The "oil finishes" are hardwax oil products that are applied as a single coat. They are traditionally a matte finish and they require maintenance by the homeowner. You must be prepared for the maintenance. Many of the factory finished engineered floors with oil finishes can require (or would benefit from) an application of maintenance oil applied as soon as they are installed. This isn't a huge issue (because it is relatively easy) but it is something that most people do not know and therefore "miss" the opportunity to add this little bit of extra love at the beginning. Once installed, the oil floors are beautiful, raw-looking wood finish. They are low gloss. If you are someone who likes the look of a "clean shiny floor" then you will be horribly disappointed by the floors and will spend days and days trying to "clean" the floors to a "shine" - without any success. Tears are soon to follow. As for "UV oil finish" this is just a fun way of saying the factory used UV lights to speed up the curing of the finish. Instead of 2-3 days, the cure can be reduced to a few minutes under UV lighting. That's it. That's the whole difference. Other than that, UV cured vs. natural cured hardwax "oil" finishes are the same beast. If you love the look of oil finished flooring, then go for it. But PLEASE FIND OUT the maintenance requirements and purchase ALL of the maintenance products at the same time that you purchase the floor. That includes any "colour oil" products used to create the colour at the factory. Once the floor has been delivered, I would find a "culled" or warped plank (an imperfect plank that will not be installed) and start playing with your maintenance products on the board (or boards) so that you are well schooled BEFORE a little "oopsa" occurs. It will make your life MUCH easier.

OK...point #1. If any part of your slab is 'below grade' the ENTIRE THING is graded as 'below grade'. Personally I would pick different flooring for the 'wet' rooms such as the bathrooms and laundry. The reason: 'water proof' flooring is expensive. So WHY pay for the entire basement to be covered in 'water proof' when only a few hundred square feet actually 'need it'. The other thing is: a floating floor is really all you want to play with. Tiles in bathrooms/laundry room can be adhered to the concrete, the rest can be floated. The basics for ANY floating floor is the same. You must have a vapour barrier (not always underpadding) and you must always have a WELL PREPARED concrete slab that is flat (no wonky subfloors for a floating floor...ever). A laminate floating floor and a vinyl floating floor and a cork floating floor (and even a linoleum floating floor) all require the same thing. And the mechanism to install is always a 'click-together' system. An engineered hardwood can be floated but it almost always requires glue on the seams. Again, all of the same PREPARATION is required. So go ahead and start paying for the concrete slab to be fixed up so that your flooring of choice can be laid down as soon as you can. The 'nightmare' the sales guys are talking about relates to installation and moisture. They are TRYING to get you to purchase the product THEY NEED to move. Yep. I would hazard a guess that these guys have been given 'targets' to meet and/or they have been offered bonuses for moving a certain TYPE of product (too much in the warehouse is costing the company TOO MUCH money). In a nutshell, the reason why you are getting 4 different opinions is because you spoke to 4 different salespeople with 4 different 'company agendas'. That's it. There is no mystery in that. My questions for you (if I were your sales person): 1. What is your budget (do NOT fudge numbers with sales people...it pisses them off and makes them less likely to get the RIGHT floor)? 2. What is your FAMILY situation? Animals? Landscaping issues such as pools, etc? 3. What are YOUR expectations? Can you accept the limitations of certain flooring if it gets you the LOOK that you want for the price you are able to pay?

Modern means simple I have no idea what you mean by stacked unless the new floor is tile or tile look. Myabe post a pic of the new floor. I certainly would not do either of those other patterns if modern is your aim. I have laminate all thorugh my home that is from Germany , has an amazing caoting on it that my 3 huge dogs have not been able to scratch a wood floor would have been totalled by now. I have vinyl plank is out walk out it is 13 yrs old and the new ones are certainly better but mine still looks great and those same dogs are in and out of that level all the time from a dog run.What layout you have is not really staggered it is how real wood gets installed . Do you want wood look flooring or maybe something different our laminate in the main floor looks like slate and it is even a bit textured most people think it is stone.I love it because it works with my FP. @ of the dogs the other one weigh 125 lbs.

@cheri127 Thanks Cheri, I think I have seen pictures of your beautiful kitchen on here before. All of the cabinet runs that have uppers are on the outside wall that has very little slope - the only cabs in an area with slope are a peninsula that has no upper cabs. The slope itself doesnt bother me (I have lived in old houses with more severe ones) but this is hopefully our forever home and I didn't know if it would make hardwood difficult / imposs impossible to install. trying to get a contract to come take a look at present, but just wanted an idea of what is possible / desireable in advance