My son has installed Amtico vinyl by Mannington. He thinks that is a good product. I have a wood look laminate plank floor. It is very nice but I am careful with it. If it gets wet it can warp. Depends on were your putting it. It is easy to install. We are going to remodel in spring and am really considering Amtico vinyl plank. Durable,can handle water and grand kids, dog and cat. It is also a less expensive choice for us.

I think natural maple would look lovely! Especially if you run same flooring throughout. 8’ ceilings are perfectly acceptable (very much norm where I am, and I have 8’ on my second floor and basement by choice). It can be an adjustment coming from higher ceilings initially but I am sure it will soon feel quite normal. I like 8’ ceilings as they are dry conducice to creating cozy nooks and spaces, even in an open floor plan.

Let's deal with the Elephant in the room: floating floors have a hollow feel = BAD subfloor preparation. I'm going to tell you a little secret about carpets. They HIDE the WORST SUBFLOORS in the building industry. I mean people have found cigarette butts, gum wrappers, saranwrap, drywall cuts, etc under their carpets. And that's just the stuff you can sweep up. Now for the 'never flat, never level' subfloor. These builders use lowest of the low/crappiest of the crappy materials under carpet and sheet vinyl (I doubt you have linoleum...I'm guessing sheet vinyl...but never mind). They use PARTICLE board or OSB - the nasty stuff. Now imagine trying to tile over top of that crap. New subfloor anyone? And the other issue, if you have wood joist/wood subfloors...the DEFLECTION RATING! The deflection rating is only good enough for CARPET...or a floating floor. It might not be enough for regular hardwood (it all depends on where the joists are and the thickness of the subfloor). Whomsoever you spoke to at LOWES is telling you the truth (wow...a dude at Lowe's knows what he's talking about??? never happens!). Imagine you have a deflection rating that is 1/2 of what you need...and you have crappy OSB as the subfloor. Cement backer board does NOT add to the stiffness rating of the subfloor. You need REAL plywood (subfloor grade thick enough to get you to the Deflection Rating of the tile = could be VERY thick...depending on your joist distance). That stuff is not cheap. You are looking at $1.00 - $1.75/sf. Plus all the SCREWS (no nails...you need to SCREW the new subfloor to the old one...that's fun in with a capital SUCKS!). The screw pattern is tattooed onto the wood. Which is every 6 inches on the edges and every 4 inches in the field! That's A LOT of GALVENIZED SCREWS. Your screws will cost $50. Now we move onto the ditra/schluter system. And the spacer system (as you already know) and the thinset and the grout and the tiles. So far you could be into the tile job for $3/sf...now you have the other $3-$5/sf for the tile/thinset/mortar. Sigh. Now lets look at laminate. How does $2/sf for a decent midrange plank sound? Not bad right. Good. Now imagine the cost of 6mm cork UNDERLAY. That's another $0.80/sf. Excellent. Now imagine LOOSE LAYING the cork sheets (do NOT purchase the role...you loose 10% to the inside curl) DIRECTLY to the subfloor. No glue. No nails. Nothing. It just sits there. Now that you have the spacers at the walls (your expansion gap spacers = 1/2") and your cork sheets are laid up to the spacers (give the cork the same amount of expansion as the laminate). Now click together your laminate floor. Excellent. You have eliminated the BOUNCE of laminate (due to the subfloors being uneven) and the HOLLOW sound of laminate ('cause cork eliminates that as well). With cork underlay you can make a sh!tty $0.79/sf laminate feel like solid hardwood. And vinyl does NOT like underpad. You have to get that subfloor STUPID FLAT (sanding/patching/floating self leveler if you have the right PLYWOOD on top). Hmm...laminate with cork underlay sounds might nice right now.

I always like to share this link when deciding wood tones. https://www.kylieminteriors.ca/how-to-mix-match-and-coordinate-wood-stains-undertones/ But....there is a lot to consider here. You will most likely want to change the kitchen. I would not select a floor to coordinate with a kitchen that will be replaced in the near future. I personally love white cabinetry with wood floors. Eliminates the worry about woods clashing. If your home is not open concept, and it will be many years before you redo the kitchen, I would consider doing the kitchen in a tile look and then the rest of the home in any one if those wood plank choices. I am a fan of light flooring. so they all appeal to me.