Laminate vs LVT vs engineered wood: comparing flooring costs and which suits your home
Choosing between laminate, LVT and engineered wood usually comes down to a trade-off between budget, how the room is used, and how much the look and feel of real timber actually matters. All three have a legitimate place in a UK home, but they aren't interchangeable, and picking the wrong one for a given room is one of the more common regrets homeowners report.
Laminate is generally the most budget-friendly of the three. Fitting labour is commonly cited around £8-20 per square metre, with materials adding roughly £8-30 per square metre depending on quality and thickness, putting a fully supplied-and-fitted standard laminate floor commonly in the region of £18-35 per square metre. Laminate is a synthetic, multi-layer product built around a dense HDF (high-density fibreboard) core with a photographic wood-effect layer on top, which keeps the cost down but means it isn't genuinely waterproof — the core can swell if water gets into the joints and sits there, and it can sound noticeably hollow underfoot compared with LVT or real wood. This makes laminate a reasonable choice for living rooms, bedrooms and hallways, but a riskier one for kitchens, bathrooms or anywhere spills are routine.
LVT (luxury vinyl tile) sits in the middle of the market and is built very differently, using multiple layers of PVC rather than a wood-fibre core. This makes LVT genuinely waterproof, generally more resilient to moisture and heavy foot traffic than laminate, and noticeably quieter and softer underfoot. Installation commonly costs around £25-70 per square metre supplied and fitted, with labour alone for a standard layout typically £15-30 per square metre, rising to as much as £60 per square metre for a bespoke pattern such as herringbone; surface preparation, where needed, is commonly quoted separately at around £10 per square metre. Most standard domestic LVT jobs average somewhere around £30-50 per square metre all in. Because of its water resistance, LVT is commonly recommended specifically for kitchens, bathrooms, utility rooms and busy family areas where laminate would be a genuine risk.
Engineered wood is the most premium of the three and the closest to owning a genuine timber floor, since it has a real hardwood veneer — commonly around 2-6mm thick — bonded on top of several layers of plywood or similar engineered board. This layered construction makes it noticeably more dimensionally stable and less prone to warping than solid wood, while still looking and feeling like real timber underfoot. It's also the most expensive option by a clear margin: fitting labour alone is commonly cited around £20-45 per square metre, and once board cost is included, a fully installed engineered wood floor commonly runs to around £60-100+ per square metre, with mid-range boards supplied and laid around £55-95 per square metre and premium European oak upwards of £85-140 per square metre. Engineered wood is commonly seen as adding more to a property's resale appeal than laminate or LVT, which is part of why many buyers choose it for living rooms, hallways and other prominent spaces despite the higher cost.
Deciding between the three usually comes down to a short list of practical questions rather than personal taste alone. Is the room prone to spills or moisture — a kitchen or bathroom points strongly towards LVT over laminate or wood. Is budget the primary constraint — laminate gives the wood-effect look at the lowest overall cost. Does the room need to genuinely showcase real timber, for resale value or personal preference — engineered wood is the only one of the three that delivers that. And how much foot traffic and wear will the floor realistically take — LVT and engineered wood both generally outperform laminate on long-term durability, provided each is fitted and cared for appropriately.
As with any flooring job, it's worth getting quotes for the specific product and room from at least two fitters rather than relying on average figures, since the ranges above are genuinely wide and the final price depends heavily on subfloor condition, room layout and the exact product chosen. Asking a fitter directly which of the three they'd recommend for your specific room, and why, is often more useful than deciding in isolation before speaking to anyone.
Frequently asked questions
LVT is generally the better choice for a kitchen, since it is fully waterproof, whereas laminate is built around an HDF core that can swell if water gets into the joints and sits there.
Engineered wood is the most expensive of the two, with a fully installed floor commonly costing around £60-100+ per square metre versus around £18-35 per square metre for a standard laminate floor supplied and fitted.
It is commonly seen as adding more resale appeal than laminate or LVT, since it has a genuine hardwood veneer rather than a synthetic or photographic wood-effect surface, though the exact impact varies by property and buyer.
Laminate is not genuinely waterproof — its HDF core can swell if water penetrates the joints — and it can sound hollow underfoot compared with LVT or real wood, which is why it's generally better suited to living rooms and bedrooms than kitchens or bathrooms.