It's not difficult to saw out flooring at the toekick if it needs to be removed. And any water event that damages flooring will certainly damage the subfloor, or the plywood that the cabinets should be sitting on. Standard counter heights and cabinet alignment heights in kitchen design are all designed to begin at 0 as the finished floor height. Depending on the design, this can be an issue with tall cabinetry not being tall enough for the ceiling and needing to add a horizontal filler for the molding planned for it and the other cabinets. It all starts at the finished floor level. Appliances like DW's need the full 34.5 height or you may be restricted to only models that can adjust to much shorter heights. Slide in ranges are especially problematical because they aren't very adjustable and depend on the cabinets being the standard 34.5 above the finished floor. That's why plywood has to go under the cabinets and you have to know the thickness of the flooring being used during the design phase. Any other issues with doing the cabinets first mostly amount to the amount of damage that the flooring guys can inflict on the cabinets. Which can be considerable if a sander gets away from them. It's much easier to repair a hole in the drywall than it is one in the side of a cabinet. That has to actually be replaced.

If you're doing floor installation yourself and you're laying unfinished wood or tiles, there's a lot less cutting and piecing and it's faster if you can just lay and lay and lay without interference. And you can topfinish the room cleanly all the way to the walls, again without touchy little areas that need awkward kneeling and close vision and special attention. Also, you can more easily reconfigure the kitchen later--remove a portion of cabs and there's still an intact floor there. Hint from the sadder but wiser: If you're doing red oak and if you're sorting pieces beforehand so that you can isolate or omit the odd colored and wild grain ones and feature the calm ones in the major areas [I yanked out what I termed "clown" pieces to use up in the closet and under the cabs] be sure you have measured off the projected cab positions ten times over before you start. DH made a measuring error--didn't read the cab layout properly and figure how it related to the blueprint. I have three courses of clowns right in a prominent place and, naturally, some of the nicest boards are under the peninsula. It wasn't until the cabs were installed that I realized how my strategy had backfired. New Gel Mat covers it.

Ours were also like Pooh's. Install, sanded, stained, and two top coats. Then cabs went in the kitchen and DR. (We installed new unfinished wood floors in entry, FR, LR, DR, mudroom, and kitchen as part of a whole house reno.) Very last item before we moved in was the last top coat. I did cover the floors with Ram board (like thin cardboard on a roll, but water resistant) after the two top coats. The inspector, carpenters installing a house full of trim and doors, electrician, cab maker, wood floor company, painting company doing trim and doors,and plumber were all impressed with the board. All those guys and tools tromping in and out over months did zero damage to the floors.

Dishwasher and stove you could use felt bottoms under the feet. Fridge is a concern. Perhaps these would help. http://www.globalindustrial.com/p/material-handling/hand-trucks-dollies/dollies-machinery-furniture-slides/ez-moves-4-foot-pull-slides-48-l-x-5-w-set-of-2