We had cork floors for 18 years in kitchen, dining room, entry way and bathroom (same material/color). I loved it and it wore well. It was light colored and almost impossible to see dirt/hair on (we have a shedding dog). After awhile there were very slight raised ridges between tiles that probably was due to washing and letting water soak in. These slight ridges were probably only noticeable to me. When we remodeled, we didn't get cork because we felt like we needed a change and we couldn't find the right color of cork for our new cabinets. I would definitely get cork floors again for the areas you are considering. My preference would be for the floating installation. If you or someone decides to remove the floor, this would definitely be easier to take out. I have a friend who just installed a high end glued down cork floor. Can't remember the reason, but she also would get a floating one next time.

love the floor, and I love the use of those accent tiles. we had to do something similar as our house is a series of additions, and most of the floors are not quite the same level. This transition is under cabinets/fridge so we cut the tiles. We "built in" the cabs/fridge so they are actually in the two story addition of the house. This shows the transition from the kitchen into the dining room. The dining room was a porch that got enclosed and converted to living space before we bought the place. At that time it was a den and the kitchen was the dining room (the old kitchen is now a den). Since it was originally a porch, the floor slopes about an inch from the inside wall to the outside wall. So even though we got the floors level, we could not lay tile across because of that slope.

I have heavy counter stools on HW- I use the felt pads on the bottoms of the chairs.I have found the ones that work the best and last the longest have a small tack that pounds into the wood bottom of the chair legs. I have black chairs, so I use the dark pads. These chairs are used daily - alot - and no damage to floor in 9 years of heavy use. On my dining room chairs, I had to remove the small plastic glide before replacing with the ones I described above. I have found that the adhesive felt pads eventually shift and the dog hair sticks to them like crazy.

mtnrdredux - I'd love to see your floors! Love the dark, but they do show every speck of dust, so I might lean towards a medium stain if I ever do these floors again. It's funny, whenever I drop something on my floors and see the new dent I've created, I just shrug my shoulders and tell myself it adds character. A few times we've had to sand and apply more stain and tung oil when I dropped something sharp enough to chip the wood. I couldn't imagine being worried about keeping my floors in pristine condition with how clumsy I am. justgotabme - I'm not sure about trying to age the cabinets. They have a really heavy grain, very different from my pine table, and the natural color tends towards yellow, not brown. What if I end up with a hot mess! I guess then it would at least be easier to convince DH to replace them :) If the uppers weren't arched, I would paint and lightly glaze without a second thought.