lodalady, don't panic! surely most floors (and celilings) are not 100% level, nor are the walls 100% plumb. mine (1950's terrazzo) sure aren't. there was about a 1/2" difference between opposite corners. so, they had to lower the feet of one cabinet all the way and adjust each adjacent cabinet leg accordingly. over the length of (most) cabinet runs, it will not be detectable. my contractor didn't think twice about it--he says that it is a normal situation in most homes--they see it all the time. so, no, i don't think shimming the countertop or planing the cabinet is the way to go. adjust the feet/legs. about scribe, good question. i kept hearing my KD/architect using this term, almost interchangeably with the words "valence" and "filler." i never bothered to stop her and ask exactly what it meant. it's also a verb, good grief.

First of all, you need to asses the reason your floors are out of level. Do you have a missing post? Are the joists compromised by having too many holes from plumbing or electrical? Are the of insufficient depth for the span? Find out why. And do that and fix it before yu do anything else. Or else you'll just have even more issues down the road if the trend towards unlevelness continues. It can crack your counters eventually if not addressed now. Yes, it may cost more money to fix the problem than putting a bandaid on the problem. As far as the ability of your fabaricator to scribe exactly to your floor, that depends on if he's one of the few that has a good CNC machine or has a very skilled old fashioned expert who can do it by hand. Way too many stone shops have those guys in the middle who can't afford a CNC and who don't have anyone with good longterm old fashioned experience on board.

The tile needs to come up, the floor scraped smooth, and then you level it. Then the cabinets can get installed, allowing for the thickness of the flooring in the height that they are installed. Only then can you can have new floating flooring installed. The floor demo and prep will cost more than the install. Because its harder and more involved. All of the labor is going to be 2/3 of the actual real complete job quote. Materials are cheap compared to labor.

Good news. But the situation with the leveling is still there. If you wish to leave the tiles there, you will have to put some money and muscle and rented machines into this. It will probably take 2-3 days longer than if you hammered out the tiles. But if you insist, here are the list of instructions: 1. Rent sanding machine and purchase pads/belts for stone/concrete/tile 2. Tent off the kitchen with plastic sheeting; as well as air vents to prevent dust from getting into the ducts 3. Sand/rough up the tile (take the shiny finish off so that the next steps have something to grab on to). 4. With shop-vac, vacuum up the dust created by the sanding; wipe clean with water; allow to dry 5. Purchase primer AND Self Leveling Compound (SLC); make sure the two products are compatible....usually working with the same manufacturer is the way to go. 6. Roll on the primer onto the roughed up surface of the tile 7. Allow to cure (probably 1 day) 8. Mix recommended amount of SLC to cover your tiles in the MEDIUM amount of product allowable (read instructions to find out the MAXIMUM and the MINIMUM thickness and then pick an amount in between) 9. Trowel on or 'float' the cementatious material over the tile...remember to check for 'level' every few minutes (remember: SLC is NOT self-leveling = you will work very hard to keep everything level) 10. Allow to cure (24-48 hrs depending on your manufacturer) 11. Check for level. Mark the 'high' points and begin sanding those areas down 12. Vacuum up excess material; wipe down with lighting damp cloth 13. Allow to dry 14. Begin installing the floor. Whew! If you hire this out, you will pay $2/sf for this type of job. If it is a small kitchen, then you will pay a 'minimum job' fee which could look a bit more like $3-4/sf. If you remove the tiles you will pay $2/sf (same applies above). But the height variance between the two floors will be easier to deal with. You only need to 'lift' the kitchen floor to meet the REST of the house...which is much, much much smaller area to deal with.