Laminate versus Hardwood?

OK, dilemma... I was able to hire a small (but very reliable) contractor who does general carpentry/construction work for $300/day. Only thing is this guy is so booked up through word of mouth that he needs a decision on the type on flooring I plan to put in pronto. Ideally, I'd like to go with real hardwood, but am a little worried about long-term maintenance. Preferably, I want something I can 'install and forget'. Which is the only reason I am considering floor laminates. I've looked at Pergo samples and a few from Armstrong and ALLOC. But they all look so FAKE. If anyone has new flooring in their unit, what has been your experience and would you recommend one type over the other? Many Mahalos.

Definitely hardwood. I just don't care for the "plastic" look of laminates. Laminates also sound different when you walk on them. I had Pergo in my old house installed about 7 years ago. Although it held up pretty well in terms of wear and tear, I just couldn't get over the cheap laminate feel. Just my 2 cents.

I also like real hardwood as a first choice. But I think engineered hardwood is the way to go for style and environmental reasons- instead of a solid piece of wood, engineered wood uses a fiber core that is sandwiched between the wood species of your choice. Less trees are cut down, and they can use only the premium pieces since there is less waste.

Check out Quick Step laminates:

http://www.quickstep.com

The merbau planks in their Elegance Collection look pretty darn good!

Even though bamboo is actually a grass, someone on the other thread mentioned Teragren bamboo so that is definitely another option!

I like the Quick Step planks, too! The nice thing is the tongue and groove clicking system, which really secures the planks together without any effort, and without the need for glue. Supposedly Pergo is being sued by the manufacturers of Quick Step because of patent infringement over their clicking system. iFloor sent my samples via DHL and I got them within two days. The merbau was nice, but I really liked the hanscraped look of the natural hickory planks (which are also wider).

Did anyone come across BR-111 hardwood? You might want to check it out just to see what quality looks like. I really wanted to use that for my condo, but their floating system requires gluing. You can actually request up to 4 free samples on their website. Beautiful!

I was over at Maru Flooring a couple weeks ago and looked over the BR-111 planks. They're pretty nice overall. Unfortunately, as Uni pointed out, they do require gluing since the planks don't click together. I decided on the Quick Step suggested by sid67 (mahalo!) after looking at the samples. The planks snapped together easily with very tight seams (I was worried about spilling drinks and wet mopping). A friend had to look closely before realizing the planks were laminate. Good sign. The beveled edges added a nice touch and sealed the deal. Thanks again to everyone for their kind suggestions.