I am planning to have a curved transition between my hardwood flooring and Marmoleum I will install in my kitchen remodel. I have found bendable vinyl transition molding online called TrimSolution. Has anyone used this product or come up with another solution? Here's a link if interested. http://www.installerstore.com/catalog/Wood-Grain-SnapDown-Snap-in-T-Molding-1-3-8-in-W-x-1-2-in-H-p-2088.html

...Continuing... Layout #2 The island holds the only sink in the kitchen. As such, it has to be big enough to accommodate both dirty dishes and prepping at the same time. (Unfortunately, I think there will still be competition b/w prep space and dirty dish space, but at least there's room to help with it.) The sink has two bowls. This will help by allowing you to dedicate one to prepping and the other to dirty dishes and cleaning up. However, you will still only have one faucet - so you'll have to share it! The sink acts as the separator b/w the Cleanup Zone and the Prep Zone. But, that means you will both want the sink when cleaning up (rinsing, DW loading, etc.) is going on at the same time as prepping & cooking. "...Usually only one person is cooking at a time, but someone else tends to be loading or unloading the dishwasher..." I understand about prepping/cooking and cleaning up at the same time - that's how it is our home! In our old kitchen, we always competed for the sink - even with its two bowls. One of the goals when we remodeled was to eliminate that competition. Note the location of the DW, this location keeps it out of the Cooking Zone...in particular, it's far from the cooktop so you don't have the danger of someone taking a step back from the cooktop with a pot of boiling water and stumbling over an open DW door. I was able to keep the Prep & Cooking Zones on the same side of the kitchen as the refrigerator to help reduce zone-crossing not only to/from the refrigerator but also to/from the two zones themselves. Like the first layout, there's a 36" Dish Hutch. It's still close to the DW for unloading. In this layout, the Dish Hutch is much closer to the BN for setting the table - but it is farther from the DR and this time people will probably cross into the kitchen if they're setting the DR table b/c it's closer than going around the island. The refrigerator is still on the periphery. While it's closer to the DR, it's farther from the BN - but it's still outside the Prep & Cooking Zones and should be easy to get to without crossing into the kitchen. The island is a slight barrier b/w the refrigerator and Prep Zone, but it's not too bad. I think it's doable. The ovens are in the corner - recessed to the back wall. Check out Alku05's kitchen and others in the thread I linked to below for pictures of corner ovens. Like Layout #1, the counter in the cooktop perimeter run is 28.5" deep - 3" deeper than standard. While the workspaces in the Prep Zone and around the cooktop aren't as generous as in Layout #1, they is still plenty of space in both cases. The pantry is a bit smaller, but it's still 5' wide. The island is deep enough that someone sitting at the island will not be splashed when the sink is in use (something that is usually more of an issue when cleaning up than it is during prepping.) One comment I would like to make about the Cleanup Zone...

aokat15, I saw your reference on my "boxed in columns" post. Thanks for referring me here. We're definitely on the same track. I really liked the examples that you and the other posters put up. I think we're leaning toward the idea shanghaimom posted with the columns and the arch except DH and I were thinking to panel 3 sides and install shelves on the inside. In my situation, the family room side is a walkway, so we'll have plenty of space for an overhanging bar with a few stools. I definitely need a place for my cookbooks that is easily accessible, yet doesn't take up valuable space in the main kitchen storage area and this seemed like the best solution. In the picture below, we already have the basic structure.

I think you could do tile and wood and have them transition nicely from one to the other. Here's some picts I found of transitions. The first one shows a nice way to transition tile from room to room by running in different directions: If you want to do it all tile, you can definitely find a tile designer to help you. Tiles don't have to be square, they can be brick, random, etc. And they can design the rooms to fit together nicely. If you really want tile in your kitchen, I'd start at the tile store and let them help you. I understand your concern. If you went to my relative's house, you'd wonder what they were thinking with their flooring. They have an open floor plan with 6'x 5' slate entryway, berber in the cove on the left, cherry in the dining area on the right, fancy embossed carpeting in the family room in front which flows into the white vinyl floor in the kitchen which meets a back hallway with ivory vinyl which meets the cherry dining area and then meets a mudroom with grey indoor/outdoor carpeting. Seven different floors in one big room! The home is only 10 years old and was designed this way. DH and I were amazed when they had five different floors and 'bout lost it when they added the cherry. The embossed carpet put us over the top. Every time we go there we're hoping there's a new floor to look at ;-) We're really not that snobby. The variety just really peaked our interest. My husband had me paged at work when he saw they had a #7. He was so excited to tell me about it. lol The link below is a wood transition, but I could see an inlaid wood design flowing nicely into tile too. Here is a link that might be useful: