I would not put either in a kitchen.

tile ?

Tile or vinyl, for sure.

Tons of people put hardwoods in a kitchen. For wider planks engineered is likely a better match. Wider than 5" and you can start to run into problems with solid hardwoods.

Where do you live? Because it makes a difference as to the width of wood you can install.

Ive had both in my entire home besides bathrooms and laundry. Engineered Hickory wide planked and site finished white Oak. Over all I prefer the engineered hardwoods. My Site finished Oak didn't wear well at all. Was hard to clean. Even after cleaning it never felt clean. My RHW had an aluminum oxide finish. They were awesome. Cleaned up and wore like a dream.

live in Toronto. Can someone recommend a brand. also prefer light colour no more darks

So, don’t you have a lot of humidity and temperature changes there?im no expert, but I’m pretty sure you need to plan for wide wood like that by keeping a fully dehumidified, temperature controlled environment....no opening your windows.... do you plan to live like that?

you should check out yelp in your area, and find a few top notch, well reviewed retailers who do their own install. Then rely on their help and advice.

https://craftfloor.com/

I have several samples of their floors - they are gorgeous.

Have lived with hardwood floors in my kitchen since 2005 -- a renovation to extend from family room. We left the original ceramic tile in the laundry, and replaced the foyer with marble, and the 3/4 bath with marble like limestone. I have no regrets. Yes, the hardwood has coupled in unexplainable places, but we don't trip on it. Yes, the light has altered the hardwood color, but we have rugs. And we can refinish to sell or transfer. Engineered wood cannot be refinished. And to remove it and replace is more expensive than installing hardwoods. If you are a flipper, or budget is the determining factor then yes, EH. But if you plan to live in your home long enough to refinish the hardwood, or want to sell your home in move-in condition -- choose hardwood. It's not that much more -- what costs more is the number of poly finishes -- we chose three -- the minimum -- five is ideal.

Many types of engineered wood can be refinished.

Matt: I am using Mirage Natural Oak Select and Better engineered wood for my floors which will be everywhere except the bathrooms. It is a Canadian company.

Their finish is supposed to be excellent and there is enough of a wear layer to refinish - although I don't think I would actually refinish since the process is so difficult to go through so for me, the durability of the finish was more critical than the wear layer although if I move (which I don't anticipate) the floors could be refinished in the period between my move out and the new owner's move in.

We have 2 1/2 inch hardwood flooring in our kitchen. We live blocks from the beach on an elevated house. No problems with humidity. We also have 5 kids and lots of spills. No problems.

We really wanted hardwoods because engineered always seemed to scratch and vinyl looked to fake.

Go with whatever you like. Hardwoods have been around for 100+ years, some still remain in homes!

I agree that wide planks in T.O. will work better with engineered. Ontario has issues with hot humid summers (just like NY) and cold winters (lots of heating = dry interiors). That's a lot of stress to put a solid wide plank through. A decent engineered floor with 3mm - 6mm wear layer will do fine in a kitchen.

Just make sure you can control the interior humidity. Even engineered planks need a stable climate...they are just slightly more stable than solid. But wild swings of interior humidity will cause problems with almost any floor product.

It sounds like a high quality Engineered Plank with a decent 4mm wear layer or more may be your best option. Look for American or Canadian products that give specifications similar to that and you should be just fine. :-)

I have seen more dimensional stability issues over the years with thicker wear layers than I have with thinner. That fat wear layer fights the substrate and gives you many of the same issues a solid would give. I've never seen a need for a wear layer over 2mm. Its a waste of money. Bigger is not always better.

Alan

I agree with Weship, when dealing with huge humidity swings. 6 mm veneer can delaminate, if, the core and backing is unstable. The entire laminate system will move at different rates from top, middle to bottom. At some point, one layer will give out, usually the top. It is less risk to use 4 mm wear layer for wide plank engineers.

saw a brand called Pravada. anyone have experience with this?