I think I was told that either way is correct. Not being professional contractors, all I can tell you is what we are doing. We had the hardwood installed first, it is stained with two coats of finish, will do a third finish coat just before toe kick is installed. The toe kick will be the last thing we do, except for window treatments. So far we are happy with our decision, but ..... we are not done yet. The cabinets are installed and painted and the appliances are in place.

Hardwood first is ideal to keep everything level and so any future changes, minor or major don't mean you have to add flooring or refinish all the floors. You contractor may not like that because he has to be careful of the floors afterwards. In new house construction, where they can plan the order how ever they want floors go in first. Per my floor finisher, one finish coat is even preferable to give some protection against minor moisture under the DW and cabinets and give you a little more time to find and correct moisture problems before the floor begins to buckle.

Sue

There are pros and cons both ways, but either will work. I believe if you put the hardwood in first, you are sure that appliances and cabinets are level with everything else, and don't have to worry about seams/edges, but then you're also paying for flooring that won't ever be seen, and the contractor has to worry about protecting the floors for the rest of the job.

In our remodel, they put the hardwood in first, and took it into the line of the cabinets but not all the way to the wall. They filled in the rest with plywood to level things off. I think I have pictures if you want to see them. I am trying to remember whether they did one finish coat before the cabinets, I can't right now. They'll do the final two coats right at the end.

Either way works...if you're putting in prefinished, many contractors do not want it in first because it may get damaged while installing the cabinets and appliances and with prefinished, the only remedy is to remove/replace the board. It's more common to have the floor in first when you're putting in unfinished. the final finish coat is done after the cabinets are installed.

My contractor and cabinet people both said the hardwood floors went in last. The main problem with that was I have a lot of furniture type toe kicks and everything had to be undercut because I did not want any quarterround moulding. If they had gone in first we would not have had that problem but we would have had everyone tromping all over them and there are alot of workers that are not terribly careful that end up in your house during a kitchen remodel. Not that they are all not careful but....electicians, plumbers, contractor, cabinet installer, granite templaters, granite installers, etc...

I guess the difference may be that I did install site finished hardwood.

Sue

We did site finished hardwood and the floors were installed first. We make all the contractors put down blankets and we kept big sheets of cardboard to protect the floor as well. Even with that we have 2 small dings where a worker dropped a heavy tool. But I figure it won't be noticeable after a while between the dog and the kids :o

If you put any floor down last make sure you floor under the DW, or put it on thick enough plywood to be at least the same level as the top of the floor.

Having to demo floors and counters to remove a DW is a disaster.

Even 1/8 inch of tile can be enough to trap a DW if the cabinets are minimum height.
It makes it a real chore to wedge the DW up after dropping the feet to minimum height to slide the thing out.

If you put them down after you have to leave 1/2" expansion gaps. How will you cover those gaps? Make sure there is a plan ahead of time. You can't butt the floors up tight to the cabinets, the wood floors need space to expand (and yes they will buckle, there is no expansion gap in one room in my house and we need to tear out the baseboard to create a gap because in the summer the floor gets all wavy).

My BIL is a finish carpenter and insists floors go first, then cabinets.

This is how we did it and are happy with the process

In order..
1. Electrical
2. Plumbing
3. Gas
4. Flooring
5. Painting
6. Cabinets, hardware
7. Appliances
8. Counters
9. base molding

10. Pendants, etc.
11. still waiting for crown molding after two years.. will get to it some day;)

Thank you. I asked my GC and he said he always puts the floors in last. Now I am concerned about that because of the comments and advice here. Maybe I will show him some of your comments. Hope you all had a Happy Thanksgiving.

The difference is whether it's site finished or prefinished. If it's site finished, then the floor almost has to be installed afterward, just for the safety of the floor. If it's site finished, then it's up to the disgression of the GC.

Bill, I think you meant if it is "pre" finished it almost has to be installed afterward?

Sue