OT Kitchen floor

We are going to redo our kitchen. We are removing all the cabinets and rearranging the kitchen to our tastes.It has vinyl flooring over a 1/4 inch plywood on top of the 3/4 subfloor. We will put down a tile floor. My question. Do we remove the cabinets, tile the entire floor area, and then install the new cabinets? Or would it be better to install the new cabinets and then tile the floor area that remains. I'm leaning toward putting tile down on the whole kitchen and then installing the cabinets. Just never had to face this situation before. Thanks.

In my master bathroom, I tiled the floor and then set the cabinets for two reasons:

1. If some future owner wants to change the cabinets they can do so without messing with the floor.

2. If water floods the floor, there is not an inaccessible "pocket" created by the tiles that the cabinets would be setting in. By being on top of the tiles you could clean up the water and possibly avoid having to replace the cabinets.

Most with new construction lay the tiles but leave the tiles nearest the wall out because they serve no purpose.

I will say this is what we do. Cabinets go in before tile and we never put tile on wood. Seen too many come up with winter/summer temperatures. Our tile person puts down a type of cement board to tile on. The only time we set cabinets on a floor is if its hardwood because that can be sanded and refinished.

Tile the whole floor first, then move in the cabinets & appliances.

I would for sure remove the vinyl, and 1/4 inch plywood. Leave the 3/4 inch sub-floor if solid. If not, make it solid or replace. If cabinets are getting installed in a perminant fasion, (sounds like they are) its really just what you want to do. I would lean toward no tile under cabinets. Less tile to buy and your trim (quarter round) around the edge of floor would be easier to nail if the tile only ran up to the edge of cabinets. My 2 cents. P.S. When the cabinets are out of fasion and need replaced, its likely your tile will be out of fasion and need replaced too.

I typically would tile so that near the front edge of the cabinets would be whole tiles. At the back of the cabinets can go either tile cutoffs of a piece of wood the thickness of the finished tile.

This way you save money on tile, can replace the cabinets if desired and get rid of many tile scraps.

Skybow, If your talking ceramic tile make sure you have 1 1/4 of subfloor for stability. The worse thing ceramic floor is movement underneath it will cause weakening of the grout and adhesive. Make sure underlayment is good and secure to joist. Good luck with project.

Chuck

What kind of tile are you putting down, vinyl tile or ceramic tile? If ceramic, I'd tile to the cabinet edges. If vinyl, I'd tile the whole floor. Either way, the tile under the cabinets will soon look different from those in the room.

I would ask the tile mfg about the proper subsurface. Going over 1/4 plywood sounds dangerous, I like the cement board idea, but again I would ask.

As far as tiling under the cabinets, that's a matter of preference. If the tile is inexpensive, and you have scraps, I would go all the way to the wall. Much easier than working around the cabinets after they're set. Also if you have a dish washer, and you put it in without tile, it is a real pain to get back out!

Tile? Take up old vinyl. It will only trap moisture. Cermanic tile I put down 1/2 inch cement board first. Only run it a few inches under cabinets. I drill 1 inch holes in sub-floor. It's only a matter of when, not if, things will get wet, plumbing leak, dish washer, something. The holes will allow water to get out to basement, vent, dry out.

Do the entire floor, then install cabinets.

About 10 years ago, in our last house I was upgrading our kitchen. Removed the cabinets, which were very nice and installed in the home's last remodel, removed the vinyl and luan. Then removed the vinyl and luan under that, then removed the linoleum under that. Surprise!!! Had to cut out the original 3/4 ply in places under that which were squishy, then replaced that. Added 1/4 luan, liquid nails and ring shanks 4" o.c.. Then 1/2" cement board thinsetted and screwed to the luan, then porcelain tile thin setted to that. Reinstalling the cabinets goes a whole lot easier when you're in charge of level. Elephants could have danced on it when the project was done! It's one of the most important rooms in the house! Chances are you and your significant other will spend more time in there than most rooms.
Dave

I prefer cement hardiboard glued and screwed to the subfloor. I have gone over sheet vinyl with no ill effects after 20+ years. As long as you don't scrimp on the glues and screws. I vote to pull the cabinets. tile, and then reinstall. But remember that once that's done, the cabinets will be 3/4" - 1" higher so be confident with outlets etc.

If you do not tile under the cabinets make certain you hold them up far enough to get the dishwasher under the counter top. With the minimum of 3/8 inch tile backer and 3/8 inch tile, it otherwise may not fit.

After several bathroom remodels in our home and rentals, plus the kitchen remodel in our house, I still don't know the "right" answer. It's a given you will want to rip out the flooring down to the plywood subfloor, and if necessary replace any bad subfloor. Then Hardiebacker over the subfloor, thickness depending on how much you have to work with; the flooring thickness needs to be fairly close to the other floors, so you probably won't want to use 1/2" thick backer board. If you happen to have a lot of thickness to work with, I'd build it up with plywood and use 1/4" Hardiebacker. I would extend the backerboard under where the cabinets will go; it will protect the subfloor against moisture intrusion and make a stiffer surface for the tile.

Then what? There are several options:

1. Tile everything and set the cabinets on the tile.

2. Tile around the cabinets and set the cabinets on the backer board. (The cabinets sit below the tile level.)

3. Tile around the cabinets, but place plywood or OSB under the cabinets so the cabinets are placed at the same level as the tile.

For a small bathroom in a rental house, I'd go with number 1, since there's a good chance you'll have to replace the cabinets again. But for a kitchen, I think number 3 is the way to go. You can tile the floor before or after you set the cabinets. If you tile first, you'll be able to extend the tile slightly under the cabinet.

Eliminating the tile under the cabinets saves a lot of cost and aggravation setting tile nobody will ever see. It also means you can drill a hole through the floor if you need to run a water or electrical line.

The biggest reason to set the cabinets on plywood (raising them even with the tile) is the dishwasher. The dishwasher will slide right out. If the dishwasher and cabinets are a half inch below the tile, you'll find it nearly impossible to pull out the dishwasher to work on it.

If this is the last time you remodel this kitchen I would put the cabinets in first and then tile the rest. You would save a lot of money on tile that way. If though you change the cabinets in the future having the tile under the cabinets might eliminate having to re-do the floor again.

Also in making your decision check to see how level the floor is. If the run of cabinets is more than 3/4" out of level shoe molding wouldn't cover how much you would have to shim the cabinets up. I've done kitchens the thickness of the flooring allowed the shoe molding to cover the gap.

I have done this several times when the cabinets also needed replacing the cabinets went in last over what floor I used...