The Best Anti-Fatigue Kitchen Mat for More Comfortable Cooking

If you spend a lot of time standing at the sink or stove, you need a cushioned kitchen mat. And after all our testing, the best kitchen mat is a commercial-grade model from the brand that first made anti-fatigue mats accessible to home chefs. It’s squishy but still supportive, it stays put on your floor, and it makes your time in the kitchen much more comfortable.

You can use anti-fatigue mats to help alleviate foot, hip, knee, and back pain wherever you spend the most time standing, whether that’s washing dishes at the kitchen sink, chopping carrots at the cutting board, or searing scallops on the stove. Beyond kitchen workspaces, you can put one in your home office as a standing desk mat, at your workbench in the garage, at your folding station in the laundry room, and in your home gym for a little extra cushioning when lifting weights. You can even put one in front of the bathroom sink if you spend a lot of time there getting ready in the mornings.

Below, read more about my top picks, how I tested, what I looked for, and other kitchen floor mats I tried.

GelPro was one of the first brands to bring anti-fatigue mats to home cooks, and over the years the manufacturer has greatly expanded its offerings with design options more closely resembling kitchen rugs than orthopedic accessories. But if comfort and durability are your goals, then go for the professional-grade NewLife mat. Thanks to an “energy-return” foam core, this no-frills anti-fatigue mat has the perfect amount of cushioning if you stand at your sink or stove for extended periods of time. It’s not too firm and not too squishy, and the surface of the mat has nice traction without any kind of pattern or texture to catch food. This mat also earned extra points for staying put. It slid less on my textured kitchen floor than any other mat I tested.

Presumably, because this is a “professional grade” product, the aesthetic options are very limited. At the time of publishing, this mat is available in black, brown, and beige, and it doesn’t come in any patterns.

Primary cushion material: High-density foam
Multiple sizes available: Yes
Multiple color options/patterns: Yes, limited
Nonslip bottom: Yes

This new mat from sustainable insole brand Fulton is the only mat I tested that isn’t made of polyurethane foam. It’s handmade in Portugal from sustainable materials, and like the brand’s arch-support products, the primary material here is cork with a “natural foam” (latex/rubber) layer for additional cushioning. Though it’s available in only two colors, this mat just looks cool, and it offers nice support as long as you’re not looking for something super squishy. Think of it as the kitchen mat for people who wear clogs for comfort instead of sneakers.

The product description claims the edges are beveled, which isn’t quite true, but my only real complaint is that after having this in my high-traffic kitchen for a couple months, the beautiful green “vegan cactus leather” surface layer is starting to lift away from the base in one corner. It’s probably an easy fix, I just haven’t gotten around to it yet.

Primary cushion material: Natural cork
Multiple sizes available: No
Multiple color options/patterns: Yes (2 colors)
Nonslip bottom: Yes

If you’re looking for a supportive, no-frills anti-fatigue mat, this model from Gorilla Grip is a great option. It’s supportive, it stays in place, and the texture on top is so subtle you’ll hardly notice it’s there. Though the name has the word grip in it, the product description is peppered with warnings about the fact that this mat is not anti-slip when wet, but that’s probably more of a concern in a factory than in your kitchen because the surface is no slippier than any other mat I tested.

There’s not much to complain about with this mat, it just isn’t quite as supportive or substantial as the GelPro NewLife mat.

Primary cushion material: High-density foam
Multiple sizes available: Yes
Multiple color options/patterns: Yes
Nonslip bottom: Yes

After researching kitchen mats and narrowing down my selections to the most popular and highly rated options, I lived with each one in my high-traffic kitchen (okay, many at a time) for weeks. I stood on them while I chopped carrots, flipped pancakes, washed dishes, and so much more.

What I looked for

First and foremost, a kitchen mat needs to be comfortable. When I stand on it, especially for long periods of time, I expect to feel relief in my feet, knees, hips, and back.

Nearly every kitchen mat on the market claims to have a slip-resistant bottom, but most still moved around far too easily on my textured kitchen floor. This can cause issues if a mat makes its way into a high-traffic area of the room and becomes a trip hazard. So I looked for mats that stayed put whether I was actively standing on them or not.

Is the mat easy to clean? Is there a texture on the surface that would require more than wiping away messes with a damp cloth? Do the corners stick up and collect dirt and debris underneath?

Is the mat made of quality materials? Does it seem as if it will hold up in a busy residential kitchen?

Kitchen mats are now available in so many pretty patterns, they can sometimes be mistaken for kitchen rugs. So if a high-quality mat isn’t pretty, it at least needs to be simple and not ugly.

Thanks to a dual gel-and-foam base, the GelPro Elite is the squishiest mat I tested that still offered support. The beveled edges are flush with the floor thanks to the weight of the gel and it’s available in a large variety of styles and patterns and multiple sizes. This mat is pricey, though, and I found that even with the nonslip bottom that’s “certified by the National Floor Safety Institute,” it still slid around far too often on my textured kitchen floor.

