New engineered flooring and I don’t think I like it.

[Thoughtthatcounts]

We have waited 2 years to put a new flooring down in a new extension due to running out of money. Finally chosen some and it was fitted yesterday. It looks really different to the sample and also the photos. It’s much more knotty and brown and I feel disappointed but don’t want to admit it to my dh. Here is a photo of ours and the photo of the product. Thoughts ?

Don’t know much about engineering wood but those are a lot of marks for a small section of flooring.

Here is another photo

Does it look different because the fitter hasn't spread out the planks with knots enough, they've sort of lumped them all together.

Here is another photo of product

I love it, it looks like real floor boards. It's a more natural look.

That’s a lot of marks!! Specially on the same plank and quite close to each other! I’m in the process of buying similar to this or premium without the knots and your pic has convinced me to go premium! Is the room too big? Is it all the same?

I wouldn't have put all these planks next to each other.

Agree that installation is poor. Seems to have just put them down without any thought on where best to place them.

I like it. I would prefer all the marks, we are a messy household and the knots will disguise scratches and tea/coffee spills beautifully.

I think you are right … the installation hasn’t improved it…. I’ve attached another photo the other end of the room and it looks better. All I can see is the knotty pieces. Maybe I should get a large rug?

I thought from the picture and sample it was knot free. How can you guarantee it wouldn’t have knots?

Where did you get it from? The company I’m getting mine from have 2 choices. One with knots and one without.

I think it's lovely. I like the knots, they add character. See how you feel in a few weeks. You might not mind so much.
Btw your kitchen is amazing.

We got it from v4. Can I ask the company that you get an upgrade please

The knots show up more because the colour of the wood is quite light. It is nice and looks more natural.

I have a warmer colour and the knots blend in better. I like the knots and agree with @Youcanttakeanelephantonthebus that they conceal dirt and bits of debris.

Why are people talking about "marks"? They're knots. I don't know anything about engineered wood but we have real hardwood floors and there are obviously knots everywhere- it's wood! I'm assuming this is a premium sort of laminate meant to mimic the look of hardwood?

If so I think it looks really good and surely you want it to look as close to the real thing or else why not just get cheap laminate that is smooth and characterless?

Engineered flooring is basically wood veneer so it should be real wood on the top, it's just placed on a board of cheaper wood. The downside is with real wood you can sand down multiple times but with engineered wood you can only risk sanding it down very slightly before you hit the other materials.

I love it! To me, the product photo could be anything from cheap laminate to super expensive solid wood flooring. The photo of your floor could only be engineered or solid wood. If I visited my first thought would be “ooh real wood, nice”.

I think some places use rustic to indicate you’ll get more knots or saw marks and prime if you’re getting mainly “clean” planks.

I think it looks nice. You can tell it's not real wood, but IME engineered flooring never does look like solid wood, because of the way it's fitted. If it had no knots, it'd just look like wood-effect laminate. I am currently gritting my teeth over horrible floors in the downstairs bit of my house, so I am familiar with the costs of replacing. But my mum had engineered wood put down in her hallway about ten years ago, and at the time, like you, she was disappointed because you can tell it isn't floorboards. But now she would tell you she loves it! It wipes clean beautifully, and it looks far, far more like a genuine wooden floor than anything else would. She would never go back on it, and I bet you will be the same.

I really like it, looks lovely and natural.

I know this doesn’t help, but I think it looks lovely!

Probably not helping but I love it - I think it looks really natural and expensive. The product photo doesn’t seem as nice to me, much more evidently false looking, like laminate or LVT x

I think it looks great!

We have original floorboards (1915) and they have loads of knots, this wouldn't bother me. Wood without knots looks fake

I think it looks great! The product shots look plasticky; your real floor looks warm and real.

I had a similar “patch” of darkness and knots in our old kitchen and obsessed over it a bit, but got used to it eventually. As with anything you’ve waited and saved for, you can get a bit obsessed/disappointed/anticlimactic over it.