Ceramic tile is known to do stuff like this (tenting) because it is slightly porous. Porcelain tile has LESS chance of tenting because its porosity is extremely low - almost impervious to moisture. It is much lower than ceramic. And yes, it can take as much as 10 years for a "bad" install to show itself in wet conditions. It can take that long to get the tile so wet that it's expansion is so great it breaks the bond of the adhesive. And yes...cut back adhesive is a poor substrate to bond to (for the Original Poster). Both of these photos (OP and andreadell79) are complete redos. Once a section starts to tent, you have to assume the WHOLE THING is going to go to he!! in a hand basket. Sorry but these are complete redos.

Wood vs. Engineered Wood? No contest in this case. If the home was built in 1905, put real hardwood in. This preserves the integrity of the home's building materials. Plus, as you can see from the age of these floors, higher grades (i.e. thicker) hardwood can be sanded several times; you usually don't get even one chance to sand engineered wood. The hardwood layer at the top of this multilayered product is simply too thin. Level Floors and Subfloors There are ways to level a subfloor, ranging from replacing parts of the subfloor with thicker or thinner sheets of plywood (or planks, see below), to pour-on leveling compounds that harden to make the entire floor level. What you use to level uneven areas depends on what the subflooring is. If it is plywood or concrete, the compound works. But more likely with this home, on floors at or above grade, there will be wood planks laid at a diagonal across the floor joists. So in your home, the layers were probably joists first, then subfloor planks of wood, then hardwood with tongue & groove joints. You cannot effectively use a pour-on leveling compound on a plank subfloor, as there are cracks between the planks. However, you can lay a new hardwood floor directly on a wood plank subfloor as long as those planks are sound and relatively level. Replace individual planks that have been damaged by water or insects, are otherwise compromised, or even missing (it happens!), with either new planks of lumber, or with plywood of the same thickness as the planks. Any lumber you install, for either the subfloor or finished flooring, should be brought in to your home several days prior to installation, so the materials acclimatize to your typical interior temperature and humidity. Unlike for ceramic or porcelain tile, the subfloor does not have to be perfectly level. And unlike vinyl sheeting, planks or tiles, the hardwood won't "telegraph" minor differences in height, and minor surface irregularities, so the subfloor doesn't have to be absolutely perfect; it should be sound, strong, uniform and essentially level. Your flooring contractor can give you specifics on what upgrades your subfloor may need once the original hardwood is removed. Joists If the floor is significantly not level in parts, or if certain areas feel spongy when you walk on them, I recommend you have your flooring contractor, a home inspector, or structural engineer inspect the subflooring and especially the floor joists. You don't want to invest in a new floor, only to have it become damaged because some joists weren't attended to. Transitions Transitions (a.k.a. thresholds or molding) between existing rooms and the new floor ought to be made of the same wood and same finish (stain, polyurethane, etc.) as the new flooring you are putting down. As wood ages, the finish becomes darker, so trying to make the transitions match the finishes of existing floors is very difficult and not recommended (what will match those floors right now won't match later after your transitions age up a bit). Eventually, the transitions wouldn't match either the new or the old floors! Transitions come in four types: reducer (when the two floors being joined are of different heights), seam binder (when the floors are the same height, and the boards from each are very close to one another), T-mold (when the two floors are the same height, but there is a crack between the two rooms' flooring) and stair nose or stair edger (when the flooring needs to curve around the front of a stair's "tread"--the flat part of a stair upon which you tread!). The transitions for your particular project can be ordered when you order the hardwood, so make sure to include measurements for those doorways/entrances. The contractor can tell you if he/she anticipates there will be a height difference or gap between the floorings, which would require those particular transitions. Dry Air Concerns Consult a local lumber supplier or flooring contractor familiar with your local climate conditions to discuss finishes or other tips for keeping your wood floors healthy in the dry winters. Sounds wonderful! Have fun!

Love this thread, thanks for bringing it back. My kitchen was done 8 years ago and I SOOO wish that Semihandmade had been around then (from DIY2's link). They would have saved me a lot of money and frustration with contractors. Anyway, my cabs are white and awhile ago, I saw a brilliant dark royal blue kitchen in a magazine. I thought maybe I'll do that some day, but don't think that's very realistic of me. However, it is time to repaint the walls, so I appreciate this discussion of color. They've been a cheerful cantaloupe and am thinking about a pale creamy yellow. The more dramatic option of the deep blue is also attractive. What to do...

I am so unhappy that I ever trusted IKEA for my whole kitchen, and even more upset that I referred them to friends. And to JJ Cape on Cape, I have no idea how to directly respond to you since your posts are from 2 years ago, but I would love to know what happened since I currently have the same problem you faced back then. The warranty in my personal opinion is as good as if it were written on piece of toilet paper. First of all, I have their Adel, or Akurum cabinet doors. The exact same thing happened to me. The cabinet door below the sink started to expand eventually and peel. There was no flooding in my home, and I am not near any body of water. Even though I had a 25 year warranty, I was more than willing to pay for another door at my own expense just to avoid the anticipated aggravation that IKEA would cause if I had to turn to their warranty department. Well, let me tell you, all my worst fears were justified. They decided to just stop making the Adel cabinet doors, and any company that makes one like it is 3/4 inch thick while the original Adel is 5/8 inch thick. How can they justify a 25 year warranty and just stop manufacturing the product they are supposed to cover. Had I known that I never would have purchased a kitchen from them. Here is the run-around I got from IKEA. First email to them I explain the damages, and send proof of purchase and photos of the damages, with all my contact information. I wait home all day for a phone call, but they never call. I called them the next day only to get told the case was closed because I didn't answer their phone calls or send any photos or documents. So a new case was opened and it was round two of the same run-around I got the first time. Then a 3rd case was opened with another associate, but this time I asked her to forward my email to them since they ignored the emails that came directly from me. Just got off the phone with them today and was told that their so called "warranty" does not cover water damage. The associate refused to send me anything in writing today, and added that she couldn't help me and was only reading off what they said. She refused to give me any person I could contact to escalate the matter. She also had a very condescending attitude and really couldn't care less. There was a big fat zero degree of customer satisfaction. I am not sure what my next steps will be, but I would love to hear from anyone else that had similar complaints with IKEA. As a final thought, one of their responses to my email about the damaged cabinet door that in my opinion should be covered under warranty was that I might be able to take care if with an Allen Wrench! (And then they closed the case).