If you need a floating floor that is "paintable" then you might as well stick with a new layer of plywood and have fun. Floating floors are FINISHED products. They don't normally take to paint very happily = peeling and flaking = what you are worried about.

Even if you lay new plywood ($1.50/sf) and then paint it (another $1/sf + LOTS of work/materials), it will still cost money and plenty of work. It should give you 5 years of service.

I would personally find a "bad" laminate for $0.79/sf + a bad underlay ($0.30/sf) and use it until it dies. It should give you 5 years of service. At that point you will have saved enough money to renovate the kitchen completely.

As you can see, a cheap laminate will be cheaper than painted plywood and yet give you the same amount of service before it dies.

Good luck. The look you want is not going to come easily.

Overstock has lots and lots of Somer tile with a cement tile and at Home Depot the same company calls their tile Merola Tile.

Cancork floor inc. I'm trying to encapsulate the asbestos tiles that are glued down to a concrete slab. So I was looking at using a moisture barrier and then installing something on top of that that I could paint. My paint shop gives me a pretty significant discount, so I can probably afford that. I know it will take a ton of work, but I figure it's worth it!

Pupu4u & cpartist that looks great! Unfortunately, my budget is very low as I'm renovating the entire house. Aka a LOT more DIY thank you for the suggestions though!

You can paint sheet vinyl flooring. Scuff sand it and use a good "gripper" primer.

That is exactly what I wanted to know, thank you lazy_gardens! I never thought of sanding vinyl. I'll post a pic of how it turns out!