Vanessa, my husband is an environmental engineering consultant. He says you probably have nothing to worry about. It's unlikely that there is asbestos in the flooring. But one way you can tell: asbestos is fibrous - it would be in strands or fibers, not round particles. If there is any doubt, you can call an asbestos removal specialist and ask him whether it's asbestos or not. Good luck!

Thanks! That is a good point about the swollen/warped wood. The drawers are fairly hard to slide the whole way out. Let me clarify what each drawer look like. It is just a box that rests on two flat pieces of wood on the bottom. They don't run in grooves on the side, and there's no center runner. The drawer fits quite snugly in the slot. I think the "runners" might be structural to the cabinets, and I am not sure it would change anything to replace them. Maybe sanding to reduce the size of the drawer slightly, followed by "greasing," would help? And no, the runners aren't painted, nor are the sides of the drawers. I think the paint is just coming from the top edges of the drawers where it rubs against the front opening as it opens and closes.

Thanks, everyone. I'm glad to know I'm on the right track. I think we'll take the contractor up on his offer to do the painting for us instead of fix the floor. It'll be a day or two worth of his time and he won't be cash out of pocket and spend a week like he would be if he were to refinish the floor. Refinishing seems like a huge headache for both sides and major expense for the contractor when the payoff is so miniscule. And like lukk and maybe someone else said, we'll soon scratch the floor ourselves, I'm sure. At least now I won't feel so bad about it when I do! When I told my husband this morning that this is the way I think we should go, I told him I want to make sure that not only do we walk away from this feeling good about the outcome, I want our contractor to feel good about working with us, too. I don't want him to feel like we had him over a barrel and took advantage. He obviously already feels just terrible, and I completely, totally understand mistakes. I make plenty of them myself. And to all those who said we have a "gem," I agree. We didn't have any of the very common contractor problems we've experienced in the past. None of my cats escaped the house, the guys were there when they said they would be, they communicated all the time, and their work is high quality. All in all I'm happy and would gladly hire them again. Thanks for the help!

Wow! Just came across this thread. We have Marazzi Chateau Reserve hickory grove and same happened with our grout. I chose a grout that would blend in with tile and also chose this tile bc I wanted a very thin grout line. I have tried everything- tile brush , steam mop. Our contractor didn’t care. I will Reread this thread and try some of the options mentioned. Our tile looks great but the grout drives me crazy. It just looks dirty since it’s a lighter color. Makes me angry when I see it bc I would have never picked such a light color. Luckily - it’s only in our master bath. It’s a shame some contractors are so unscrupulous. I know there are honest ones out there, too bad we didn’t hire one .