So many ways this could go wrong without a problem with install. The colour of the wood is highly variable. It has lots of knots!!!!! Mineral streaks = one plank with 3 different colours. And the knots could be deep, which can be tough with engineered wood. The thickness of the plank is THIN.

Everything on this product SCREAMS out imperfections. You could buy 4 times what you need and STILL have a hard time finding enough planks to match your version of 'acceptable. This company is going to GREAT pains to point out the BIG variations in this floor. And oh the knots!

You will expect DAYS of YOU picking through the wood pile. The acceptable appearance of these planks = anything goes! Don't expect some poorly paid sub to pick through the wood. The mill clearly states this stuff is going to look like a patchwork quilt.

The amount of warnings (about appearance and knots and HEAVY variation) tells me the manufacturer has had enough complaints to fill a dumpster!

How do you feel about a floor that could look like it was scraps of wood?

Your questions tell me you carry concerns. I will tell you right now, you will not be happy with this level of variance.

I'm guessing the builder has chosen to offer this to encourage you to go for the added cost of an upgrade.

@dan Its possible but I assume builders pick a reasonable basic option knowing that some people won't research while others will. It's the nature of the industry.

@SJ - really I'm not too worried about the variation but it does concern me that if care is not taken it could go really bad. I'm almost sure they have this installed in the model home and it looks nice, but they took care of the model home will that care extend my home? good question. I would prefer something with less variation but I'm mostly prefer a better product. Thank you for helping me see that this plank is thin.

Given your feelings about the product would LVP or laminate be a better option particularly for the kitchen?

Short planks; no mention of the thickness of the veneer layer. Two dogs. Kitchen. Sunroom.

I would not use it. Instead, I would look for a SPC (stone plastic composite) vinyl floor. Make sure it is SPC because of the sunroom.

There's a SPC core product different from LVP. An example is Geowood. Waterproof like LVP but instead of a repeating printed image of wood grain it uses actual 1.2mm wood veneer. So no repeat.

I posted this in another thread.

Love the idea of no repeats on the Geowood, but what about scratching? Wouldn't the Geowood be closer to engineered wood with a very thin wear layer and therefor more susceptible to scratching? We have a piece of SPC that we could NOT scratch with a key. Our engineered wood did not fair as well.

Hi all - I've asked the builder/design center to send their upgrade flooring options so I can evaluate them. Once I know I'll send them your way. Thank you everyone.