This is super helpful @SJ McCarthy altho of course now the job is more complicated than envisioned, as usual haha.

The room is a small galley kitchen. The ceramic tile is in excellent shape and runs under all cabinets and appliances. 25 years would be ok tho I hope to live to 104 myself. :-) We are installing new cabinets and I would be happy having the cork cover the floor and run a few inches under the toe kicks rather than running all the way under all the cabinets and appliances. That means 25-30 sq ft tops.

Budget tbd and I’m guessing we will probably want professional cork installers to do the work.

Don’t want a huge floor height raise, for sure, since it’s an open kitchen that leads to the entryway and living/dining area of an nyc apt. The idea is to have the kitchen blend with the rest of the floor, which is a parquet I cant seem to match.

Your highly informed thoughts welcome! Thank you!

Remove the tile when you remove the cabinets. Get the subfloor prepped for the cabinets AND the floating floor. Install cabinets WITH CONSIDERATION of the THICKNESS of the cork floating floor (roughly 1/2"). The cabinet installers will simply add the 1/2" to the box/legs of the cabs.

Once the ENTIRE kitchen is finished, you can then install the cork floating floor. Click it together. The EASIEST way to make the floating floor 'water resistant' is to use a Laminate Seam Sealer. Done.

As the floor ages, you can then do the maintenance on the floor at a later date.

Remember: if you glue ANYTHING to those tiles...you RUIN THE TILES. Yep. there's NO USE keeping them.

A laminate flooring installer can handle the cork floating floor. Not a problem. Adding the seam sealer adds $1.50/sf for material + labour for the work.

And if you raise the height of the floor, how do you get your dishwasher out? And will your doors need to be undercut? And so on.

It still seems like getting the glue down type done by an installer very experienced with the “over tile” technique would be the least disruptive...

Technically it is the least disruptive for the TILE...Your use of the kitchen will be quite disturbed. Here's what you have to look forward to:

The tiles will have to be:

1. Cleaned properly with cleaned (deep 'stripping' clean and then the stripping agent neutralized).

2. Sanded/roughed up (gets dusty), vacuumed and then wiped down to remove debris

3. The grout lines filled with cementatious material and allowed to dry

4. Next day, the tiles are once again sanded smooth; vacuumed, wiped down allowed to dry

5. A coat of primer is applied and allowed to 'tack up' (which is coupled to the adhesive required by the cork manufacturer).

6. While waiting for the primer to tack up, the cork tiles are then buttered with the water based contact Cement adhesive. This can be done as early as 24 hours prior to install (the night before is a good time to start)

7. The floor has the glue applied and it is allowed to flash (dry).

8. The tiles are installed onto the floor - including under the dishwasher and refrigerator and stove.

9. Adhesive is allowed to 'cure' for 24 hours.

10. The cork then has the first of 2 coats of polyurethane applied (after 24 hours). The installer will lightly abrade the cork's surface, wipe it down with slightly damp tack cloth, and allow to dry

11. The polyurethane is rolled on using the appropriate low-shed microfibre roller.

12. First coat is allowed to dry (4 - 6 hours...depending on the product).

13. Second coat is then applied same day

14. The floor is allowed do 'cure' for 5-10 days (depending on the product used).

15. Appliances are then put back into place - the floor is now fully functional.

Yep...7 - 10 days of 'waiting' for your floor. No kitchen. No sink, no dishwasher for several days.

The floating floor can be done in a day. That includes tile removal, installation and putting the appliances back into place.

Ah very interesting @SJ McCarthy Thanaks for clarifying!

Sorry to hijack, but I'd love a glue down cork floor in my kitchen. Does anyone know of an experienced installer in the Philadelphia/Mainline area?

Why wouldn’t we get the ceramic removed and then have the glued down cork tiles installed in the visible part of the floor and under the toe kick only? Otherwise with the floating planks my fridge isn’t going to fit under the cabinet that’s on top of it anymore?

@artsfan The tile is sitting (roughly) 3/4" high. By REMOVING the tile you remove 3/4" thickness. By putting the cabs in on the subfloor, they can do a small raise to the counters and cabinets (they ADD a snick of height to the boxes...or the feet) to COMPENSATE for the cork floating floor that is GOING to go underneath the fridge.

The cork floating floor is roughly 1/2". If your fridge fits right now...it is guaranteed to fit using floating flooring. The floating floor will be THINNER than your current ceramic. The distance from CORK FLOOR to the UPPER CAB (above the fridge) is a SET DISTANCE. It won't matter if you have the fridge sitting on the subfloor or on 3" of concrete....the set measurement is a set measurement (example: 76" is 76" no matter how you measure it).

Then they MEASURE the distance between the counter top AND the BOTTOM of the upper cabs. That distance (counter top to upper cabs measurement) is a SET DISTANCE.

Everything is a set distance from the counter tops. So long as the counter tops (or the cab boxes it is sitting on) are RAISED the appropriate height to MATCH the height of the cork flooring, you won't have ANY problems with fridge + cabinets.

@SJ McCarthy so right now the “whole” (tiny) kitchen has ceramic tile that goes under the appliances and cabinets. So you are saying the floating floor is 1/4” thinner than the ceramic and therefore we are fine? Appreciate your explanations and patience!

Yep. That's what I'm saying. Worst case scenario they are the same thickness.