Primary cushion material: Gel and foam
Multiple sizes available: Yes
Multiple color options/patterns: Yes
Nonslip bottom: Yes

House of Noa is one of those brands that Instagram built. The brand brilliantly took a functional but ugly product (the anti-fatigue mat) and made it beautiful; the Nama standing mat comes in a variety of modern, muted colors and patterns (including variations on Sad Beige if that’s your thing). The Nama mat is soft and supportive and free of PVC, formaldehyde, and latex. Perhaps because it’s made from “less toxic” materials, it’s not quite as squishy and supportive as comparably priced mats, and I found that, despite its “nonslip” bottom, it did move around on my kitchen floor quite a bit—but it’s nothing a little grippy rug tape can’t fix.

Primary cushion material: High-density foam
Multiple sizes available: Yes
Multiple color options/patterns: Yes
Nonslip bottom: Technically

In 2018, GelPro released the Designer Comfort line: supportive plant-based foam mats with a lower price point than original GelPro mats. Though these mats lack the brand’s proprietary gel core, they still make kitchen chores infinitely more comfortable. If you want a supportive foam mat that comes in a variety of sizes and modern patterns—but has a price point closer to one of the random Amazon brands—the Gel Pro Designer Comfort Mat is a good option.

Primary cushion material: High-density foam
Multiple sizes available: Yes
Multiple color options/patterns: Yes
Nonslip bottom: Technically

For a high-density memory foam, this ComfiLife anti-fatigue floor mat is lightweight and supportive, and the barely-there texture on its surface provides a small bit of traction but is too subtle to catch crumbs. Because it’s so lightweight, the corners aren’t quite flush with the floor but the nonslip backing stayed put on my kitchen floor better than most of the other mats I tested. And if you’re worried about an anti-fatigue mat becoming a trip hazard in your home, I highly recommend the Scarlet color. It’s an almost neon orangey red (in a good way) and impossible for anyone to miss.

Primary cushion material: High-density memory foam
Multiple sizes available: Yes
Multiple color options/patterns: Yes
Nonslip bottom: Yes

This kitchen mat from Featol is another good option you can find at a decent price on Amazon. It’s soft and supportive without being too squishy, and the low angle of the beveled edge can help prevent tripping and, overall, makes the mat feel more substantial than comparable options. The small basket-weave texture provides nice traction, however, it’s just pronounced enough to collect and show a little dirt. Despite the name, this mat isn’t significantly thicker than the other mats I tested. Most of the “thick” options are ¾", and this one is a smidge thinner than an inch.

Primary cushion material: Memory foam
Multiple sizes available: Yes
Multiple color options/patterns: Yes
Nonslip bottom: Yes

The Sky Mat from Sky Solutions is a lightweight memory foam mat with a decent amount of cushioning. There’s a very subtle texture on top that creates a nice nonslip surface, but unlike other textured mats, the pattern isn’t so pronounced that I’d worry about food getting stuck in it. As far as affordable Amazon kitchen mats go, this one offers a decent variety of colors and more modern patterns, but even after two weeks in my kitchen, the beveled edges weren’t quite flush with the floor, which could create a trip hazard (and an opportunity for debris to collect under it).

Primary cushion material: Memory foam
Multiple sizes available: Yes
Multiple color options/patterns: Yes
Nonslip bottom: Yes

Kangaroo mats are made by Gorilla Grip and at first glance, this mat is nearly identical to my budget pick, the Gorilla Grip anti-fatigue mat. But the Kangaroo isn’t as squishy as the Gorilla Grip so if you’re deciding between the two, I recommend going Gorilla.

Primary cushion material: High-density foam
Multiple sizes available: Yes
Multiple color options/patterns: Yes
Nonslip bottom: Yes

This is the only kitchen mat I tested that showed up rolled and it didn’t immediately stay flat. However, after a day or so, all four corners made contact with the floor. Overall, this mat is fine. It offers some cushioning, but it’s thin and not particularly supportive. The textured design (which I’d describe as trumpeted-floral-paisley-inspired) feels dated, and if I were going to keep this in my kitchen, I know I’d have to bend over a lot to clean kitchen gunk out of the edges of the design.

Primary cushion material: Polyvinyl Chloride (PVC)
Multiple sizes available: Yes
Multiple color options/patterns: Yes
Nonslip bottom: Yes

Well, it sure is basic. That’s about all I have to say about this Amazon Basics model. The textured surface is predictably basic and looks cheap, the “beveled edges” don’t actually touch the ground (at least not in the corners), and of all the mats I tested, this was one of the thinnest and least supportive. When I stood on it in my bare feet, I could feel contact with the floor. I’m honestly kind of shocked it has such positive customer reviews.

Primary cushion material: Foam
Multiple sizes available: Yes
Multiple color options/patterns: Yes
Nonslip bottom: Supposedly