catmom and hellonasty, thanks so much for your kind words! As a matter of fact, so far I do love it. I've been working w/an interior designer this time around, because we need all new furniture and I HATE shopping for furniture. And since all color choices work together, they've chimed in on wall colors, cab paint choices, etc. I wouldn't budge on my granite, though. The designer, not familiar w/River White, was pushing for something more "common," like Santa Cecilia or something. I knew River White would be amazing w/the deep brown of my cabinetry ... but then she pushed for a different color in the Marazzi Catwalk style glass mosaic. The Pecan Pump is gorgeous, no doubt, but she just wasn't getting the point that my granite was not going to have ANY yellow/gold in it at all. And that's the direction the Pecan Pump leans. I was already using Sable Slipper for that focal wall in master bath, so I had it in hand and when I held it up to my granite, there was no question - the colors were wonderful, pulling out the best shades in each other. Happily, once she saw the granite IRL she couldn't help but agree. catmom, the candy cane red cabinets happened on a whim: closet that would go unused, my cabinetmaker and I started spitballing ideas about wall-mounted gift-wrap holders, and pretty soon I had perimeter cabs in a decently-sized closet. Well, in that situation you HAVE to go a little outside your comfort zone, right? ... and w/absolute black granite Somehow, this kitchen is coming so much closer to the "ideal" picture I've been carrying in my mind for years, even though the last one was beautiful and very much representative of my taste at that moment. But I'll always believe the one factor that threw off that whole kitchen for me was the backsplash. It was very current, but just not "me" at ALL. This time, the backsplash is all me.

I agree about biting the bullet and extending the hardwood into the kitchen. I did that when we remodeled and now we have seamless hardwood in the whole downstairs that matches perfectly. I LOVE my wood floor. I am going to remodel the kitchen I inherited in Florida and although I have carpet in the rest of the apartment, I'm putting hardwood in the kitchen. It's warm, things don't break when they drop, and it is beautiful. By the way, the cost is no more than putting down a tile floor.

Engineered is hardwood applied to a good quality plywood. I liive on Cape and engineered is the only way for you to go (in the wood family). I copied this from the Spruce blog; Engineered wood is better than solid hardwood at dealing with moisture. Its plywood base is dimensionally stable, meaning that it warps and flexes less easily upon contact with moisture than solid wood. Fibers in plywood run in cross-wise layers, a far more stable structure than solid wood's parallel fibers. We owned an 1820 half Cape. It came with original wide plank pine floors which were in tough shape. My builder flipped them over and had them refinished. Gorgeous! Next house, same neighborhood, 200 yds from the water. This house was new build and I chose Homerwood engineered hickory in Saddle (refinished, no mess, and no guessing about the color). Gorgeous! 100 yr old cottage sounds so old to someone young, but 1919 is pretty flexible for design, unless you are talking about a distinct/authetic design vintage home. Choose what you like, but that close to the water…go engineered. It won’t cup and you can wet (wrung out) mop it when needed. Use Bona. Our present home, not Historic and came with a pool, I used wood look white porcelain. Gorgeous. Love Newport..my daughter is Navy…Thames for food and shopping, yeah!

@Amir Ali - I just wanted to post a comment in order to: 1. Let you know that I completely understand what you are going through right now. I have TWO FAILING slate floors that are part of current bathroom renovations. The master bathroom floor had not been grouted due to delays on his part. I discovered that some of the tiles were COMPLETELY LOOSE - and some sounded like they were only partially bonded to the floor. This floor is failing - and it has BARELY been walked on because the bathroom renovation basically stopped due to issues - bathroom isn’t usable so the only use has been when I’ve gone in there to take photos or measure something = maybe some tiles had been walked on four or five times before I started discovering the loose tiles. It is obvious that the tiles failed to bond to the floor - the mortar must have skinned over or something. I am NOT reinstalling the loose tiles. IMPORTANT - my former contractor does not fit the definition of what people here on Houzz love to refer to as a “hack” (at least not the actual business that I hired to do the work) - however, his employee clearly did not know what he was doing (or just didn’t care) - and that makes the owner of the business liable for this work. The business has hundreds of Google ratings (4.9/5), owner is a member of TCNA, I had several reviews from people I know (and trust), and I DID NOT JUST TAKE THE LOWEST BID - I am NOT a CHEAPSKATE. I am so tired of people AUTOMATICALLY blaming the homeowner when they have ZERO basis to do so. Making assumptions and basically telling homeowners that they are IDIOTS and CHEAP really makes me upset. Okay, I’m finished with my rant! 😂 The ”fix” is this: The ENTIRE floor is being torn apart. Not only is the tile being removed, the cbu will be taken out. New contractor assumes that he will also find that former contractor failed to add the required second layer of plywood in order to make sure that the substrate was prepared correctly in order to have a natural stone floor installed. Based upon the above issues, I investigated the slate floor that was installed in one of the other bathrooms back in April. I noticed a few grout issues - and as I went around knocking on each tile, the sound on many tiles indicates tiles that are only partially bonded. This is what the floor looks like from a standing position: And this is what it looks like when I realized that I needed to inspect it after the failure in other bathroom: I have cracks and broken spots of grout in many places. I also have some grout which is stuck on my tile because the contractor failed to seal the tile (as required) prior to grouting (I found this out later - I was in the hospital while this floor was being installed) and made promises over and over to come remedy the issue. So, this floor will also be ”fixed” in the same manner as the first one - I’m just waiting to have it ripped out until after the other bathroom is completely finished. 2. I also wanted to let you know that regardless of whether (i) you have a written contract, and (ii) that contracts specifically provides (or fails to provide) a five year (or however long) warranty period, you still have recourse against the contractor who installed your tile. Most states (probably all but I haven’t done research on this issue in every state) have enacted statutes that protect homeowners for this type of issue. In my jurisdiction, there are specific statutes that relate to home renovation projects - these statues require (among other things) that all work must be done in a good and workmanlike manner. Following industry standards, as well as manufacturer’s specifications, are part of this requirement. Also, the consumer protection act in my state also protects homeowners against contractors who perform shoddy work. I am 99% positive that your state will have some similar statutes. If you want to share your jurisdiction, I am happy to take a quick look in order to point you in the right direction. MANY jurisdictions require the homeowner to provide the contractor with notice and a right of remediation. Unless you follow the requirements of your particular statutes, you won’t be able to bring an action against your contractor to recover damages. FYI - my former contractor has chosen to ignore the notice I provided, so I then was free to hire another contractor to do the remediation work. My former contractor will owe me the money I have to spend to correct his failure to properly install my tile (which will greatly exceed what I paid him - removing tile + cbu + buying new material (including nice slate tile - because I didn’t purchase cheap slate tile for the the project initially). I am sorry that you’re going through this because it is NOT fun. I decided to consider myself “lucky” because he hadn’t yet installed this tile on my laundry floor! Hopefully, you won’t have water damage that will require even more remedial work in order to fix it.