Install: depends on glue down or floating. Floating is going to be easier to install, regardless of the surface. But glue down is cushier, can be applied in a pattern or with a border, absorbs sound better...

Quality: who knows? With engineered hard wood you can be pretty certain that one company's red oak is pretty much the same as the next. All you need to do is compare the thickness of the wear layer and quality of the finish. Not a small thing, of course, but with cork you get the added complexity of the density of the cork, and the actual surface seems to be different [for some manufacturers] than the underlying cushion layer.

My approach has been to acquire as many samples as I can. At this rate, I may be able to do the whole floor in samples. Then at least I'll be able to say for certain if one brand is better than the other...

Which brands are you leaning toward at this point?

Right now, I'm back to the Wiccanders floating: the actual patterned layer of cork seems thicker. I still haven't seen the 'good stuff' of theirs with the finish containing ceramics, but that one has me spooked because it can only be re-finished by a Wiccanders approved company, you can't just buy it and apply it yourself. That could relate to their pattent, though: maybe it will become available down the road.

I like the Durodesign glue down too, though: very cushy, and I'd like the option of having a little more pattern than the floating stuff.

Less impressed by Simple floors and the others, though. Not only is the face layer of cork thin, the cushion layer is thin, too. The upside of the simple floors version is that the finish is kind of grainy and matte: much less slippery than the others. The tounge and grove of their engineered seems to be the same as for Globus natural cork, which I don't have a sample of. Yet.

That is good to know. We've just started looking, and don't have any samples, but the Duro is on the top of our list, primarily I must admit because the list of clients and projects on the DuroDesign site is impressive and seems to suggest a quality product (or at least good marketing to the trade). Hope you will keep us posed on your decision!