Squirrel, How much MM of actual hardwood wear level was on top of the 3/8th engineered wood since that matters more? I would prefer a 1/2" engineered wood with at least 2 MM on top. So far 5.5 hours later, the Park Avenue Laminate is holding up very well and did not swell with just a very small amount of water absorbing on one spot but most of it stayed dry with the water on top of the same and on top of the laminate in a puddle. The Anderson Engineered Wood was able to click together very tight so it holding up well despite more of it getting through the seam and into the plywood. The Mannington's Engineered wood has more that soaked to the bottom of the wood due to the planks not clicking that great together being from two of their lines. If more water was poured on this, I can see a problem. I think I will let the water stay there overnight and see what happens. I am also going to pour another 1/4 cup of water in the seam of each of the flooring samples to see what happens tomorrow morning. Stay tuned to the results.... :) Squirrel and Anne, that is a good point about the sound it makes. I can always add wood floors in my Master Bedroom if I choose laminate for my office. My one concern is the value of my property if I put in Laminate versus Engineered Hardwood Floors. If I knew I would be here a very long time, I would not worry at all and get what is best for my office and then I can get something different for the rest of my home one day when I am ready to put hardwood down in those rooms. If I get what I love for the office and I love it enough, I can put it through the rest of my home. I have no idea how long I will live here and if I meet Mr. Wonderful and get married one day, I have no idea if he will move in with me since my home is very nice or I would move to his home or we will sell both of our homes and buy one together. But so far, that Mr. Wonderful ends up being short-term dating and I am still single and kind of gave up on dating for awhile a few very nice men being interested in me and emailing me and calling. But if I sell my place I know hardwood floors will sell better but if I choose a species I love that is photosenstive to the sun, maybe that will not be a good selling point that under all my file cabinets and office furniture is a different color wood. I also really like Semi-gloss on floors and the Bruce Park Avenue has a high gloss that is pretty but I wish it was less gloss. But it looks real and I like the Makore look that seems peaceful and looks nice in my home office not clashing with anything. If I was not afraid of making my office too dark (not much natural light after the front of the office that has the windows since there is a half a wall high that has the other part of the office behind it with no windows at all that gets hardly any light), I really adore the Santos Mahagony's grain and variation of rich deep colors. I am waiting for more samples to arrive. If I knew I would live here many more years and I had the finances and time and if I was able to (may not due to moisture since my town house was built on the preserved wet lands in my area), I would put a subfloor down in all rooms in my home and put down solid wood flooring in red oak quartersawn cut with many coats of protection on top.

OK, I renamed the best pics of each of the three wood species I chose and took pics by my file cabinet by the window, by my credenza that is in back of my desk and by the front of my desk which is by the front windows. I also took pics of the room that is a little messy right now since I am working on a major project and do not have time to clean if I am working as well as obsessing about which wood floor for my office. I was going to wait until the end of the year to change the carpet but then when my air conditoner/heating/compressor unit died on me and caused a flood in the foyer area between the two rooms that are part of that big room, I had to decide what to replace the engineered warped and darkened oak wood with. Pieces of the veneer have come up and it is bumpy and was smelling a muscky smell until I had carpet cleaners deodorize it and steam it lightly to get rid of the musky smell. I either have to replace it with wood or maybe I should put tile there and wood floors in the rest of the office? The 80 pics are now about 23 or 24 pics labeled. Tomorrow I will reduce the number of pics and insert them into my picture program to share with you. I may start a new thread.

Is there any reason why you can't just paint the Formica on the cabinet sidewall rather than remove it? (Scuff w/ sandpaper then prime.) Otherwise, try heat. Warm up the laminate with an old iron, blow dryer or heat gun. Start at an edge & work you way, warming & prying with a putty knife, drywall knife... The glue residue is not going to be fun. I don't know what will work on that aside from knowing that lacquer thinner will loosen the old, original solvent based contact cement. But definitely not advisable working indoors with it. I'd head off to Sherwin Williams & ask them about safer alternatives. (If the contact cement is green, you have a water-based cement.) Similarly, perhaps you can install 1/4'' Hardibacker over the laminate on the rest of the backsplash? Otherwise, you don't really need cement board for most of the splash. Drywall is a suitable substrate for tile. Only exception would be around/ behind the sink. Cement board would be a better choice for the wet areas.

My father was a ceramic tile contractor. I also have lots of family and friends in the Houston area. To me, there are two separate and distinct issues: (1) whether to use tile or wood; and (2) whether to use wood look tile if you go the tile route. A single flooring choice in the public areas of an open concept works well. Having a separate type of flooring for the kitchen is also common. In the Sunbelt, cold tile floors is not a big issue. More of an issue is being on your feet a lot. My choice preferences would be: (1) wood floor throughout; (2) stone look porcelain tile throughout; or (3) stone look porcelain in the kitchen and wood all other public areas on that level. Wood look tiles IMO paint you into a design corner. It’s IMO a fad. Beyond that, wood look tile seldom works with other flooring choices. It never looks real because of short lengths. It does not transition well with real wood or stone look tile. So if used, pretty much need to use throughout. It can greatly impact kitchen cabinet colors. If you tire of it, it is a pain to remove. Wood floor can be refinished.