Faux wood tiles won't work with real wood. Either look for a stone look tile or use the hardwood in the kitchen. People have been using hardwood in kitchen for decades, so while major leaks and spills will ruin it small ones usually won't.

Thank you both! If anyone is curious, here are a few photos of the kitchen and the floor transition from the dining room.

It's a super dark kitchen, so my goal is to lighten it up. I'm thinking white countertops and a two tone cabinets with white on top and a mid tone wood on the bottom. We're considering cabinet refacing since the cabinet frames are in good shape, and to save on costs. I added a few photos of the look I like.

I'm new to home renovating and definitely welcome feedback and other ideas. All I know is that these dark red vinyl floors have got to go!

And here's the look I think might work. Our home has a lot of wood, so an all white kitchen would look out of place.

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Samsung Two-Tone Rustic Kitchen · More Info

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Those are all beautiful kitchens.

Regarding the floor, we installed wood floor in the entire house, except the bathrooms. Even in the powder room we have wood floor. The kids were small when we had it done and there was never an issue.

Now that you have lived in the house for two years, you will have figured out if the kitchen foot print is usable. As soon as you start renovating this kitchen, you will be tempted to change things. Little things. Things that have bothered you for 2 years but could do nothing about. Once you do that, you have a new foot print. And then saving the boxes will be irrelevant or impossible (depending on how much of a change you make).

Because change is inevitable, you will want to plan this out CAREFULLY. You will need to figure out your floor plan FIRST. Then you can look into whether or not it makes sense to keep old boxes vs. starting new for a full upgrade.

If a bigger change is going to happen, you should get a certified Kitchen Designer on board. S/he will save you plenty of money with her/his designs and abilities. The KD will put together a package for you, including colour palette, flooring and counter top materials. Which you will direct the KD to order for you OR you can source yourself and then have installed. At which point, the flooring is decided WELL before the kitchen is touched.

As you can see, you have a few more steps to go before you worry about flooring colour. To decide now, before you have a full idea of colour/materials would be putting the cart before the horse.

Floors go in last (and can be chosen last). It is an important thing to work with. As tempted as you are to get rid of the red vinyl, you will be very upset to pay for a floor TWICE (which is often the case if flooring is changed before the kitchen is renovated).

Because you have vinyl that is EVEN with the hardwood (same floor height) I would look at very thin product. It will prevent a large 'lip' from occurring through the doorways. But that's a decision that can come LATER. Right now you want to figure out the kitchen's footprint.

We did a white stained cork glue down tile in our kitchen. They go very well with hardwoods, are soft on the feet and ours are wearing very well. We also have them at the front foyer. I like that they can be refinished like hardwoods.