Here was my experience in my old cottage at MoccasinLanding. I got a sheet vinyl and laid it over the existing asphalt 9" squares original to the house. Around the rim, I had the quarter round put down. It worked VERY well, even with 2 dogs 2 cats and 16 parrots. Parrots make a lot of messes, and it was very easy to clean the vinyl sheet. When I sold the house about 2 years later, the same sheet vinyl was down, and the new owners took out everything afterward, but it still looked shiny, even with all the constant cleaning. The product was cheap, easy to put down, cleaned like a dream, and lasted as long as I needed it to. Now in this house we are doing the same sort of thing you are doing. We had the worst looking worn out damaged sheet vinyl you ever saw on the kitchen floor. The back porch also needed to have some flooring installed since we were planning to use it as it existed for a couple of years until we could unify the two spaces with a remodel. So I made a choice of 16" square sticky back vinyl tiles from Lowes (a mottled terra cotta color) and it is NOT a shinyy surface. DH installed it all himself, and it is quite nice and wears well. We now have only two dogs and two parrots, no cats, and the wear and tear is not as significant. But the product has been down about a year and looks as new as when we installed it. When the time comes we will remove all the layers of asphalt tile and vinyl tile down to the subfloor and lay new wood foundation for the porcelain tile we have already picked out. BTW, the sticky back tile has not come loose, and it is easy to clean. No shine on this product. And this picture shows how he repaired the rotted floor after we removed the old gas waterheater, and then finished laying the sticky back vinyl on the back porch.

The farther above the top of the sink a faucet head is, the more splashing outside the sink will be an issue. This is in part b/c we tend to put our hands (or dish) close to the faucet head...which means it's above the sink so the sink doesn't contain the splashes. Another reason can sometimes be the relationship b/w the drain and the place the stream of water hits in the sink. If the water falls over the drain, there's often somewhat less splashing. Then there's also dealing with Theory/Law of Gravity...the farther the water falls, the greater the acceleration due to gravity (of course, then you add in friction, which slows down, ...*****:-)*****) Physics aside, the farther the water falls, the harder it hits the bottom of the sink! So deep sinks + tall faucets often lead to more splashing. But, deep sinks will contain higher splashes... So, who really knows what the exact relationship is to sink depth, faucet height, and splashing! I have found that if I keep my hands/dishes inside the sink, there's less splashing outside the sink...strictly empirical evidence, but nonetheless true for me!

Onlybaba yes I did carry out my appointment to see and discuss the Neolith. I came in a day after the Neolith rep was there...lucky me! They said the rep did a demonstration on the silk finish Neolith Calacutta sample I had taken home and returned (I took pics of samples while at home below). The demo was taking a screw driver and smashing it over and over on the surface of the Neolith and it didn't leave a mark! I was impressed and asked if they sold a lot of it? They said they literally just got the Neolith display 2 weeks prior to me coming in! I did not know that. Cp I did ask the owners wife again about the frying pan thing and she laughed and said after seeing the demo she feels differently and not to let the beauty skew one of its durability. I still absolutely love it, but am leaning against it for a couple of reasons. First I was going to do a small island and thought the pattern did not fit the scale of the island size. Then I changed to a larger island but then thought the use of it on the island and around the perimeter was overkill as I need about 85 sq ft. Also, decided I would rather keep with the same material for whole kitchen as I'm not big on mixing too many different materials and liked the idea of less waste using one material too. The other reason was the quote I received for the Neolith vs DuPont Zodiaq London Sky was almost double. :o yikes! and again for the amount of square footage needed...ah no! I'm not ruling it out the Neolith for use in our master bath and half bath. But for now I'm really leaning towards Quartz Masters Organic White. It's a quieter, softer look and resembles more of a Carrara marble as opposed to a Calacutta. Hope this helps! :) Here are some pics below: (side shot so you can see the finish) Neolith calacutta silk (top) Neolith calacutta polished (middle) Quartz Masters Organic White (bottom) I would describe the silk finish look like honed, the polished look like high gloss, and the Quartz look between the two actually it looks like when I get hairspray on my porcelain guest bath counter. Keep us posted if you get any more info and what you decide. pipdog gorgeous! and my comment about scale of pattern to size of island stands true as I see how well it works and looks on your big island...awesome choice! And beautiful view btw!

Just to be clear about cork...it is water proof. It's the reason why the bottles of Champagne found on the Titanic were still 'sweet'. The cork (yep...that woody thing sticking out of the bottle) kept the sea water AND THE PRESSURE OF THE OCEAN out of the bottles. Now a GLUE DOWN cork floor (100% cork) is water proof once it has been site-finished with a coat or two of finish. Cork doesn't care about water. It really doesn't. It has the same finish as a hardwood floor. Like hardwood it can have the finish refreshed. Like any floor in a kitchen, cork glue down tiles can and will allow STANDING water to reach the edges of the floor (ie. the walls) to soak the subfloor FROM UNDERNEATH. This is the same issue we have with stone, porcelain tile, wood, vinyl, linoleum/marmoleum, etc. Cork is water proof. The install must be properly done to get it to that situation. A cork floating floor is NOT water proof. And that's where the confusion lies. Everyone wants 'cheap and fast' when it comes to flooring. The kitchen is the LAST PLACE you want cheap. A glue down cork tile floor is going to cost the same amount as a porcelain tile install ($12-$15/sf including materials and labour). Which is why so many people try to work with the $5/sf cork floating floors....only to be disappointed in the performance. And once again....cork is impervious to water. It is one of the only wood products that is. Just sayin'.