Thanks. I know that was a little confusing. I'd post a photo of the layout but the photos are on a computer that is inaccessible right now. Anyway, it sounds like you are both recommending laying the floors in the same direction as existing ones(was my instinct, too) despite the thresholds - the opposite of what the builder wants to do. My Q about the island was really whether or not it's preferable to have wood planks go parallel to the island. The fireplace is opposite the kitchen (hood and fireplace face each other at end of a "great room". and the island is between the two. Wood can either be parallel to the island or to the length of the room leading to fireplace, but not both. Doing the latter also runs the floors the same way as existing. Hope that clarifies somewhat! The thresholds are to adjust for a 3/4" or so difference in floor height. busybme, Good question as to what material we are using. Existing floors are prefinished hardwood, but addition needs to be an engineered product, since it's on a slab. Complicating things are that my existing floors(Mirage) are an unusual width and set of lengths and I really want to match the look. The existing floors also have a microbevel, something i'm not sure I want in a kitchen. I hear it's hard to match old prefinished to new, since the colors will be off after a few years. The answer seems to be to put in site finished engineered floors and stain both floors to match. Still not sure what to do about matching the planks for size and bevel, though.

There are several things that must be considered. I like to use the concept of MOST amount of flooring that follows the general rule. If you have a single room (lets say 10' x 10' = 100sf) and then the REST of the space is much, much larger (say 600sf), you would want to try to keep the MAJORITY of the flooring (600sf) sticking to the rule of "longest length = long run of the room". The other question with hardwood becomes wooden subfloors. Sigh. Wooden subfloors over joists change the equation. Hardwood floors must be run perpendicular to the joists - no matter how big/small the rooms are. So...without knowing your set-up, without knowing your subfloor, without knowing the direction of sunlight, without knowing very much of anything about your situation...the majority of the home should follow the rule of thumb. Unless other factors contribute to changing this. Which I can't tell because there isn't enough information. And just for fun...diagonal is always an option = 15% waste and a more expensive labour bill.

To lay vinyl over top of tile, especially with significant/deep grout lines such as yours, you will need to create a flat surface. That can involve grinding, priming and pouring a cementitious product over the tile (this sinking it in cement), or you can a-fix a subfloor material that is strong enough to span the grout lines without bowing or crushing (that probably means luaun is out). Or you can leave the tile alone and live with the transition strip. I'm going to guess you would need a transition strip ANYWAY because the tile is currently sitting 'just about level' with the wood as it is. As soon as you 'top it' with something else you are going to create an uneven transition. And that means you will need to add a transition strip between the two flooring areas regardless of 'same floor' or not. Of course you could always attempt to lay new subfloor material over the ENTIRE house...and then lay the vinyl throughout without the transition strips in the kitchen area...but that's pretty expensive. And you still have the chance that the two floors will not be level with each other.

Not sure about the ripping part but the 2nd pic is the way to do it layout wise and you do not rip anything to start. There is agreat tutorial on google if you ask where to start laying laminate or vinyl plank flooring step by step info and that is where you start.