storklady, Good for you for keeping the budget in mind. I bet the Wilsonart looks really good, even if it's not your first choice. It's hard sometimes to look at what other people on this site have done and then settle for less. We replaced floors on the first floor (including kitchen) last spring/summer, and hope to deal with appliances and countertops this year. I'm beginning to think that we, too, will have to settle for laminate countertops, instead of solid surface that I really wanted. But so far we've paid cash (or used credit card and paid off before any interest charges) for the home improvements we've been doing. Yes, I'd like to do a complete reno with all my wish list materials, but I like being virtually debt-free better (in a little under 2 years we should have the mortgage paid off early and then we will be debt-free). So, while understand the angst of giving up on something you dreamed of, I applaud your decision. It sounds like it was the right one for you.

This floor was put in by an actual flooring company. It is the company that is contracted with this GC to do all his flooring. When He told me that I should use them because I'd get the best price, yada, yada, yada, he also said because "their installer/finishers were second to none". Now I want to ask if he knows this from his experience with them or because they told him that their installers/finishers were second to none! I was billed for "dustless" sanding & the GC has said the word dustless but neither the GC or the flooring company approached us to discuss how actually dusty the dustless is. I'm beginning to understand that you can ask as many questions as you want but if you don't ask the right questions, because of your lack of knowledge you won't end up with the information you need. Am I understanding both of you all's recommended course of action? I insist they go back and sand the floors-back to no stain? I do not ask the holes to be puttied except maybe the one in the photo below or similar, this one being dime size? I feel like this knot will lift out eventually. Then I make sure to start they are sanded properly, then stained, sealed or sealed, stained? Then poly'ed with sanding between coats. Total 3 coats. The boards with the deep gauges? The first pic really is quite deep & in a spot that will not be covered with a rug. It would be very difficult for sanding to get rid of the 2 places in the wood in the first 2 photos. Do I insist they be replaced? When you say problems with the short ends do you mean the cracks that show opening up from the show ends? Is the area in the center of the last photo lippage? The 1/2" linear sort of dome-shaped rise in the wood? As far as the humidity ect. We had small leaf acacia engineered hardwood installed in the bonus room last month by same flooring company. When the wood was delivered they did not want to bring it upstairs. I told them it was to be installed upstairs & delivering the wood early so it could acclimate make zero sense if it was not put in the room where it was to be installed. The wood was vertical stacked & left downstairs in unopened boxes. I emailed the owner/acts as install supervisor to voice my concerns about lack of proper acclimation ect. He said we would check the meter readings together before the install, although he did snidely ask me if I had a meter. Anyway, morning of readings were fine, inline with what I had researched as well as what he told me. The downstairs wood acclimated for at least 3 weeks, was not in boxes but was vertical stacked. We heated & cooled downstairs as normal during this time. Nobody offered to share any meter readings the morning of this install & I missed the owner when he was here at the start before he left. Sophie, do you still feel the issues here are from possible humidity/moisture or more likely poor preparation (sanding) & lack of dust control/cleanup before applying the poly finish? You know if you "dustless" sand & leave all the dust on the walls next to the floor being finished, pretty unrealistic to not think it 's going to float down onto the floor all day. Thank you so much for your input Cancork Floors & Sophie.

GreenDesigns: this was not a "budget guy". In fact, this is a large professional outfit with 5 star reviews on Houzz and a portfolio of large, luxe kitchen projects-- this is precisely why I'm upset with the quality. My project may be smaller than others they do, but it doesn't mean I shouldn't get the same level of quality. And although my photos are closeups, I can see these issues from 3' back, thank you. Hope you are more helpful with your clients. Joseph Corlett LLC: wow! Are homeowners supposed to hide their head in the sand and just pay up? What a horrible attitude to have of clients. I'm proud to care about craftsmanship and hoping any self-respecting company would feel the same. Debbi Washburn and others with helpful comments and feedback: thank you! I was looking for constructive opinions and insights, so thank you for taking the time to provide me with them. Update (if anyone cares): I spoke with the countertop fabricators directly (my contractor let them know the issues first). They will be sending out an installation manager to review. I will be happy to at least have the conversation with them in person. If something can be done to even out the wavy edges, that would help. If nothing can be done, then it's not the end of the world and I'll still love my new kitchen, but I have to at least try. For those who mentioned cabinets, photo 2 is of a "dead" corner (on the right) with drawers to its left and a skinny door to its right (next to stove.) Not sure if that should have been resolved differently, but that's how it is. I also called cabinet fabricators and they are sending someone out to fine tune drawer and door spacing.

@ci_lantro Yes, the tile is falling off the wall the further up to the ceiling it goes. Will have to be redone. I did do the stick test and its very substantial at the top. @Creative Tile Eastern CT I agree. My thought would be to have the schluter trim before tile adhered to wall but my installer said he installs that after and slides it under. I think that still has potential for gaps behind tile where no mortar is. Since the top few rows need to come down because they seperated from the wall, I will take a look at how the mortar coverage was applied. Thank you all for the suggesstions and comments. This little shower project has turned into a much bigger headache.I will have the installer fix the tile seperating issue and hope to have this completed properly soon.