Is laminate that bad?

[tinyeyes123]

We had originally planned on getting walnut engineered wood flooring for our hallway at a bargain price through a friend in the industry, but it looks like like it's fallen through. So now it seems that if we want walnut colour (which we have to have as we've already stained the lounge parquet floor to match) we'll have to get laminate. Provided it's fitted well will it look decent? My only experience is the laminate that was already there (pale beech, badly fitted) and it wasn't pretty.

What about those tiles that look like wood?

I have walnut laminate, and I love it :) Everyone that comes round, says it's nice too.

I have oak effect wide bevelled laminate all through the downstairs. Everyone thinks it is wood. Unlike wood, it doesn't chip or scratch easily.

Have you tried some smoked or even double smoked (or fumed) oak. Similar colour but not the £££ of walnut.

We have, in the conservatory, pale beech, badly fitted laminate courtesy of the previous owners (the DH half of whom wanted to take it with them, the weirdo, sometimes wish he had). It is not good, but given the functional nature of the conservatory we've not changed it. In the dining room and hall we have, well, what CuddyMum above has, by the sounds of it - oak effect, wide plank, beveled laminate. I think it's really nice.

We had walnut laminate (from Wickes) - wide plank and bevelled throughout the whole of the downstairs in our last house. We had it fitted by a joiner, it was done nicely.

When we were selling the house several viewers though it was wood, and were shocked when I told them it was laminate.g

There is nothing wrong with laminate, as long as it is properly fitted. We have two dogs and wanted something that wouldn't scratch. DH went into Wickes armed with his car key and attempted to scratch the display wood/laminate floors. The laminate came out best in his scratch test so we bought it.

My parents have orange laminate. It couldn't be anything other than laminate.

We have homebase textured rustic oak laminate and I love it. I don't think it looks laminate-y and is easy to keep clean and has worn well so far (only 1yr old) and is so much warmer to walk on than the horrid tiles on the kitchen floor. We're going to use the same for the new floors when we extend.

I don't understand real wood floor snobs - but kitchen worktops? that's a different story

Have laminate waiting to be laid but bathroom need doing first as I would hate for there to be a leak on the new floor and ruin it. Actually forgotten what it looks like - will have to look under the bed

We've got textured Lino (not actually the brand, but you get the picture), it came in tiles shaped like planks of wood. You can't tell it's not wood unless you get very very close.

The wort thing about laminate is the formaldehyde.

I think laminate has come in leaps and bounds, and can look ok.

We used to have that atrocious cheapo looking stuff; we hated it.

Alas, on MN, laminate is lumped in with big letters, feature walls & twigs and pebbly shit.

When we bought our house there was Amtico laminate wood effect flooring. I initially was a bit snobby about it but I changed my mind. It is really hard wearing, easy to clean and it looked ok. It's quite expensive and they sell it at John Lewis. I still prefer real wood but now i think laminate is perfectly ok. It is good if you have dogs with scratchy nails.

Next week we are having 'antique oak' v groove laminate laid in our dining room, hall and lounge. When I looked at it online I thought it looked naff and was convinced that I needed to get real wood but when we went into the shop it looked just as real as wood when laid so thought we would give it a shot.

I too had naff 'beech effect' flooring in one house that I bought and found it hideous, thin and cheap but the laminate we have just bought is much thicker and better quality.

I'm a real wood floor snob . I think laminate is awful, as are plastic windows and anything else faux. I like natural materials. But that's just my opinion, many would not agree. And laminate is very much cheaper - it's all very well preferring something but if it's out of your budget it's out of your budget. I'd like to replace my entire patio with reclaimed York stone but that's not going to happen without a lottery win!

Another option may be a cheaper wood floor and stain it the same as your parquet? We just got some unfinished oak from ukflooringdirect for just under £34 / meter, which is not much more than decent laminate. As rhubarb said though, your budget is your budget and laminate is very practical and can look good. At the end of the day it is the floor and eventually you won't notice it unless you are obsessive like me.

I was actually going to get real wood but my floor layer wouldn't lay it - he said it was a pain in the arris.

Good quality laminate is not cheaper than decent quality wood flooring. There is a huge difference in quality between different types of flooring.