Thanks for your answers! glennsfc, Sorry I don't know the technical word for that. But with the word "peeling" ceramic, I meant the top coat of the ceramic tile is peeling off in a few spots on the tiles. There're not a lot of those but I just know they're there... I read on this blog that a lady installed vinyl tile on top of the existing ceramic tiles. I wonder if anyone has that experience? The ceramic tiles I have right now is not in extremely bad condition, just a few "peeling" spots, very light color and stained yucky stained grout. http://www.sasinteriors.net/2012/10/installing-groutable-vinyl-tile-lowes/ So I wonder if there's anyway to work this out... with a baby in the house, I don't really want to make a big mess. Plus I don't have a lot of time to do that... :( .

Of course it can be done.

It will NOT look stupid. There are vinyl plank floors that imitate the real thing so well, that you have to get down on your hands and knees to discover it's not the real thing. You want to use a cementious skim coat floor filler to make for a smooth and flush substrate. Most of these have the binder incorporated in the powdered formulation, so there is no need to add a binder or a primer with any of those. But...read the product labels to know what you're buying and what performance you can expect. Of course, if the fillers available to you suggest adding a liquid binder or using a primer, then do that. A trowellable skim coat floor filler is done with a smooth edge trowel in several passes. After the first coat is set enough to walk on, it should be ready for another coat. Remember, a smooth and flush result is what you want to achieve. After the floor is absolutely smooth, then install your vinyl plank using the recommended adhesive.

I'm sure most tiles will pop up easy but grinding off the old thin-set residue can be a chore of a job. I would think the choice to do this work will depend on how much noise and dust you can stand and how strong you are. Often saving tile is more work than replacing it. Do the work to reduce land fill waste - be green. Don't do the work to save time and money....