Sorry, I wasn't clear. The configuration goes from our dining room (which has recently refinished hard wood) to a butlers pantry (which currently has linoleum, but I'm sure has wood under which we will refinish) to the kichen, which has wood in the first two thirds and plywood in the last third. We would be putting a new floor in the whole of the kitchen. So you would be moving from the wood of the pantry to the floor of the kitchen. It's the step up, even though it's under an inch that gets me. It seems weird to have that transition if there is no transition in material. We haven't talked about the exact kind of wood yet, I think once we make the choice to do wood, we can tackle that decision. It's more if we should make that choice to do wood or another material.

Patricia and Sophie are on it. Laminate is NOT a very good idea in kitchens. In fact, the average age for laminate in a kitchen = 3-5 years. Yep. You have to replace that "durable" floor inside of 5 years. But "Oh Wait! I can't find it any more. Now what do I do?" Sigh....happens SOOO often I could spit! I would say work with the electric heating in the bathrooms - and that's IT. If you MUST have it in the kitchen then MAKE SURE you use TILE in the kitchen! Now you can use laminate throughout. And I can "save you" thousands of dollars (in both installation costs AND heating/cooling bills) by suggesting 1/4" cork underlay underneath the laminate. The insulating value in the cork will reduce your heating/cooling costs by 10%-15%. If you upgrade to 1/2" cork you will save as much as 30% on your heating/cooling costs. And yes...it is possible to design the floor height variations INTO your flooring plan. Not a problem. It just takes some fore planning (as in BEFORE the concrete slab is poured). Here's the OTHER way to do this. You can CALCULATE the tile+heating coil floor heights with decent accuracy. Then you work BACKWARDS to find a laminate floor + cork underlay that will FIT the calculations you have already created. I used to do this every day for people. A tile floor will OFTEN sit slightly higher than 1/2" (between 5/8" and 11/16"). If you add in the heating coils you are going to sit a little higher (much closer to the 3/4" height) - possibly even 1" high. Now you take these measurements (stick with 3/4" = 18mm thick = you should be fine) and go shopping for laminate. The 'average' thickness for laminate = 8mm to 10mm thick. If you want a high-end laminate you are looking at 12mm (1/2"). Which means you will need to "make up" roughly 1/4" of height. Great. This is where 1/4" cork comes in. If you do the math it works in both metric and imperial: 1/2" laminate + 1/4" cork = 3/4" thickness; the metric works out to be 12mm laminate + 6mm cork = 18mm thick total floor height. Notice how all of these numbers match up? Right. Now for the tricky part. You are looking at a floating floor system. It MUST HAVE a transition strip between the tile and the laminate. Must have. The good news is a floor that has matching floor heights will allow you to work with low-profile products. These low profile products will reduce the "humps" in your floor. That's as good as you can get with a floating laminate floor - regardless of the underlayment, or the total thickness.

Shim up the nosing to the tile height. Add a scotia to cover the gap on the underside. The tile installer could have taken care of it for you.

NYCBluedevil - I hear you! My husband is pro-tile too. He doesn't think wood is a practical choice in kitchens. He's an engineer and always looks at things from a functionality point of view. I'm an artist so I obviously have a different perspective! SJ - I really don't love the idea of tile in that back room. We are outside of Philadelphia, so it's definitely not a warm climate. I'm in here now and these tiles are COLD. You've helped me before in steering my husband towards the "stone" products versus wood-look tile and I am appreciative of that. I'm just not crazy about having the entire area tile! I don't see the point. I see his point about spills and water in the actual kitchen so I get it! I'm trying to find a way to compromise with him so I get some of what I want and he gets some of what he wants. My main concern is the transition from wood in the living room, to tile in the kitchen and then wood (the same wood!) in the back dining/family room area. You are correct about the cabinets. They are maple with a slight greenish/gray stain. They are very light and subtle. It's almost impossible trying to find a wood floor that goes with that stain. Tile actually looks better than all the wood samples I brought home. I just don't want tile EVERYWHERE if I don't necessarily need it there. We have a laundry room/mud room downstairs that my husband can use to drop off his tools and make all the mess he wants. I know that I will eventually get sick of all the tile and want to rip it up. Not so with wood though. And thank you for the warning on "natural". Unfinished is definitely what I'm going after. I suppose that color wood flooring would go with the cabinet stain, except my husband is really pushing for tile in the kitchen. How do you think my proposed transition sounds?? Wood, tile and then wood again?? Think of it as this tile you see pictured and with white oak floors. I'm really looking forward to replies!