Unless you suck up what a steam mop loosens you aren't doinga thing.
a sponge mop and a bucket are the best.

I recently replaced my old laminate floor with a new one. Used to use vinegar and water but this floor has a high sheen and I'm afraid the vinegar will dull it. Right now I just use the Bruce floor cleaner that the manufacturer recommended. The kit comes with a large swiffer-like "mop" for lack of a better term. It uses washable terry cloth covers so not a lot of waste. Home Depot sells the same type of "mop" separately if you don't want the whole kit. We have 2 dogs and 2 cats so I know what you mean about grime! The thing I do like about what the system I'm using is that I can spot clean easily. I keep a cloth on the mop head at all times so I just spray a spot and wipe.

Unless you suck up what a steam mop loosens you aren't doing a thing.

The thick pad on the bottom of the steam mop or the cloth at the end of a canister steam machine is designed to collect and hold the soil that the steam loosens. With my canister steamer, I use a microfiber cloth which I change out as it fills with dirt. In the course of cleaning my floors, I will use a dozen cloths and I will go over an area more than once.

That's why I gave up on using a steam cleaner on the kitchen floor. I would have to change the pad every pass or so otherwise I was just moving dirt around.

Something that does NOT work: Swiffer Wet Jet Wood Cleaner. Even tho i sweep and/or vacuum first, the Swiffer left lots of dirt behind. don't bother. I do like the Swiffer WJ for cleaning my linoleum kitchen floor.

Something that does NOT work: Swiffer Wet Jet Wood Cleaner. Even tho i sweep and/or vacuum first, the Swiffer left lots of dirt behind. don't bother. I do like the Swiffer WJ for cleaning my linoleum kitchen floor.

Sorry about the double post.

I researched this pretty thoroughly when I got my new laminate flooring a year ago and using a steam mop on a laminate floor is asking for trouble. Experts will warn you away from that. And, for mopping, you should never mop it like you would a tile or vinyl floor where it doesn't matter the amount of water you use.

I use a laminate cleaner made strictly for laminate (not real wood) and a microfiber or terry cloth pad. There is only enough liquid to remove the marks, never more. And, of course, it is vacuumed first to remove dust and dirt because the biggest enemy of laminate is to capture the dirt and then scrape it across your floor while cleaning.

Wet Swiffer products are probably not a good idea either because they introduce solvents that will haze and detract from the nice finish of the flooring. And, no Murphy's oil products...they are great for real wood but will cause a smeary mess on laminate.

The Bruce products are great and so are the Abbey floor cleaner products. I would love to hear if someone has tried the BonaKemi products because the refillable floor mop system seems interesting.

The best way I have found is using Orange Glo Wood Floor Cleaner. Use a damp (Not wet) sponge mop, apply the cleaner to the mop head and mop in the direction of the grain. Do small sections (6x6) and rince the mop often.