Fair questions, @CDR Design, LLC. The current tiles long a little dingy next to the cabinets (soft white though not recently painted) and Caesarstone Calacatta Nuvo countertop. The backsplash is a mix of grays and white. It's a tiny galley kitchen. The width is what you see in the first pic and goes back about 11' deep. There are about 3 cracked tiles. We've lived here a little over 3 years. When I had the counter and backsplash changed upon moving in, I considered re-doing the floors. However, a they go under the cabinets and appliances, it would have been a much bigger gut job. Wondering if anything will give the floor a lighter look to match the rest of the finishes.

Ah - I have done this in the past and I can truly recommend NOT.

The dirt will "stick" in the cracks between the tiles, they are heckin' slick when wet and the material doesn't have the body to bridge cracks. It will look great until a couple months later when it has deformed to shape of the flooring underneath it and has dirt stuck at the tile borders..

If you want something that will work for a couple of years - any floating floor will do. They are not real expensive and even the vinyl planks can turn out great for a long time.

Also, more rugs.

Thank you, @bmorepanic. So the area where in theory grout would be (but isn't because they are vinyl tiles) gets filled with dust/dirt? What do you mean by floating floors? I know hardwood can be floated over some floors. I actually just bought some LVP medium brown planks to create an area to protect my parquet floors from puppy claws and accidents (pen area when we leave her home). Wonder if I can reuse those down the road- though kitchen floor has lots of cutouts for the cabinets, appliances, radiator, etc.

IMO adding flooring on top of other flooring creates all kinds of issues for instance your appliances all need to have the new flooring under tem and often they don't fit after you stack floor. Especially the DW and often even the fridge.

The glue worms up and out of the new peel & stick tiles as you walk on them. Dirt stick to glue.

The refrigerator and dw are on top of the tiles. They have adjustable legs/rollers so not generally a problem but if your ref is really tight to a top cabinet - maybe.

The planks go right up to the thresholds already in place - with an end piece so the individual planks don't move up and down. Generally speaking, the baseboard is cut off from the bottom to slide planks underneath but it just stops at toe kicks.

@bmorepanic: I think that's more work than I want at this point. I've never tried cleaning the grout on these tiles. Maybe just cleaning and/or lightening them to the cream of the tiles will be enough change for me. I think I'd have a runner regardless as it's nice underfoot.

Can I please see a photo of the entire kitchen? Thanks.

I do recommend cleaning the grout and then putting a sealer on it.

Continually upgrading a kitchen piecemeal, leads to these issues. Take the $ you would have spent on the tile and put it in your kitchen "kitty". Save up for a big renovation.

@CDR Design, LLC
Here’s a pic:

Can't see all of it, but my inclination for such a small kitchen would not be to use dark colors.

I would layer in some cream colors in this kitchen to create a cream and white kitchen.

My first step would be to price having the tile replaced. It is a small room and won't need a lot of tile.

Second step would be to check if an LVT floor could be placed over this floor. I would look at Karndean stone look flooring.

https://www.karndean.com/en/floors/look/stone

If your current tiles wern't cracked I would say clean/recolor the grout. You are not going to change the color of the tile, but can change the color of the grout.

I like your cracked tile, aside from the cracks. It seems friendly with the white cabinets. See if you can get an estimate from a stone floor refinisher. They can probably fill the cracks and do something about the grout. Usually you get cracks from poor installation but if nothing has cracked in a while, you might be in the clear.

The cream & white kitchen CDR describes could be really nice. You're practically there and it is pleasant.

If you want, explain your post: "Wondering if anything will give the floor a lighter look to match the rest of the finishes."

Isn't the floor tile light already I'm missing something.

@CDR Design, LLC, there's really not much more to the kitchen. But here's another pic. And, @everdebz, I guess the color of the tile and grout looks "dingy" to be against the whiter (though not stark white) cabinets. @Jennifer Hogan, our contractor said we'd have to move all the cabinets to properly re-do the tile up under everything. It's a bigger job than we had wanted when we moved in 3+ years ago (I think we would have had to go through or Coop board and Dept of Building, etc, etc). @Fori, I did buy a crack filler but it didn't quite do the job. The runner cover most of them (there are 3 cracked tiles) if they are positioned properly. That's what made me consider coloring the grout- to look less "dirty"

Creamy / gray seems fine. But window could be better if a simple cellular [blackout or not] provides privacy with either up or down pull.

@everdebz, it's a faux roman shade that matches the fabric on my small entry bench (left over fabric. There are blinds behind it. They are never down. We can East light in the mornings so it's nice in there. The few walls I have in the kitchen are BM Hale Navy.

Does navy make for quite a contrast, that you don't 'favor'?

I'd just put down a less busy, light colored runner until you're ready to redo all the cabinets. The tiles look fine with a runner.

@calidesign, maybe that's what I need. Less color on the floor- perhaps I can find something durable with cream/white and a subtle blues (that can be cleaned). I picked the gray since it's on the tiles and figured it would hide stains easier.. @everdebz, I love the blue on the walls.

If you don't want to change the cabinets you don't have to live with the tile.

https://www.houzz.com/discussions/711563/removing-kitchen-tile-floor-without-taking-out-cabinets.

https://homeguides.sfgate.com/replace-kitchen-tiles-removing-cabinets-22670.html

IMO the vinyl tiles need to be a larger scale.

@BeverlyFLADeziner, those samples were just 6x6 samples. The actual tiles are 12x12. They'd each essentially cover a tile that I already have. After thinking about it, I am worried it will look too busy in such a small space (or date it) and they are pretty impossible to remove