where to put electric mat radiant heat in kitchen

PaysToResearch

I have been told that it doesn't pay to put electric mat radiant heat everywhere it's open in my soon-to-be tiled kitchen/powder room/laundry floor. The plumber and tile installers would like to just lay mats in the kitchen area at the sink/stove/frig along with the area under my kitchen table. That's about 120 sq ft total at my estimation.



Doing the entire kitchen floor's uncabineted areas (210 sq ft) along with the tiny powder room's rug area (12 sq ft), small laundry room standing area (18 sq ft) and hallway (30 sq ft) from the kitchen to powder & laundry rooms gets me to about 270 sq ft. Both the powder room and laundry room sit on an outside wall. The hallway is sandwiched between those rooms, my kitchen back door and the door to my garage.



Understanding the cost of the mats will double plus installation charges, does it make sense to only heat part of the kitchen? What if we shift the kitchen table to another area? Or use the island's eat-in bar area in the future? It would be nice to have my back door floor warmed for wet boots & snow gear each winter. I don't foresee any kitchen cabinet redesign in the future so I'm only talking available open space as well as where benches, tables, chairs sit at the moment.



Should we install more than 1 thermostat if I did all the areas I'm considering?



Our family spends a lot of time in our kitchen & I am a stay-at-home mom.



Any insight, pros or cons would be greatly appreciated.

Larry (from OSHA)

where will your feet be?

I would suggest that you do it right the first time since you won't do it a second time and won't be happy if your feet are not where the warmth is.  You should consider covering as much floor area as possible because where ever the heat wires are not - you won't have warm floor.  The heat does NOT spread past the area of the wires.  At best an inch  or two but that's it.  We have electric radiant in both bathrooms and it is very apparent where it starts and stops.  As far as having two thermostats, I would only do one.  Since you are already thinking about where it would be nice to have warm floors, like the back door area, etc. my suggestion is to go with the most coverage and you will not be sorry.

Good luck and enjoy you remodeled spaces.



Larry

benelavon

Away from gas stove.

As we know while cooking we are close to gas stove hence we not feel that much cold but the are away from gas stove is the real area to focus especially the floor of kitchen.



















http://www.thertastore.com

Gordy

Couple of questions

Will this be your only heat source for the areas in question? Or is this just for floor warming?





If the later then you must think about the pathways , and working areas in your kitchen. How much the hallway is traveled. You usually do not stay in a hall long enough to be uncomfortable.





If it is the actual heat source then you will have to make sure there is enough square feet of matting to off set the heat loss in the areas in question.

Zman

Use

I agree with Gordy. What is the primary heat? In most areas electricity is not an affordable way to heat a space.

If it is a supplemental heat source, I would do the areas where you walk. I would also consider a slab sensor and a timer. The goal in this case is to make the floor feel warm during certain times of the day

If you intend to heat the house, you really need to do a heat loss calculation on the room and size your heat accordingly.

Carl.