A skilled hardwood flooring person ought to be able to weave in the kitchen with the existing. Problem with doing that is you may have to sand it all up and finish it. If it would look OK...you could install a transition board between the old and the new and avoid a total resand. I've installed decorative border pieces as transitions and they looked fine. Also, as you suggest, you could install a realistic-looking luxury vinyl tile plank.

Any Reason why you wouldn't keep with what you have and add more Fir. Yes its soft and yes its probably not the best thing for a kitchen setting. but theres something to be said about keeping some continuity. granted its late and I might think of something more with some sleep, but right now im having a brainfart trying to think of a decent match in species that wont "clash"

Those old floors look like something is going on. Are they ready for a refinish? Do they have enough meat on them (3mm above the tongue) to be refinished? If they can be refinished then they should be done once you choose your kitchen flooring. It would be cool to keep going with the same time of floor, but it might not be worth it. If this wood is old (not enough meat left do refinish) then it is time to switch it all out. That means you can do what you want. If you put down a different floor down, you would want to change direction...and if you can do it a herring bone or diagonal install would help a whole lot more. A decorative transition between the two woods will also help things work together. I would do the following: 1. Find out how much life is left in the original floors. If they are too old to be refinished then replace them AT THE SAME TIME as when you install the kitchen. 2. If they have a little bit more life in them, then choose a new wood floor that is NOT factory finished - solid hardwood. Work with site-finished so that you can add MORE to this floor when the OLD one dies...At some point you will want to try to get all the floors as one wood floor. Remember: man made or factory finished hardwoods have a shelf life of (roughly) 18 months. After that, you will never find them ever again. If you put in an engineered hardwood (factory finished) expecting to add to it in 4-5 years, you are in for a BIG shock. You will be stuck with ANOTHER flooring decision that is LESS then optimal.

Hi, We always install a layer of cement sheet which we glue and screw to the hardwood, then apply paintable waterproofing over that. you can then simply tile as normal and the movement differential is allowed for. if height is an issue we remove the timber and replace it with a cement sheet thick enough to be a structural base. cherrs