Wall to wall, without a doubt.

If you (or the next person) ever wants to do a new layout or switch any appliances without dealing with floor, you've got to have the floor wall to wall.

We are redoing our kitchen as we speak: the tile floor goes wall to wall and if I didn't hate it so much (it is almond) I could just take out the cabinets and appliances and redo it, saving myself $3,000 or more.

In any case, it is the right way to do it. Period. End of story.

Ours isn't tile but the floor we now have in our kitchen (hardwood) was installed wall-to-wall. I didn't ask why but just assumed for the reasons you mentioned (future removal of cabs / apps, everything at the same height). In our previous house, the hardwood floor was installed (previous owner) after the cabs / apps, so in order to get the old dishwasher out they had to chisel at the hardwood. (Basically, the floor people had "sealed in" the dishwasher.)

However, the floor won't be stained until after the cabinets / apps are installed (it will be, technically, the v. last thing done [although painters will have to come through to touch-up]). Our GC insists on doing it this way: he said if the floors get scratched, he wants us to be the ones to do it. Not the cabinet / appliance people.

Definitely wall to wall.

Wall to wall. That way you can also change out the appliances when they die without ruining the floor.

Either way has both its pros and cons, and either way is just as acceptable. The only caution is if you install the cabinets first, make sure you use plywood the thickness of the tile and underlayment for the footprint of the cabinets so that you won't have clearance issues later.

I also think wall-to-wall....and that's what is being done in our kitchen right now (well, during the day anyway!)

If for some reason you decide not to go wall-to-wall. Be sure plywood is installed under your cabinets and appliances to keep the floor flush w/the tile. Then, you won't have an issue when you take an appliance out for replacement, repair, or cleaning behind/under.

W2W, floors first, then cabinets...

Then what does one do if doing a partial remodel which will include keeping the current cabinets and installing hardwood floors? I hadn't thought of the issue of trapping the dishwasher. Obviously, in this case, we wouldn't be pulling out all of the cabinets and putting them back. So how do we avoid trapping the dishwasher and having to chisel it out later when it needs to be replaced? Or is there anything we can do? Are there leveling legs on the dishwasher that might be able to be adjusted to allow the extra thickness underneath if we pulled it out and put plywood underneath and still be level with the countertops?

The flooring should definetly extend under appliances. When remodeling, remove the DW and either floor under there or use a ply the same thickness. You DON'T want to have to pull up the floor to replace/repair the DW. Removing and re-installing it really isn't a big job.

But there isn't a lot of point [IMO] in putting your expensive flooring under the cabs where it serves no purpose and will never be seen. The only possible reason for doing so would be replacing the cabs but leaving the floor, which is a pretty unusual thing.

I seem to remember reading that there are potential problems with installing cabs over a floating floor, as well: the cabs can keep the floor from expanding and contracting separately from the subfloor, which can cause buckling or cracking.

I had tile installed cabinet to cabinet about 5 years ago. I'm now taking it out due to a complete kitchen reno, and want to put a floating laminate floor in.

I had the same question for installing a floating laminate floor. I had read that you could do it both ways, but am concerned about putting the floor wall to wall under the cabinets. I didn't think the floor could float then.

Barb

We replaced wood floors with slate, which is uneven and clefted. Cabinets would not sit flat on the slate, so we tiled up to the cabinets. The process we used was this:

remove old hardwood and patch plywood
install Wonderboard over entire floor, wall to wall
install toe kicks for cabinets
install slate tile up to toe kicks, and under where range, dishwasher, and fridge will be placed

(To allow for the thickness of the slate tiles, the toe kicks were made higher than normal.)

Toe kicks installed
{{!gwi}}

slate installed up to toe kicks and under appliances
{{!gwi}}

finished
{{!gwi}}

The main reason why many remodelers don't do it this way is that you need to have your cabinetmaker or cabinet installer come out to install the toe kicks. This wasn't a problem for our GC to coordinate, but it may be an issue for some cabinetmakers. We used a local cabinetmaker.

Here is a link that might be useful: photos of the process

Our cabinets are from Ikea and are made to sit on adjustable legs. We gutted the old kitchen, put down cement board, and then ran the slate wall-to all (with the less desirable slate under the cabinets.) Installed the cabinets over it.

If you're using cabinets with feet don't they have to be attached to the ground, meaning that you can't have tile under them? I'm confused by how many people said "wall to wall"...

Ask yourself this: At some point in the future, are you more likely to want to replace your cabinets without replacing your flooring? Or are you more likely to want to get new flooring but keep your existing cabinets? In that case, it seems like it would be a lot easier to replace flooring that does't go under the cabinets.

My tile goes under my cabinets, but I know I'm far more likely to want to replace my tile in 10 years than I am my cabinets. And replacing tile is a lot cheaper than replacing cabinets. I kinda wish I'd thought of this previously. ;-)

From what I have read, it can and is done both ways.

I agree with oruboris wholeheartedly. We put tigerwood flooring in our kitchen, and we just couldn't fathom spending all that money to have it sit under cabinets. But, we are DIY, so our solution might cost the same if you had to pay someone to do it. We put 3/4" plywood in 17" strips around the kitchen,so that it's even under the appliances, and had the hardwood installed up to the plywood, so that several inches go under the cabinets and appliances. We wanted to avoid having to apply shoe molding onto the toe kicks (just don't care for that look).

As you can see, I also didn't paint behind my cabinets!

I just finished getting tile installed in my kitchen and it was wall to wall. The main reason was that I might change appliances later and did not want to have an unfinished section then.

there was a long thread on this, but i can't find it now, either. after reading it, i went with tile wall to wall. my kitchen is only 8x11 and, by the time you get done tiling under the appliances, there wasn't all that much more.:) and it was a lot easier/faster for the tile guy than having to cut around things. also, since i was doing this without a gen contractor to coordinate things, it seemed easier to have a nice even surface for when the cabinet installers showed up, rather than figure out who was going to put down the plywood.

I agree with glad. The cost of all the extra cutting around the cabinets would probably be the same as the extra flooring.

The big thing that I like about tile going under the cabinets is that you won't have grout, caulk, or shoe moulding againt the cabinets. It is a much cleaner look.

It doesn't seem like the difference in cost would be worth not putting flooring wall to wall. We probably will never ! and I mean Never! remodel this kitchen again but someone probably will and I wouldn't want them to have to deal with the issues that come with not having the flooring wall to wall. Also it seems like it would be more difficult to get the cabinets level. It's probably just me but it is comforting to know that the stuff you can't see is finished nicely also. Of course we painted behind our cabinets cause it was easier than figuring out where not to paint! LOL.

I'm in the "depends on which will come out first" group. I did go ahead and extend it all the way beneeth the appliances, since they could be moved, but since we were saving an old floor (that did not extend under all the cabinets) we had to spend extra to make that happen in a seemless application. It really cost to make the island work, since it moved back a foot, and if you don't want an obvious line where the new wood was added, it's a challenge.

Remind me...this is going to be a problem with the new sink placement (tell me that when I return home so I remember ok)???

Anyhoo, I suppose if I had my druthers I'd take it all the way from wall to wall, despite the expense of "whatever" it is under the cabinets. We did that in the bathrooms but to do it in the kitchen with existing flooring would have been a nightmare.