No flooring is 100% waterproof.

Have you walked on the different floor types?

We built on a slab foundation. We were able to walk on large installed samples at a local large flooring store. I had been leaning towards engineered wood, but open to testing the other floors. Once we walked on the other floor types, the engineered wood won easily.

Enginered wood is wood. Itis classic. Putting the L in front of vinyl does not make it luxury. It is a fine product, but not something I would desire for my home. Also each individual plank may be waterproof but the joints are not...

If you choose lvp or the newly improved now waterproof laminate test the click joint system for strength. Some versions can be easily broken. Get a full box to see the color variation range and stripeyness in your space. See the repeat. Very noticeable in some. Hurst Hardwoods has European Oak at good pricing. Flat cut to show off the structure.

Many other flooring stores have this product mostly from SE Asian manufacturers. 4 or 6mm with hardwood plywood core like Eucalyptus is recommended.

" Also each individual plank may be waterproof but the joints are not "

Big enough spill it still all needs to come up. The LVT is unaffected by water and as noted above the water still passes thru the joints and will soak the subfloor. The advantage is you remove the vinyl, clean it, allow it to dry and reinstall.

I would say other that your personal preference, it depends on location.

I own two homes. In NY hardwood is preferred.

Down here in Florida, LVP is taking over for ceramic tiles when homes are are remodeled. And, believe it or not, wood look ceramic tiles are currenting being used again in high end homes.

Homes priced in the 1 million range have LVP!

We are in contract for a new Florida home and the floors need to be redone. I asked the realtor if we should go with wood and she said no absolutely do Coretec.

Since we have Coretec in my current home, I did not need convincing.

Most on here will always say wood, but they also might not have personally experienced LVP.

For LVP, you do have to go with a higher price point.Some look very stripey, cheap and not like wood. But, the owners of these homes are still happy with them!
Scratches on hardwood never bothered me. You would have to get down to floor to see them.

Nowadays, mat finish for the hardwood is becoming in favor. We did this for our main level NY home. Scratches are even harder to see in this finish.

We chose vinyl flooring for our home, and it’s absolutely beautiful! It feels great underfoot and matches our furniture perfectly.

@millworkman You're absolutely right — even if each plank is waterproof, moisture can still seep through the seams. That’s why installation quality and locking system design are so important. Some brands use more advanced click-lock systems and water-resistant core layers to minimize this risk as much as possible.

@chispa You're absolutely right — walking on real samples really changes how you see each flooring option. Engineered wood definitely has that warm, natural feel that’s hard to beat. But we still felt that vinyl flooring was more practical for our home (with kids and pets 😅).