Laminate flooring- can it look classy?

[NickettyNacketty]

the last time we used laminate was about 10 years ago when it usually came in just pale beech effect and could look a wee bit cheap. Or maybe that was just us and our home base stuff.
Show me some lovely laminate and tell me it will be cheap to buy and have fitted.

No.

Sorry.

Stretch your finances a little bit if you can, and go for engineered wood. Even the cheapest, such as rubberwood or bamboo, looks (and wears) tons better than laminate.

Yes if it is Amtico-pricey though!

IMVHO, no! Sorry! I think even the more expensive versions look cheap. It's not just the look though, it's the sound it makes when you walk over it. It just sounds so plastic. Oh and it's too shiny.

I went to a new house today (for work). It's worth about 2 million.

All the interior doors cost £1k each , but they had laminate flooring!

It looked so wrong.

Amtico is ok. I don't like the look but at least it doesn't make that sound.

not to my eye.

what are your floors made of?

you do live in a house, not a flat, don't you?

p.s. Rubberwood is a tropical hardwood that is recovered from old Rubber plantations when they are cleared for replanting with new stock, instead of just being burned. Unlike all other tropical hardwoods that I know, it is a planted, renewable resource, and not obtained by destroying forests. So it is AFAIK ecologically and ethically sound.

When turned into flooring it is called "parawood" and to my eye is an attractive material. See here

It is also made into rather primitive and ugly furniture.

Good morning! Ah so laminate has not gotten fabulous since 1999.
We are moving into a house. The top floor has quite rough floorboards with bits needing repaired and gaps where chimneys used to be. We did think we would sand it but then I wondered if just covering it up would be in fact easier.

we have a laminate and its ok - but classy would be pushing it :)

We're putting laminate in because the dog/DC combo nees something of industrial strength, and our real wood flooring has not stood the test of time. But I think it'll look more 'shopping centre' than 'classy'.

I dont like laminate, it looks and feels fake.
In youe shoes OP I would pay for someone to repair and renovate your floorbaords, gaps can be filled and sections replaced if needs be and this will look much better than any laminate.

Thanks. Floor man coming tomorrow to check out the floorboards for sanding.