In my former life, I worked in a Dream Dinners meal assembly kitchen. Every Tuesday, our big shipment of food would come in, and several us would be in the back kitchen diligently packaging and scooping food into portion bags or cups. It was a lot of food and took a lot of time. One small thing that I learned to appreciate were the big, ugly, black, industrial floormats that we could stand on. By standing on those mats, we were able to relieve a lot of pressure and it made standing for long periods of time more bearable.
In the past few weeks, I’ve realized that you don’t have to be standing for hours on end to appreciate these anti-fatigue mats, and they don’t have to be big and ugly. The latest addition to my kitchen is a 20″ x 36″ Flora GelPro mat in Olive (pictured above.) Let me tell you, that you don’t register how hard hard-wood floors can be until you step off the wood onto this mat. I frequently find myself moving to the GelPro mat even when I’m just drinking a glass of water just because it feels more comfortable to my feet. In a lot of ways, it feels better than my carpet, simply because when I’m standing on the GelPro mat, it feels like layers of cushion underneath my feet – whereas with carpet, I can still tell there’s cement underneath the carpeting.
GelPro floormats are unique because they are the original and only gel-filled anti-fatigue floormats. The mat I have has a gel core that looks to be about 3/4″ of an inch think. I suppose if I was a really good tester, I would cut open the mat and do a full analysis on the gel. However, this mat is awesome, and while I’m sure you all are very cool people, I’m not about to slice this bad boy open for you. GelPro mats come in a variety of shapes, colors, and patterns – with all of them designed in a durable, stain-resistant leather. With 7 different styles, 10 available mat sizes, and 34 colors, there are over 200 combinations you can create to find a mat to match your kitchen’s decor. The picture here is a close-up of my olive colored mat in the Flora pattern.
In addition to providing basic standing comfort, GelPro mats are also ergonomic and may help reduce lower back pain and foot pains. This will certainly come in handy in the next couple of months, with many of us standing on our feet while we cook up a storm in our kitchens. Labors of love don’t have to be labors of feet with GelPro mats.
If you are a gourmet chef (or like to pretend that you’re a gourmet chef) I highly recommend checking out the GelPro floormats. They can be found in the Neiman Marucs catalog and certain styles are also available at Bed, Bath & Beyond. With prices starting at $100 for the standard 20″x36″ size (which is perfect for in front of the sink or stove) this is a great investment that will make your chefs (and your chefs’ feet) very happy.
I’d like to close this review with an “after” picture. This is what Daisy looked like after she stood on the GelPro floormat.
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