I can only give you my experience. I've lived for over 20yrs on real hardwood floors. And every time I stand on any kind of laminated plank it looks and feels like cheap plastic. There is just no comparison to actual wood flooring. Timber absorbs vibration, feels pleasant underfoot either barefoot or shoed. It looks real, because it is. Timber planks are 20mm thick, laminate ones are 5mm. Laminate flooring looks like a printed piece of plastic because, well it's very similar except for the top 2mm of veneer stuck to it. It may fool us in brochures and magazines but I've never once been fooled by laminate in person. They can give it all the fancy names they want like 'engineered' but at the end of the day it's all the same stuff. Laminated veneers on cheap plywood. But not one person on the planet has ever fooled that it's a real floorboard. Does timber scratch? Absolutely. So don't put a piano finish on it then. Stick with satin and matte finishes. It shows up the marks a lot less. Does timber dent? Absolutely. But those dents become part of the character of the home over time. I recently lived in a home with floorboards over 100yrs old. They had dents everywhere and yet those boards just looked lived on, they didn't look terrible. Does timber suffer water damage? Yes of course. But before you worry about it, go and check out the thousands of 100yrs old hardwood homes sitting on flood plains in this country. Every single one of them has been underwater more than once in it's lifetime. The original boards are there, strong and unfazed. Unless you plan to flood your home for weeks on end the occassional spill and overflow won't damage the timber at all. I'm a quality over quantity type of person so of course I'm going to rate going with the lifetime option over the rip it out every 5yrs option. If I had the money for hardwood I would not even consider plastic planks.

Your tile will co-ordinate beautifully with the timber if you can pick one of the darker colours out of the timber and select a tile in this family of colour. The trick to making a colour concept work is to either co-ordinate or contrast. If your timber is as busy with grain and colour as the image you've shown, then maybe co-coordinating is the best way to go. Never chose materials independently of each other - always take a tile sample home to see in the natural light, next to the timber. I hope it all works out the way you envisage it. Cheers, Michelle

i'm guessing that a problem could be that the boards will shrink and create drafty gaps so i think my old builder dad would have laid the boards upside down, without nails to settle to the temperature and moisture in the room while he did other jobs for a week or two and then turned over the boards and, using a solid timber length to push the boards tight as possible before nailing and he would have probably appreciated the idea of adding some under floor insulation as well

Every month seems to bring new flooring products to market that claim to be water resistant or waterproof. But how do you know which products are suitable for wet areas in your home? And what rooms are considered wet areas? Selecting the Best Flooring for Kitchens, Laundries & Wet Areas Which types of flooring are suitable for use in wet areas? So long as your floors are properly waterproofed in accordance with the NCC, Flooring 2 You’s range of Hybrid flooring is suitable for installation in bathrooms, laundries and toilets in domestic homes without floor wastes (Not to be installed within the shower or near a drain). Our hybrid flooring is completely unaffected by moisture, and 100% stable when exposed to topical moisture on a regular basis. Hybrid planks are composed by creating layers that are resistant to water and scratch-proof that are made to last: The top layer is treated to make them stain and scratch proof. A decorative layer gives it the look of timber. The rigid core is innovative that provides stability, especially against changes in temperature and water, including heating that’s underfloor and windows that are north-facing. The last layer is the acoustic backing that helps with noise reduction. When it comes to other areas of the home, other products are also suitable provided the proper maintenance precautions are taken. For more product specifications, care and maintenance information, please refer to the respective product pages. https://flooring2you.com.au/selecting-the-best-flooring-for-kitchens-laundries-wet-areas/