I want to rip out my kitchen completely and install new cabinets. My question is should I tile the entire floor and place the cabinets on top or should I install the cabinets first and tile around the edges? What are the advantages or disadvantages of both? Thanks for any help.

I would set the floor tiles first. If you set the tile first, then there would be less cuts, saving time and tile. If for any reason you ever decided to (in the future) get new cabinets, it would be easier if they were on top of the tile. (less risk of damaging floor replacing cabinets in future)

I think it would use less tile to do it after the cabinets are in place, but either would work.

I tile the floor first so that the cabinets will still be the same height as designed. I have had many dishwasher installation problem when I run into a new floor added after the cabinets. I try to use all my scrapes and bad pieces under the cabinets. Some times I will make wood furring strips if I am running short of tile.

It's obviously easier to install the floor first as you can usually go through almost the entire installation with just a snap cutter, eliminating the need to keep running to a wet saw.

My preference however is to tile last for several reasons:

-Expensive tile is a lot of wasted money under the cabinets
-Debris from other work getting in the grout
-Things getting dropped on and cracking tile
-You lose most of the control you have over the layout of the tile.

Snap a line across the floor about 3" out from the wall, and you will get a quick visual as to where the wall bows in or out. From the wall, where it bows into the room the most, I snap a parallel line that is the distance from the back of the cabinet to the front of the toe kick. Then I build up the footprint of the cabinets with plywood to ensure there is sufficient room for the tiled floor under the dishwasher or fridge to fit into their places.

This gives 100% control of the layout in the entire room and eliminates the amount of skinnies around the room. As for the tile underlayment, I use Ditra on better than 90% of my installs so the buildup from just the underlayment is only 1/8" and I can just cut it with a utility knife as I go along so it's no big deal going around obstacles like it would be with cement board.