I have pine floors in a dining area off of my kitchen and I would like to have similar/matching pine in the kitchen itself. Currently I have 2 layers of sheet vinyl over 1/2" plywood over vinyl tiles (these are probably asbestos), over the original plank floor (~120 years old). I'd rather not build up the floor to minimize transitions,etc. so I'm hoping I could pull up the plywood and top 2 layers of vinyl and face nail the pine over the old vinyl tiles. Will this work? What can I do to level the floor--I haven't checked, but I'm pretty sure I've got a good-sized dip in the middle.

Also, when the previous owner put in the plywood and vinyl, they blocked in the dishwasher. I'd like to fix this by raising the dishwasher and either raising the countertop (planning to replace the counter, too) or raising the cabinets. It seems easier to me to just raise the countertop and fill in any gap created with some molding (cabinets are painted white so are easy to match). Am I missing something?