Flooring for uneven kitchen floor

[Amie D.]

Hi all, I have a mid-range rental that currently has 12x12 ceramic tiles in the kitchen, which is about 12x14 in size. The problem is the house is about 100 years old, and the floor underneath the tile has several problems which has caused many maintenance issues with both the tile and grout cracking.

For one although the tiles were installed on a cement board underlayment, under that is old wood plank flooring (with a lot of flex) that was in bad condition. To complicate matters, the house sits over a crawlspace and the floor is held up by a series of piers, which has settled over the years so I can only describe the floor as "wavy" - high where the piers are, and low in other areas, therefore not flat and inviting tiles to crack. I've had the foundation and floor inspected, it is fine and safe, but I think it's time to replace the tiles.

What would you put down in this situation? I am thinking vinyl plank flooring. I love real tile in rentals due to it's (usual) low maintenance and appearance, however they will just not work in this situation. I don't know if I'd want to risk doing tile again with smaller or thicker tiles, and later be kicking myself if the tiles or grout lines started cracking again. The floor is so "wavy" that I don't think a floor leveler would help, else you'd have to use a LOT of it.

Because the floor is not perfectly flat though, would the vinyl plank flooring come apart at the seams? If so, I'm thinking my only option would be linoleum, which I'd hate to put down because I think many times it does not look that good.