Commercial Kitchen Flooring
PU Screed vs Epoxy vs Anti-Slip Tiles (2026)

Why a commercial kitchen floor is different

A home kitchen floor gets wet now and then. A restaurant or central kitchen floor is splashed with oil, sauce and boiling water all day, walked on by staff carrying hot pans, scraped by trolleys and hosed down every night. Slips are the obvious risk: the UK Health and Safety Executive's guidance on slips in catering says spills from food or cooking are among the main causes of slips in kitchens, and that most slips happen on wet or dirty floors.

The floor also has to be cleaned quickly and proved clean. Our commercial kitchen setup guide explains why a food-safe room needs washable, non-absorbent finishes, coving where the wall meets the floor and falls to the drains. The floor finish is where those requirements meet the daily abuse, and it is the part that fails first when the wrong system is chosen.

The three options at a glance

PU screed: the heavy-duty choice

Polyurethane cement, usually called PU screed or urethane cement on site, combines a polyurethane resin with cement and aggregate. It is laid thicker than a coating and is the system resin flooring suppliers position for food production and busy kitchens, where hot water, steam cleaning, animal fats and cleaning chemicals would attack a thinner floor. It is seamless, so there are no grout lines to hold grease, and it is usually laid with a textured finish for grip.

• Ask for the product's data sheet and check what it says about hot water, thermal shock and the cleaning chemicals your kitchen uses.
• Ask how thick the system will be laid and how the edges at drains, doors and walls are detailed, because PU screed is usually cut into the slab at the edges rather than feathered out.
• Ask what the slab needs first: PU screed goes on a sound, clean concrete base, and loose or oily old screed must come out.
• There is no ClickBina published rate for PU screed; price it from written quotes that name the product and thickness.

Epoxy: seamless and cheaper, with limits

Epoxy floors are common in shops, clinics and some kitchens because they are seamless, wipe clean and cost less than PU screed. ClickBina's epoxy floor guide lists self-levelling epoxy — primer, epoxy slurry and topcoat with a smooth gloss finish — at RM10–RM18 per sq ft, and names commercial kitchens among its uses. The limits show up in a hard-working kitchen: a smooth gloss epoxy becomes slippery under grease unless an anti-slip aggregate is added, and repeated hot spills and hot washdowns can make a thin epoxy coating lift or crack at the stoves and fryers.

Epoxy is often a sensible choice for the drier parts of a food business — dry stores, packing rooms, front-of-house service areas — with PU screed kept for the cookline and wash-up. Surface preparation decides whether any resin floor lasts; a coating on a damp or greasy slab will peel whatever it cost.

Anti-slip tiles: familiar, repairable, grout-dependent

Tiles are what most Malaysian shoplot kitchens already have. They are familiar to every contractor, easy to source and repairable one tile at a time. Our anti-slip tile guide explains the R rating: R12 is listed as high grip, for commercial kitchens and similar, and R11 as a common choice for wet floors. Ask for the rating on the tile's data sheet, not just the word “anti-slip” on the box.

The weak point is the grout. Ordinary cement grout soaks up oil and water, stains, and washes out under daily hosing, and then water gets under the tiles. In a kitchen, tiles should be laid on a full bed with epoxy or urethane grout; our grout types guide compares the options.

Slip resistance: the texture decides

Whatever the system, grip comes from the surface texture, and it has to survive the cleaning regime. A very rough floor grips well but is hard to clean; a smooth floor is easy to clean but slippery once greasy. Most kitchens settle on a medium texture with a strict cleaning routine. The HSE's catering guidance makes the same point from the other side: stop water getting onto the floor, fix leaks quickly, and clean spills straight away using the right products and equipment.

Falls, drains and coving

No floor finish can make up for a flat slab. The floor needs a fall towards floor drains or a covered drain channel, so water from washdowns runs away instead of standing at the stoves. The edge where the wall meets the floor should be coved, so dirt cannot collect in a right angle. Resin floors can be run up the wall as an integral cove; tiled floors use cove tiles or a coved skirting. Our floor screed guide explains how screed and falls are set before any finish goes down.

• Check falls before the finish is laid: pour water and watch where it goes.
• Detail the joint between the floor finish and every drain, gully and channel; this is where leaks and lifting start.
• Keep equipment on legs or plinths so the floor under it can be cleaned.
• If the kitchen is above another unit, waterproofing under the floor is a separate item; ask for it in writing.

Downtime: how long the kitchen must close

For an operating restaurant, closing the kitchen is often the largest hidden cost. Tiles need the old floor hacked, the bed laid, the tiles set and the grout cured. Resin systems usually go on faster once the base is sound, but they need a dry slab and time to cure before hot work and washing resume. Ask each quote for the number of days the kitchen will be closed and the cure time before light and full use, and plan around your quietest days.

What it costs

These figures are quoted from ClickBina's epoxy floor and anti-slip tile guides (indicative 2026, Klang Valley). PU screed is priced by specialist quote; there is no ClickBina published rate for it.

When comparing quotes, make sure each one states the system or tile, its thickness or rating, the edge and drain details, the preparation of the existing floor and the closure days.

Which one for which kitchen

• High-volume cooking with hot washdowns, frying and steam (central kitchens, busy restaurants, food production): PU screed is the system designed for it.
• Light cooking, cafes, dry stores, pantries and front-of-house: anti-slip epoxy can be enough, and costs less.
• Shoplot kitchens on a tight budget or with short leases: good anti-slip tiles with epoxy or urethane grout, laid on a full bed with proper falls.
• Mixed kitchens: split the floor by zone rather than choosing one system for everything.

Budgeting a full F&B project? Our restaurant fit-out cost guide shows where the floor sits in the wider fit-out.

How ClickBina can help

Commercial kitchen floors are priced per kitchen after the existing floor, falls and drains are checked. WhatsApp us your job details for a quote: the kitchen size, the current floor, what the kitchen cooks and how long it can close. ClickBina is an experienced KL & Selangor contractor for whole-house refurbishment and trade coordination. We reply within the hour, the price we agree is a flat price with no hidden charges, and a site visit is RM150, waived if you go ahead.

Sources & methodology

• ClickBina epoxy floor cost guide — self-levelling epoxy rate and uses.
• ClickBina anti-slip tile guide — R ratings, tile supply-and-lay rates and hacking.
• ClickBina commercial kitchen setup guide — hygiene finishes, coving and floor drainage.
• UK Health and Safety Executive, “Slips and trips” in catering and hospitality — causes of kitchen slips and cleaning.

How we estimated prices: every RM figure on this page is quoted unchanged from the ClickBina guides named above; they are indicative Klang Valley ranges for 2026. PU screed properties vary by product, so check the manufacturer's data sheet for heat, chemical and cure figures.