I'm planning on putting down tiles in my kitchen, and have just pulled up the vinyl flooring - they didn't stick it down, so I'm planning on putting the tile adhesive straight onto the smooth (presumably concrete) surface that was underneath. So, first question - does this sound fine, or is there anything I should check for, or treat the floor with?

Secondly, the kitchen is open-plan with the carpeted dining room room, so I understand I should use some metal trim for the join. Everything I have read says I should plan my tiles from the middle of the room out so that the main tiles all end up square, but this would mean that I'd end up with cut tiles on the boundary, which I've also read should be avoided - so in this case should I plan from the edge that opens onto the dining room?

Lastly, after getting a lot of conflicting advice from far too many youtube/videojug videos, I'm not clear on the best way to actually lay the tiles. I presume I should avoid kneeling on tiles that haven't set, so once I have planned and cut my tiles, should I stick them down from the far corners back to the carpet, or work from the middle out in a spiral?

Thanks!

Use a chaulk line to mark out the room, use these lines to guage where your cuts will be, you can then alter the setting out to avoid small cuts. Starting with full tiles at the doorway may not work as that wall will probably not be square to the room. Once you have found where the tiles are best set you can work out the furthest away full tile from the centre and start from there, this will avoid having to try and walk on them until they have set.
If you register you will get a better response.

as above, and you can buy tile to carpet trim's from carpet/tile shop's that you like the look of, i use one that when carpet/tile's are in place you gently tap down with a wooden block/hammer or rubber mallet to suit the tile level

Schlüter-RENO-V - Schlüter-Systems
Schlüter-RENO-TK - Schlüter-Systems
Schlüter-RENO-U/RENO-RAMP - Schlüter-Systems

Hope these help

I think what you need is a Z bar ( aka zig zag bar). Standard carpet fitter's stuff coming in brass effect or aluminium finish, 900mm lg. or 2700mm lg. Screws/nails are concealed under carpet, normally used for laminate to carpet ( 6 - 10mm depth) but available in deeper profile 14mm 18mm) for carpet to tile. Any carpet shop should be able to supply you and they're not expensive.





The carpet will need accurately trimmed when fitted. If you're not sure best to get a carpet fitter to do it. It only takes a few minutes.

Try make it all look as full as possible when you enter the room.A 3/4 tile still looks full.Try keep any tiles that have to be cut in areas that are not within normal lines of sight or are not focal points.The first few tiles when you step into a kitchen can be conscidered a focal point as people will notice these.Then try get the best look in terms of squarness of the room with the squareness your tiling.Sometimes you can play between the two for best result or if the room is fairly square you can run off a straight wall.A large folding triangle will be handy in determining the overall squareness of the room or a laser square.If you use rapid set you can do the tiles in the middle first and stand on them after 30/40 mins or so but check them first as some rapid sets take longer.However rapid sets are tricky if you are inexperienced as you cannot change anything if it goes slightly wrong.

Good luck

Brilliant, thanks everyone for all the tips!