roygbiv, this was exactly what I planned on doing. I have had the HARDEST time choosing between cream painted cabinets or the cherry... but for now, I am saying Cherry (but I so love cream too!!) and I will do the island in cream. jejvtr, thanks for all the links.. I got "stuck" on the rate my space, and spent a couple hours on it!! (of course, 2nd guessing myself again!) I did have hardwood in the kitchen in our last house, and I did really love it, however, I only lived there 7 months - barely enough time to settle in. The flooring is a Spanish mahogany, so it is a different wood species, yet I am not sure if it has enough of a contrast, or if it doesn't really matter much if I am going with a lighter (either in the gold or beige) granite and doing the island in a cream glaze.

Okay, I think you have all convinced me to not create my own weekend from hell (by trying to pour leveling compound with just two adults ... and two kids under the age of five). Thanks for this! We have the hardwood on hand, and were already planning on a floating installation as it's recommended for the product (no nailing). So if we now switch and go the cork path - say with that 12mm option from the website you mentioned - that leaves me with a few questions: (1) My previous calculation - indicating the top of the hardwood surface would be almost half an inch lower than the top of the adjacent tile surface - had built into it using 3mm PergoMax underlayment (the "gold" stuff). Would I still use this stuff, on top of the cork and underneath the hardwood? I'm guessing no. (2) Perhaps tied in with the first question, I see that thinset is used to adhere the cork to the concrete. Is this correct? This will (obviously) add some thickness to the whole equation. I'm thinking now that - by removing the PergoMax stuff (-3mm) and adding thinset (guessing, +2mm) - it's pretty much a draw, which I then just float the hardwood on. Am I thinking of all of this correctly? Thanks again for all of your help. You are all much appreciated.

I did my wood to tile transition without strips (in order to make my place more handicap-friendly.) They just have to make the top surface of the tile and the top surface of the wood be the same height, I think I have about 1/8th inch difference at most between kitchen and living space, no difference between hallway and bath, and 1/8th difference at most between master and master bath. Back at my old home, I had a transistion strip between the dining area and the kitchen - it made it horrible to move from the linoleum of the kitchen back out to the wood of the dining area when I had a broken ankle and was on wheels. Plus the strips really do look ugly. (PS< the wood transition strips look fine, but mine were metal strips... but neither are necessary.) Others have pointed out you can have hardwood throughout, I just simply didn't want to do that. (Actually, my wood floors are broad beam pine, which is soft, anyway.) My build is semi-open, so I had the option in the kitchen to do tile, and so I did.

Sure...so long as BOTH are permanent floors (tiles mortared/thinset into place and the hardwood glued/nailed/stapled/cleated into place). A HIGH END professional will be able to get this done. The tile setter will need to get together with the hardwood flooring installer to figure out the best form of transition (low-profile schluter, etc). It takes a bit of effort, plenty of coordination and +++SKILL (which you pay for by using the highest trained/priced profis you can find). It is do able. The price of the house will dictate how HARD you try to make this "transitionless".