First, and most important, post this question over on the Flooring Forum. They all helped me a lot, both with my decision and with installation questions.

I went with wood laminate (a Shaw not a pergo). I did get a pretty good deal so my thought was that if it didn't last more than several years it could be replaced. As I understand, the better ones have gotten more water repellant.

You have left off two choices:
1. Engineered hardwoods, which are less expensive than true hardwoods but are a step up from my choice.

2. Slate. I was tempted but decided with the wood laminate. I had heard it wasn't as hard as ceramic tile and it is beautiful.

Good luck!

I just want to say that we have sheet lino (Forbo Caribbean) and yes, it does need to be bump free or it will show through. That being said, my MIL has a wavy floor and her floating floors all bounce because this wave. What is causing your wave? Although expensive, could you have it re-leveled?

I have vinyl tiles. Granted, they have been down longer than their useful life, but they separate, discolor, and nail heads from our (plywood?) subfloor show and eventually protrude through the vinyl.

Go with the sheet vinyl and get a good installer. They put down an underlayment and patch any cracks or nails.

they need to make a rubber room for people like us - who can't decide which way to go on these things!

I'm going crazy with the same decision...

It seems the flooring forum doesn't get much traffic.

Another vote for Engineered hardwood. We've had our about 6 years now (whole house). They still look as new, even the kitchen and downstairs bath. Water, spaghetti sauce (Yep wife dropped the pan), U name it, it wipes right up.
I have heard engineered wood can be refinished 3 times, but I doubt I be around long enough to see it refinished even once!
It's great for the footsies too, Ours is over a concrete slab, We had tile in the kitchen before, terrible on feet and I hate cleaning tile and even more so the grout.

I hopes this helps you folks to get outta "That Rubber Room"
(LOL)!

Gary

I also struggled with much the same problem, for the same reasons. In addition I needed something that would look good in my living area as it's all one floor. See the link below. Starloc is a division of Metro Flooring,Kenecto and Allure. The Allure, I believe is a division that makes it just for HD. Nice stuff.

I had my GC install it and afterward he ordered some for his own house. It was installed over hardwood floors and since it is a floating floor, I didn't ruin the hardwood.

Nancy

Here is a link that might be useful: Starloc

Thanks for all of your postings. I should have said engineered hardwood was among my choices. We have it everywhere in our home except the kitchen and bathrooms. I love it but oddly enough, the guy who sold us the engineered wood said don't put it in the kitchen. Don't know why since it was a premium product. Our 56 year old house is on a slab which has settled. To make matters worse, we have vinyl asbestos tile under 2 old layers of vinyl. Ugh! Well, I will tear my hair out and check out your suggestions and the flooring forum.

We have Armstrong Alterna-it's a "luxury" vinyl tile that came in 16"x16" tiles. Love it so far-we've had it about 2 months. It can be grouted or leave it ungrouted. It looks like stone but is soft on the feet. And not slippery when it gets wet. Easy to clean. Lots of different colors to choose from.

We also have engineered hardwood in our living room and I would have been fine putting that in the kitchen as well but DH wanted the tile.

Tough decisions I know! Good luck with whatever you choose!

Ugh, I'm joining you in the Rubber Room on this one.

I'm not sure what I have my options down to, but I've had my heart set on having the same flooring in some kind of mid-brown wood tone all the public spaces (kitchen, DR, LR, den, hall) in my small house to help it feel more unified and I am even beginning to consider giving that up. I'm on a concrete slab, too. It's uneven, but that can be handled through leveling.

Engineered hardwood has been recommended to me, but I'm not sure how tolerant it is with water exposure. However, someone makes a version that is even marketed to bathrooms... I have that link somewhere. In piles and piles of links! lol Let me know if you are interested.

Starloc looks interesting.

cork is fabulous
fits all your criteria
if i could afford it i would put it in the entire house

i used Durodesign

Hmmm, regarding cork. A friend of mine owns a flooring store. She said no cork, no way. She said they have had more problems with cork. She said it swells, and eventually wrinkles. They have had more call backs on cork than anything.

Also trying to decide on kitchen flooring. . . leaning towards bamboo based on Consumer Reports review. . .

Steph2000 would love to have the link to engineered hardwood marketed for bathrooms.

Thanks!

Like muspic, I went with cork as well. Glue down with 4 coats of poly. Will be installed next week. I've talked to a lot of people before making this decision, for me it was the right decision. Installation is the key. Good luck.

I also struggled with the flooring, wanting durability, easy on the feet, not cold, etc. We went with cork, Wicanders 1000 series floating floor. I have no concerns about the durability of the top of the flooring, as it is a commercial grade finish with a vinyl 'wear layer', and fading wasn't an issue for me as my kitchen is in the center of my home has no direct windows. I have reservations about the 'floating floor' part for long term. It's hard to believe that they make the center of the floor with a particle board type substance. I'm told that the joints are sealed... Time will tell! We got a great deal on the web for this floor, I only have 120 sf, and we installed it easily ourselves, so if it fails in a few years, I won't be distraught over replacing it. Good luck!

Hardwood! Have it throughout my house and if I had to limit it to one room only, it would be the kitchen.

I also have Wicanders cork in my kitchen. I've had it for 7 months and love it. I replaced ceramic tile because of back and knee problems. Cork is wonderful for legs and backs!

Here is another link for the Starloc flooring. It shows the darker color that I put down in the main part of the house and the lighter color that I bought for an ajoining bathroom...it's not down yet though in the bathroom. But it does give you an idea of the pricing. Locally I paid a little more. Then again it's very heavy so shipping would cost.

Here is a link that might be useful: CSN store link to Starloc

Oops. It wasn't an engineered floor that is spec'ed for bathrooms. It's a laminate. Bruce laminate. I found out about it in one of my many searches for 'the perfect floor'. It does call for glue in the bathroom, but no where else in the house. There's some pretty nice colors. I haven't seen it in person.

Here is a link that might be useful: Bruce FAQ