Permanant floors like wood and tile go down first with cabinets on top. Temporary floating floors like vinyl that are only there for a few years go in after, with the required expansion gaps at the walls and cabinets covered with shoe molding.

Thank you. That's helpful to know about the expansion gap.

This product has a 30 year warranty. Do you consider that to be temporary?

I'm not sure how long this product has been on the market. I'd be curious if anyone has had this 10-15 years and how it's holding up.

I think it’s also an issue of the weight of cabinets on the floating floor causing certain rows of floor to pop up.

I agree with the Pro, cabinets should go in first, then floating laminate floor. Laminate would last 5-10 years, cabinets would last 15+ years. If the home gets a new owner, they will most likely change the flooring before the cabinets (or at the same time).

So now I'm reconsidering what type of floor to put in. We just bought the house and it needs new everything except the roof has another 15-20 years. Not sure I want to have to replace the roof and floor at the same time when hubby and I are 80 years old...

Here's the problem -- the material has only been on the market for three decades, so it has to overcome what people remember of vinyl sheet or Pergo or Armstrong laminates. And reputations and diffusion of real knowledge takes a long time. Hell, people still think the world is flat.

I'm not sure how many other commenters have actually put in this flooring. I did a year ago, replacing 20+ years of heavy dog/kid traffic in our kitchen on Pergo. From the get-go, the Pergo saw water bowls overturned, muddy/wet shoes, and a few Barbie pool parties in the middle of our most-loved room. The joints and edges would pucker and swell, eventually catch a shoe or sock and chip/peel away a bit at a time.

Last year, I put mine in under my cabinets. The kitchen was a full remodel -- did all the work myself with the exception of a talented cabinet person who has had no issues putting cabinets atop wall-to-wall luxury vinyl tile. The arguments about weight have thus far proven invalid. I've had no issues, but I did install this over a proper subfloor, with the high-end underlayment, and connected/seated the LVT planks properly. Wow - is LVT's waterproofing nice. Also, this stuff is robust with our two large dogs and active teens. It still looks brand new. Smartcore Pro. You get what you pay for.

I worked at Lowes for 7 years, the only complaints we had about the product was planks would separate from each other. And every time, after enough questions, we'd learn someone went cheap on the process, skipping correcting issues with their subfloor or not putting underlayment down or not even seating the planks together.

If weight was a concern about 'anchoring' the flooring down, would we be able to use this in any room in the house? Refrigerators weigh a bit, as do washers, dryers, much of our furniture, bookcases, beds, couches, pianos, kid's loft --- look around your home. Are you going to only run flooring up to the edge of anything heavy, including where large Uncle Frank is sitting? Give the material some thermal expansion room at the walls, cover the gap with base and quarter-round and don't have too long of a run of planks.

Any flooring will look like crap in a few months or years if installed badly. Any. All have drawbacks. Aside from solid hardwood, I don't think I'll use any other kind of material in the future. I'm installing some in a bedroom later this month.

I don't see a situation where you will be changing out the flooring before the cabinets. And frankly, better designs have a lifespan of decades, not 10-15 years. Will this stuff hold up decades? Maybe. I'll get back to you. Hardwoods and tile can, and can have their own issues. Make sure your crawlspace is dry, sealed, and not contributing to moisture and mold. That will help keep hardwood and tile floors from buckling (swelling) or cracking. It'll do the same for LVT.

It doesn't matter as long as the bottom of the cabinets are shimmed to the height of the finished floor. Never tile in a dishwasher.

Def not supposed to put cabs over floating LVP per manufacturers instructions.