We’re having solid hardwood installed soon. Initially we wanted it to be installed in our kitchen (which currently has laminate, partially removed at this point, along the edge of the kitchen) and our front room (previously carpet, but we’ve got it down to the subfloor now). These rooms are only separated by a floating wall with a few cabinets. We discovered a leveling compound underneath the flooring in the kitchen, and after some investigation into the options, we’ve decided to tile in the kitchen. ANYWAY. The hardwood is going down soon. The areas where it will meet the future tile is currently where our laminate flooring has been pulled up already, so it’s meeting with plywood subfloor with a thin, small amt of leveling compound on top along that area (there’s no thick leveler in those edge areas). Four questions:

1) With tile going in later but soon, what is the best way for us to ask our installers to transition from the hardwood to the current kitchen subfloor? If it matters, the long edge of the hardwood will meet the tile. 

2) If the answer to #1 is “nothing” or a temporary solution, what is the best transition to use later, when the tile goes in, for an ideally seamless transition? 

3) There is a place where the hardwood will meet tile underneath a kitchen cabinet, or otherwise at the very edge of the cabinet. What should the transition there be like, temporarily and/or later? \[See the photo showing the floor. White painted area will be hardwood, and you’ll see the unpainted area where we’ve removed our cabinet. New cabinet will go in same place as old cabinet.\]

4) Since we are also hardwooding our den area, hardwood will be installed onto 3 stair steps leading up to the to-be-tiled kitchen landing. For the landing step, which has leveling compound just beyond the stair nose, would you put a wood stair nose there and transition to tile, or just put a schluter stairnose? Is there a third or better option for this transition? 

Thank you.  I will try attaching photos. 

Ending new hardwood for future transition to tile