Extend the hardwood into the kitchen, then sand and refinish for all to match. Timeless beauty.

I happen to like the way the transition looks. Not that one. Lol. But what about doing a little bit of wood stain it as close as possible to match the other wood. And In the middle add a pretty tile. Maybe a pattern tile. Or just a simple black and white tile. What’s your style? What do you love?

Are you asking about the dinette or the kitchen or both? is there another hardwood in adjacent room you want to pull all this out and match? I’d pull the vinyl and lay in (short pile) one of the new poly fiber carpets ( they don’t stain) . But is the project more than just that vinyl area?

Great questions, thank you all! Yes, in my mind the kitchen and the dinette are the same room. The transition in the photograph is the only transition in the house. On the hardwood side, the hardwood extends throughout the entire house. Here, it bumps up against the kitchen/dinette area, which has this vinyl glued onto plywood, which floats a half centimeter above the hardwood, creating a small trip hazard.

Our style is definitely mid century modern with fun bohemian touches. We have a lot of artwork that’s fun and whimsical, and it’s a pretty small house. So while I’m open to a bold flooring choice, I also don’t want it to feel cluttered or busy.

I love our hardwood and really wish it extended into the kitchen! But I’m worried if we got new hardwood installed in the kitchen/dinette area, it wouldn’t match and it would look weird. And I don’t want to pay to refinish the old hardwood, because it’s in good shape and it extends all through the house! That would be a lot of refinishing!

So it seems like the best option would be...something else that’s not this horrible vinyl. Cork titles? A more updated vinyl? Having never had glued-on vinyl before, will I have to replace the subfloor when we pull it up? Should we get something installed on top of the vinyl that’s already there, or will that just further heighten the trip hazard?

I would do a tile. Not necessarily the busiest tile out there. But I’d personally love to see something fun. Even a more neutral checkered option like a camel and a gray tile. So many options

Would this be too busy? https://www.wayfair.com/home-improvement/pdp/self-adhesive-decorative-and-removable-12-x-12-x-03mm-vinyl-tile-w001707270.html

There is something underneath the vinyl+subfloor. Someone has ADDED to this floor. When these houses were built the transition would have been even. But somewhere along the line someone renovated that little bit of flooring. But they got lazy or went to the 'good enough' option.

They plopped down some plywood either A. on top of the original floor OR B. they pulled the old floor and then went with a plywood thickness that was 'not quite' the right height but it was 'good enough'.

My suggestion = pull the plywood with the vinyl and see what type of height you have to play without. And then make some decisions.

Personally I would look more hardwood. Use the same species, width, cut and grade of wood you have throughout the home. You can have it dropped in...perhaps with a pretty transition strip (very common with MC homes) and then have it stained a DIFFERENT colour OR leave it 'natural' with only water based finish. Either way you will have two different colours of floor (pretty little separation of space) AND the same floor.

When you are ready, you can then have all the floors sanded and refinished to the same colour.

It will be possible to match your REAL hardwood flooring. Contact a reputable, experienced wood flooring specialist. They will be able to identify the species of wood, match it, install the new flooring, and stain/refinish your floors. Note...you will probably have to refinish all of your floors so that the new floor and the old appear seamless. It can be done. Be happy that you have REAL wood floors, not engineered, pre-finished ones.

UPDATE: We decided to use Armstrong peel-and-stick vinyl tile until we can save up for a longer term solution. We bumped out the dining area, which is a nice improvement. And we used shoe molding to trim. Thanks for your input!