I only changed a small section of my kitchen cabinets (wanted to get rid of kitchen desk area) but wanted to keep my old great quality (but ugly) cabinets. I found a local cabinetmaker who was willing to build me the new section of cabinets, new doors and drawer fronts for the old cabinets, and reface all to match. The old cabinets are oak and oak veneer and I wanted a dark dark cherry. The new cabinet section is solid cherry. Unlike what I've read so often on this forum, my guy actually makes his own doors and drawers. He also showed me the cherry veneers he used for the old cabinets. no contact paper here. real cherry sides placed on sides of cabs and all frame elements (including inside the doors) in a more flexible veneer, but still real cherry wood. I think it looks fantastic. My kitchen has about 33 linear feet of cabinets....most of it has uppers except for the window area and the penninsula. It was only about 6500 dollars, including the new section. To me, this is a lot of money. But certainly way cheaper than all new cabs...not to mention the fact that all new cabs would be such a waste, given that my old ones are so solid. I would try to find local people who do kitchen refacing, or you could order the doors and veneer online and DIY.

Oh no, I didn't mean literally taking out the subfloor to put them directly on the joists! I thought a subfloor was absolutely critical to a house, which is why I didn't mention ours. So yes we have a subfloor, ours is OSB - 3/4" PS-2-92 rated (meaning it supports 3/4" hardwood). Our joists are the standard 16" apart - and we have an over 5' crawl space to easily access them. I know the cracking and sagging are the risks with running parallel - but everything I've read says it takes several years to get that point. The 2 solutions I've came across are: 1. putting in 3/4" plywood over the subfloor: no go for us because it will make my kitchen floor sit much higher than the surrounding floors - dangerous to say the least, even with a sloped transition piece (not to mention highly unattractive). 2. putting in support between the joists, right against the subfloor. I have found several hardwood authorities online listing this as a viable option. I was wondering if anyone here has just installed it parallel anyway. Sometimes I know that's done. OR If anyone has done modification #2 and their experience with that. We took out our kitchen flooring yesterday - linoleum and it's 3/4" sawdust board underlay. Now it's bare subfloor.I don't think it's the weight that's the problem (it supported the sawdust board just fine), I think it's the system (planks) that could lead to cracks (separation of planks). Adding support between the joists should technically support it, and 5 or 6 hardwood places online mentioned it as a solution.

I currently have a prefinished wood floor in my kitchen, and am switching to site finished in my remodel, in order to match the wood in the rest of the house. After I decided to do that, my contractor pointed out that I would no longer have to worry about crumbs, dirt, etc getting stuck between the planks. I was really happy to know that, it was something that I hadn't thought of. The downside of site finished, as I discovered when I had the hardwood floors refinished in the rest of my house is the fumes. We had to move out of the house for several days when they were doing the work. Hopefully it won't be necessary this time because it's only the kitchen. As far as the sustainability of kitchen wood floors, I've had mine for over 15 yrs and it looks really great. I love it because it is less hard on the legs/back when standing cooking/baking for long periods. Also dropping something on it does not have to lead to the item breaking, another benefit.

A high quality engineered floor will have the same or longer wear life as a solid wood floor. This isn't usually a big deal in residential as you are talking at least 45 years of life... Engineered wood flooring can cope with changes in moisture better than a solid wood floor, but if you have a good HVAC system and monitor the humidity in your home, both will be fine. Solid wood floors are not recommended below grade, for example in the basement. Our standard 5/8" thick engineered floor will give you 3-4 sand and refinishes. This floor can be glued to the slab and will line up with carpet and most tiles. This means you don't have to drop the slab (money saver!) or use transition pieces. Some areas where it is very dry have had issues with the thicker engineered floors (3/4" with 6mm wear layer) as the plywood base dries out at a different rate to the wear layer. One of our clients (Flooring installer) in Arizona is replacing engineered with solid as it handles that climate better. Since it sounds like you are doing a remodel, you are probably best to go with an engineered floor. A 5/8" thick engineered wood floor from our company has a 4mm wear layer and will give you 3-4 sand and refinishes. This you can glue to the slab and will take up around the same amount of thickness as the travertine did. This means you will not have to replace the trim, cut off the bottoms of doors etc. Typically a solid wood floor is installed on a plywood sub-floor. On a new build the slab would be dropped on those areas to allow for the extra thickness. A quality engineered wood floor is not inferior to a solid wood floor in anyway. Once it is installed you will not be able to tell the difference. If you have further questions, feel free to reach out! We are only a email or a phone call away -- debbie@woodco.com // (210) 298-9663 Keep safe! -- Debbie George | WoodCo www.woodco.com