We had hardwood installed throughout our house about eight years ago and have not had any problems at all until about six months ago. At that time, we noticed that the floor boards in the kitchen were starting to separate along the side of the room where the sink, dishwasher, and fridge are. Thinking it might be a dishwasher problem, we stopped using the dishwasher, but the separation continued to get worse. We then had two plumbers come in to look for leaks and to check out the fridge and dishwasher but both said nothing was wrong. In the meantime, however, the separation kept getting worse and expanding across the room. We then called in a home inspector to see if he could determine the problem. He said he thinks it's just environmental conditions and the natural expansion and contraction of the wood. We have an unfinished basement so we can see that there are no signs of water leakage in the subfloor. It's been a couple of months since the inspector was here, and the floor's condition is still getting progressively worse. I can now feel dips in the floor, it creaks loudly in places, and the separation continues to get wider. None of the floors in the rest of the house are having this problem, so the inspector's conclusion that it's an environmental or installation problem doesn't seem to make sense. Would appreciate any thoughts as to what could be causing this or who we should consult. Thanks in advance!