in your kitchen. Perhaps a small mat in front of the sink might catch the splashes from when you wash dishes or vegetables. Soft runners in front of your refrigerator can stop your melons from being bruised when they roll out from the middle shelf inside.
Think of where all the foot traffic is. Do you want your bags of groceries set down on the floor, or should there be a designated kitchen runner by the pantry for when you bring home food to put away? A fun trash bin with a colorful design deserves a small kitchen runner to frame it so that everyone can see your unique find.
Finding Bright Rug Colors to Make Your Kitchen Vibrant
The kitchen is an activity hub. Everyone travels down there at some point during the day to find food or sustenance, or even for a bit of socializing. Take advantage of this practical fact and make it a room to inspire and engage conversation. Bright, colorful patterns and energetic designs belong on a kitchen runner to match the pace of your household. Fortunately, rugs that hide spaghetti sauce stains can also keep your kitchen looking alive.
Don’t forget washable kitchen runners—these rugs can be pulled as soon as something spills and just thrown in the wash. They require very little effort on your end, but commit to displaying full color and unique character in your kitchen.
Rugs like this Multi Lush Hibiscus Indoor/Outdoor Area Rug are easy to clean, but also won’t make your kitchen stains as obvious until you’re ready to clean them up. The gorgeous petals also decorate your kitchen floors, whether they’re hardwood floors, tile, or linoleum. If you want to keep these rugs from slipping or sliding around while you’re cooking, put a Rugs USA rug pad underneath to keep it in its place.
Don’t Sacrifice Style for Functionality, Including Washability
Just because a rug is durable and stain-resistant doesn’t mean it has to be dull and dreary. Spice up your kitchen floor with a rug the way you spice up your chili and throw down bright colors and vivid designs. If you have white or marble counters, your kitchen space craves more color and variety to keep things lively.
Here is a list of ideas for kitchen runners:
- Geometric runners: If you have a galley kitchen or a narrow area between your sink and your stove, a geometric pattern on a kitchen runner can help widen the space, at least in your mind’s eye. Choose a soft wool to make the experience of cooking in a small space more enjoyable.
- Natural Fiber runners: Jute and seagrass runners help make for a brisk walk to your coffee pot in the morning. Neutral colors and tight weaves, paired with a cotton border, make for a lovely indoor welcoming mat into your kitchen.
- Washable runners: Washable rugs are a no-brainer as kitchen runners. Style, comfort, and convenience all combined into one kitchen rug make sense, especially in high-traffic areas where spills are most likely to happen.
Styles like this Blue Hatched Trellis Indoor/Outdoor Area Rug give a kitchen that lacks natural light brighter colors without being all-white. The bold pattern also offers some texture with the diamonds that are made from a different material than their background.
Other bold designs include this Black Checker Weave Seagrass Area Rug, with a weave that repels liquid and stains. Pets and kids won’t be able to tear this kitchen runner apart for a long time. Meanwhile, you can dress up your kitchen floor with all-natural seagrass. Put some basil plants on the counter above this kitchen runner to help emphasize the natural look (and to flavor your salads!)
Do my kitchen runners have to be small?
While many people think of kitchen runners as small, they don’t have to be a specific size. If you have a small kitchen, your floor space might limit you. But a bigger kitchen can be home to a larger rug if you’re looking to fill up space or warm up a cold area in your home.
Large kitchen rugs are no harder to clean than small kitchen runners. Modern kitchen runners are usually made of material that is easy to clean. But if you and your family have truly messy meal-making times, your best option is an indoor-outdoor rug. These rugs are meant to be liquid-resistant, durable, and stain-resistant. Pets, kids, muddy shoes, and spills are no match for an indoor-outdoor rug. These rugs come in all textures and colors. They can be made from all-natural fibers like jute and wool, or machine-made material.
If you don’t want an indoor-outdoor rug, a machine washable rug is the next best option. That way, when the spills and splashes get out of control, you can simply roll up the rug and put it in the wash. No stain is too much for these kinds of rugs. But even if your rug isn’t machine washable, a stain is easy to remove with gentle detergent and warm water.
Rugs like this Raquel Geometric Washable Area Rug gives your kitchen style and a geometric design, but can be thrown into the wash when someone spills melted butter on the border. Don’t let the dog lick up the soup you dropped. Furthermore, this rug is made from recycled fibers, so you can make your home a little greener.
Run, Don’t Walk, to Kitchen Runners
If you’re looking to spice up your kitchen with texture, color, and fabric, kitchen runners add the necessary flavor. You can find the metaphorical coriander or the cilantro you need for your kitchen floor at Rugs USA, where many different kinds of kitchen runners exist. Check out potential kitchen runners below:
