apartment therapy changing the world, one room at a time

Oh yuck!

Looks like vintage linoleum.

second that, those are totally heinous. I'd almost rather have the commercial kitchen mats, those the anti slip, anti fatigue mats with the circle holes..

ick - I agree with K T G! If that's what it takes to be comfortable working in the kitchen, I'd just buy take-out at Grand Central Market and use the time I'd have spent standing on my puky mat sitting down with a stiff G&T..!

My grandma called, she wants her mat back.

Yuck...I'd never want to see that in someone's home. Maybe if you got one and kept a regular rug over it though...I don't know...

These are for cashiers in grocery stores and dishwashers in your restaurants and cafeterias. In fact, when I made my initial comment, I was probably subconsciously referencing the gig I had in college washing dishes in the cafeteria. This is a mat meant to be hosed down at the end of a shift, not something for the home (unless you live in some excessively large blended step-family with an appropriately hose-downable kitchen). I think sometimes industrial design makes people wistful of something so "BASIC" that they can't conjure up the people whose work is done with and upon them. It's just gross. Please don't let your friend decide their living situation is adequately distanced from working folks to think this is quaint. It's really just gross, and I wouldn't say so if I really didn't think it was.

I share everyone's distaste for these, but sympathize with the goal. Brocade Home (www.brocadehome.com) makes a cool rubber runner with graphic floral cutouts that might work just as well for cushioning without the yuck-factor. The site is down right now or I'd link directly to the product.

How nice for all of you that you are young, healthy, and not in any way disabled or suffering from any kind of feet/legs problems. Bully for you! Savor it while you can, because one day, your feet or knees might hurt when you stand at the sink washing dishes, or at the stove cooking. Maybe then you won't be so snide.

It's easy to be able-ist and age-ist when you're neither. I suggest a little compassion.

I think they could look kind of cool in the right industrial space, actually. There are some interesting color combos going on.

Found the brocade home rug referred to, laser cut floral design, on another site, and unfortunately it is wool felt, NOT rubber. They do not make it in rubber or vinyl, best I can find. Felt would be very impractical in a kitchen.

For e more appealing design try the diamond-plate (or deck-plate) from this site: http://matsetc.com/479cushiontrax.htmlthis site:

Sorry - link didn't work try this one:
http://matsetc.com/479cushiontrax.html

the advertisement section in the back of my Fine Cooking magazines has adverts for much better looking anti-fatigue mats - but I'm at work and don't happen to have one of said magazine in front of me. Anyone else happen to have one close at hand to give a supplier.

Those shown above are not the best looking, IMO. There are better options...

I for one think this is actually both very useful and attractive. I'd love to have the blue mat for my kitchen, but then I'd love to have matching blue real linoleum instead of the nasty old vinyl flooring we do have, but replacing all the kitchen flooring is not in the budget right now. Our house is built on a concrete slab, so under the vinyl is concrete.

I think that a smooth resilient mat would be infinitely preferable to the setup we have now, a plain, black rubber anti-fatigue mat in front of the sink, covered with a thin, striped, regular rug. (Since our house has no dishwasher and no place to put one, we wash dishes by hand, so stand at the sink fairly regularly) I need to wash the "sink rug" at least twice a week 'cos it gets grubby, and a smooth mat could be sponged off when the floor gets mopped.

Thanks for posting this link, I, for one, will be saving my pennies for a new sink mat.

The ones in Fine Cooking are probably the ones from www.gelpro.com - they are very nice, but not too budget conscious - they start at ~$100 shipping for a 20"X36" mat.

http://www.officedepot.com/a/products/738071/Office-Depot-Brand-Ergo-Bubble-Mat/

we have this one at work. its so cute! feels cool to stand on kind of like rubber bubble wrap.

Shoot, sorry, I must have mis-remembered the brocade rugs. How about these made from recycled flip-flops? http://www.re-modern.com/product/FF-MAT.html

i got a gray, ribbed, industrial rubber mat about 1/2" thick & ~ 6'Lx2.5'W @ lowe's for about ... $6. it was on sale. is it the best looking thing i've ever seen? probably not. but i have a marbled tile floor in my kitchen & the mat fits perfectly in front of the sink/dishwasher area. a lot more comfy than standing on tile.

and rock ON, Jezebella! sometimes the newly adult yuppie crowd can be so ... pedestrian, don't you think?

i have these at work and can not imagine bringing them into my home. they are hideous. "marble top"? no, no, no....

simma down now!

I hope you're not pegging me as a newly adult yuppie crowd person, lois. As far as pedestrian, again, what is that supposed to mean? There's a sort of term when you go all orthopedic over style. I'm up for the attractive alternatives but not so much of this "let's raid the factory look." It's horrifying and I'm sorry you can't stand in your kitchen unless you buy something ugly to put underfoot for the pain, something I have experienced at home and in the workplace. But again, I think part of the problem is the presumptions you make.

for the passive aggressive jezebella...

there are certainly better solutions for people with issues solvable by fatigue mats than these. In fact a .01 second google search will turn up more attractive options than this.

I have these in the workspace that I supervise, a university theatre costume shop. I spend long days on my feet, sometimes up to 15 hours when we are in crunchtime for an upcoming production. They are a lifesaver. My students really appreciate them, too. Not all anti-fatigue mats are the same. In terms of quality and how much they help to reduce the knee and back pain that comes with my line of creative work (and I'm only 29, so please don't bother with age-ist assumptions), I think that these are some of the best ones out there.

And regarding their appearance... it had never occurred to me that I could put some of these in my own home, but I don't see why not. It's all a matter of making them work with the setting. Isn't that what much of AT is about? I'd like to propose a new challenge: creative use of ugly industrial anti-fatigue mats in the home. Bring it on!

I'm a bit shocked at the disgust expressed in some of these posts, as though putting something in one's home that is often used in settings associated with manual labor is somehow "gross." The word elitist comes to mind, but I don't want to be accused of being "passive-aggressive." The mats in my costume shop are not gross. Sometimes they get dusty, but no more dusty than the rest of the floor.

I found a site that has a different and I think better option for mats like this for your home. This site offers similar mats with wood grain patterns and solid colors. MatsETC.com

I've ordered from this company and they are very helpful and friendly.