Hi I am in flooring The floor does not have to be water level you have a allowance of 3mm in 1mt or 6mm it 2mt or 9mm in 3mt get the picture The subfloor does have to be hard and smooth But you CAN NOT put the kitchen on the floating floor, the floating floor needs to be able to expand and contract with a min of 10 mm expansion or 1.5mm for every 1mt so a 10mt long room needs 15 mm expansion gap at ether end. Ask the kitchen supplier if he can leave the kick boards of a put them on are the floor is installed

You need to do the island & your other floor cabinets first - they shouldn't be installed on top of a floating floor. Particularly the island as it won't be attached to the subfloor & will therefore not be stable enough. The floating floor can then be installed around the island. Leave the skirting boards off, so the floor can go under the cabs as far as possible, then install skirts after completion of the floor.

Several decades ago, I grew up in a house with cork tiles in kitchen and sunroom - and I was a convert from then. Cork is warm to look at and to walk on, and is very forgiving when you drop things on it. Since then Ive had houses with tiles in both bathroom and kitchen (not my choice), and more than half an hour standing doing kitchen/meal prep, used to give me aching legs. I could never figure out why tiles were so desirable by all and sundry, until I found their advantages in a hot climate in summer - cool underfoot. But when I bought my recent house I was intent on putting cork down, but found I had vinyl wood-look planking in the kitchen - I have learned to love it, as it is : comfortable to walk/stand on (must have a good underlay?), things don't smash when I drop them, and so easy to clean - I really love it now, and with a couple of polyprop non-slip mats from Briscoes for extra underfoot comfort, I'm sold... Hope you solve your dilemma soon... :-D

Dark cabinets on bottom