– You suggested installing the cabinets before putting in tiles. What’s wrong with putting tiles in first & installing the cabinets on top of the tiles ?[/quote]
The main question is do you plan on changing the cabinets or the tiles first next time?
If you put the cabinets on the tile and you want to replace the tile afterwards, you must then cut the tile next to the cabinets, under the toe-kick. Good Luck!!! Your tile installer will charge you extra to do this. Your cabinet installer will not charge you extra to install the cabinets on tile or rough.
If you put the tile in after the cabinets you can always replace you cabinets if they are in same footprint. If you think not, save some tile for later. When we did our tile, before we did our cabinets, we purchase the whole remaining lot at a discount ($0.99/sf) if we take it all. We had about 150 sf left after our initial install. This came in handy we we redid our kitchen and changed the footprint very slightly. The contractor remove the necessary tile, installed the cabinets, and replaced the removed tile. Look like the kitchen was always there…
We also use tile for the baseboard under cabinets and in bathrooms. Standard wood baseboards get ugly due to frequent wet mopping. And yes, tile under the dishwasher, even if it is not the same tile. Do you know how hard it is to lift the dishwasher over the edge of tile in that little space, if you can even lower the adjustment legs. If not, you may have to cut the legs off to get the dishwasher out. Also, put those easy-gliders on the legs. Dishwasher slides right out with no effort. Works for some ranges too.
Since we have the same tile through out the house (approx. 1200 sf.). Very few Downstairs rooms (Bathroom & Bedroom) could I even think of changing the flooring. There is no easy transition locations for two types of flooring without it looking terrible. If something happens (slab leak, wife changes her mind), I would need to replace most of the downstairs tile.
In general, you have more options when you put the cabinets in first.
