well im not a carpet fan... area rugs yes.. wall to wall not really but it works in your living room. but it really depends. you flipping or living in it for a while? also you will also get more return with better flooring. I would do the first floor in the the good plank. not the laundry room, put in some cheap tile there or laminate......there is a door I assume, and no on really needs $$ in a laundry floor. are you taking it all the way through the front hall and bathroom?

A lot depends on where you live and how rough you are on your floors. Kids? Dogs? Carpeting retains odors, but is warm under foot, and much more quiet than hard floors. Wood floors also can scratch easily (dog paw nails, kids dropping/throwing things on it). Tile works best for tough wear, but is cold. (Good for hot climates). Laminate really doesn't wear well and as you've noticed has a hollow sound cause it's not real wood. So much to consider. When buying whatever you choose, look at the guarantee. The longer the guarantee the better the flooring will wear with time. There's good reasons to get all different types of flooring, but keeping it consistent throughout the home is the wisest choice.

I would look at option 3: Install same flooring in kitchen, entrance way and laundry. I know that would mean removing hardwood...but it would CUT DOWN on the number of floors you have going on. I don't like removing hardwood, but in your situation it is doing very little for you. To have a species match added to the rest of the home would be MASSIVE. It is doable...but not for $3K. A 1000sf "tie in" is more into the double figures for this type of work.

Because the hardwood is such a small area, I would consider removing it...it serves no purpose other than advertising "comes with hardwood floors".

I would look at a vinyl or ceramic/porcelain tile throughout the entry, kitchen laundry. That leaves you with 2 floors instead of 3. This allows you the MOST flexibility in the future. If the carpet is beautiful and in good shape, leave it. You can decide on carpeted areas later.

Remind hubby that laminate is NOT for kitchens NOR laundry rooms. If he insists on it, you tell him to buy TWICE the amount needed so that he can completely replace both kitchen and laundry room when something goes wrong...and it will. Ice makers, dishwashers, washing machines and faucets all have known histories of "letting go" just when you jet off for a vacation. Laminate and water do NOT mix. Going cheap with laminate = going expensive with replacement flooring.

Installing 1000sf of flooring (no matter what you choose) for $3000 is very, very, very hard to do. Preparing the subfloors will be an expense for LVT and ceramic tiles. The prep is slightly less for engineered hardwood.

If you leave the carpet in place and replace the kitchen, entrance and laundry room, you will have a bigger budget for a better floor. Leave what can be left alone and deal with the "wet" areas in an appropriate material (LVT, sheet vinyl, sheet lino, ceramic, porcelain, stone, concrete). Engineered hardwood is accepted in kitchens but not a great idea for laundry rooms.

If you want engineered hardwood throughout, you will need to increase your budget for the materials. Engineered hardwoods can have a hollow sound as well. Especially the cheaper, thinner ones. You may be able to get a thin, low-cost engineered for $3/sf...but you need a quality underlay to get rid of the hollow sound (it turns out laminate floors are not to blame for "hollow" it is the POOR QUALITY UNDERLAY that people buy on the cheap that cause hollow, bouncing laminates). That means you need to increase the budget to by $1 for the underlay.

A "nice" engineered hardwood = $5-$9/sf...+ $1/sf underlay = $6-$10/sf = $6K - $10K budget. Installation costs are then $2-$3 per square foot for engineered (depending on the type of installation).

A budget of $3K is good for replacing kitchen/entrance/laundry room with appropriate flooring. A bigger investment is needed to do all 1000sf.

I'm planning to install COREtec in my condo, but there are pros and cons to every type of flooring. If you're interested in feedback from people who have actually installed COREtec in their homes, there's a discussion titled "Anyone used Coretec?" with over 550 comments in it. For some weird reason, it isn't coming up when I do a search on "Coretec" so here's a link to it: [https://www.houzz.com/discussions/anyone-used-coretec-dsvw-vd~2388434[(https://www.houzz.com/discussions/anyone-used-coretec-dsvw-vd~2388434)