Yes, I've had some Armstrong people trying to sell it on me. Their sales pitch is impressive and it does look like hardwood. Laminate flooring is definately changing. Nice to see a change from that drabby looking three strip butcher block look. I am particularly impressed with some of the Quick Step and Wilsonart laminate hand scraped...definately two of the best manufacturers out there in laminate floor world.

Very impressive website.

Here is a link that might be useful: Quick Step Room Gallery

I wonder if it's the same stuff as 'Berry' floors from Belgium.

They use an excellent photo-reproduction of wood--not at all pixillated-- then actually texture it so that the grain matches the color. It also comes in very long, very wide peices, much larger than standard hardwoods.

From an appearence standpoint, the best laminate is now practically indistinguishable from hardwood. Anyone who ruled out laminate as too fake might want to take another look-- I have.

What really caught my eye about this new Armstrong flooring is that it has a finish and sheen that looks just like hardwood and the way the boards look together. It has the beveled edge and groves just like hardwood. I tell you this floor would definitely stump some "hardwood" advocates. Beautiful and durable. I think the laminate people will be putting a serious dent on the hardwood business which is not a bad thing since some woods are already going extinct.

Yes, I agree the new Armstrong Grand Illusions is stunning.

We just installed Berry floors and are thrilled with how they look and feel. We combined a 5" wide plank (Castle Rock cherry, 5x50) with an assorted sized slate (Tourraine grey slate, 12x46) throughout our first floor, and it looks amazing. In addition to being beveled, it's wonderfully textured, too. People have literally walked in and bent down to touch the floor, knowing in advance that I'd told them it was laminate. They found it hard to believe! Berry offers a lifetime warranty, btw.

We just installed Grand Illusions from Armstrong two months ago and it is the most unbelievable floor. According to Armstrong it is 8-9 times more abrasion resistant than real wood and other laminates! It also has an anti-microbial finish so germs won't grow on it. The durability and anti-microbial sold us because we have 3 kids and a big dog and the floor still looks as good as the first day we installed it. They also have a similar product in their Bruce Laminate line called Park Avenue. It is exactly the same structure but just different visuals. We found a dealer close to us just by going on their website (www.armstrong.com) and entering our zipcode.

We also installed their handscraped product called Rustics Homestead Plank. It too is gorgeous and extremely durable.

ldbl, I'm so jealous!! I can't wait to get into my new house and have these floors. I'm so looking forward to it. I know to some they think, what's the big deal. Well, if you saw the floors I'm living on presently, you'd know. HA! We needed to replace these floors 3 years ago, but when we started building the new house we figured we'd wait till we were ready to sell and since we had an old dog who had accidents and now we have another old dog having accidents!! It's a peal and stick vinyl that was beautiful in its' day, but those days are long gone!!! Living on those new Armstrong laminate floors will be like dying and going to heaven. LOL

Which one did you choose? Can you post a photo? I'd love to see it. Thanks

I too have looked at the Grand Illusions and it is truly amazing. The store had it down on the floor with a real hardwood on each side and you could not tell the difference.
Unfortunately I'm going with a more rustic look.
So far Wilsonart and Berry both have something that I like and I'm thrilled to see that someone else loves their Berry floor. I'll have to checkout the Armstrong Rustic Homestead Plank.
One thing I really like about Berry is that there are a few of them that you can get in different widths and that's more the look I'm going for.

I'm here to correct my statement about where to find the Grand Illusion. Premiere Flooring does not carry it. They carry a similar product also made by Armstrong and it's in the Hampton Collection. It's beautiful and realistic and very thick. Actually 1/8" thicker than the Grand Illusion, which is pretty thick in itself.

Just wanted to correct my error and not have people going to look for the Grand Illusion at Premiere and it not be there.

I was able to get the salesman down .50 less per sq. foot on the Hampton on our 1600 sq. ft. order, so it's a strong possibility we'll go with the Hampton series. With flooring, I would really rather buy it locally rather than have it shipped and have the order wrong, etc.

ldbl, will you be able to post a photo?