I have to agree with Lynn. Laminate flooring is great for starter homes, maybe basement flooring, etc. but it will not last like hardwood. You can have extra coats of finish applied to your hardwood if you are concerned about the dogs and kids but it is a "renewable" product. It can be sanded and refinished over and over again! I just don't understand why people want to use laminate when it is just a "faux" product; of course price is a factor but every laminate floor I have walked on looks and sounds so cheap! I have hardwood floors with dogs and grandkids and have never had a problem. There are scratches but they are not noticeable and are not deep. Engineered floors are a little bit better than laminate but, there again, they can only be sanded once or twice then you have to replace! Good Luck!

both have aluminum oxide. The AO crystals in urethane are suspended and usually put on the top or 2nd to the top coat of finish. Laminate flooring also has AO. Engineered can be refinished but laminates can't. AO on engineered flooring is 10 times more abrasive resistant than site finished. As floorguy mentions they both can scratch. Nothing is undestructable.

Manufactured flooring generally has a harder finish than site installed/finished hardwoods. Laminate flooring is generally thin, made to lock together(some lock well, some do not), and cannot be refinished. Most damage is permanent and replacement is necessary to fix. Engineered flooring has layers of material, the last or top layer being the wear layer. Cancook's explanation is referring to those better grade types with a 6mm wear layer, instead of a thinner(3-4mm) wear layer. That wear layer is made up of chemicals and minerals to form a very tough surface. This type can be installed by nails/staples, glued to the surface, or as a floating floor. It is thick enough to be able to be resanded/refinished is desired. Site finished hardwood flooring is installed using tongue and grooved planks(from 12" to several feet long) that are unfinished wood. Each plank is nailed/stapled to the sub floor(using an underlayment like tar paper/craft paper/rosin paper/etc. to prevent squeaking). Then the entire surface is sanded flat, cleaned of dust, and a finish(oil or water based for most applications) of three or more applications are applied. Solid wood has enough thickness to be refinished(sanded and new finish applied) at least once with fairly major damage and may be refinished twice. Many homes built in the early 1900's have repairable solid wood flooring. One other item. Click together flooring has zero water resistance. Water can easily get between the connections and through the flooring. The connections for nail down engineered flooring are a lot tighter and more water resistant since the process of nailing forces the planks tighter together. Site finished wood flooring has an unbroken surface since the finish is applied in layers. Take a 14' by 18' room as an example. Laminate flooring could be installed in two or three hours and immediately ready for use. Engineered flooring might take the entire day(8 hours), and be immediately ready for use. Solid wood would take a minimum of 2&1/2 days to install(nail down, sand, three coats of finish with 6 hours between applications---oil based would be another 24 hours for finishing) plus a waiting time to walk on, then move furniture and even longer for area rugs.

If 10 years is your goal, then anything above $2/sf will do it. Stick with a name you recognise (like Armstrong, Bruce, etc). With your expectations, Lowes or Home Depot (I can't believe I'm suggesting these sources) will do just fine. For noise control (and I'm not kidding about this...carpet does WAY more than you can imagine for noise reduction) please work with a nice underlay like 6mm cork. It makes a HUGE difference. Those two things put together (decent laminate + really nice cork underlay) will get you a very nice floor. But then again, almost anything with a nice cork underlay will get you a nice floor. I've seen $0.99/sf laminate feel high-end just because 6mm cork underlay was used. No bouncing. No clicking. Just a solid feeling floor underfoot that helps reduce noise while it is at it.