Originally Posted by kitkat:
We tore out a wall that divided our kitchen and family room area. Kitchen had vinyl, family room had carpet, and we replaced all of it with a laminent (in Dec 2011). We replaced with a dark laminent and I wish I would have gone lighter. You can easily see any and all crumbs or dust on the floor. The kind we have is cleaned with only water, no solution of any kind. If I use a microfiber mop, you can see the water marks/spots, but if I scrub on my hands and knees, it doesn't seem as visible. It is louder than carpet or vinyl, even with a rug. Make sure the rug has a no slip backing 
I think it keeps the room cooler in the summer compared to the living room that has carpet, which is nice.
We do have some scratches and dents already. The scratches were from a tiny stone being dragged under a bin and from the Little Tikes picnic table DS (16 months) kept pushing around the room. I can't remember what caused one dent, but the other was from a chair that tipped over and landed on a metal part of the chair.
I like the flooring, but I think if I could do it over again, I'd do a floating vinyl tile instead. My sister has a floating vinyl tile floor and she loves it. It has held up well with her son and large dog. She got hers at Home Depot and installed it herself with VERY limited help.
LOL! We have Birch and I wish we would have gone darker for the same reason....you can see EVERYTHING! dust, hair, spots, tiny little particles etc....
Ours has a few minor (but not really visible) scratches on it but over all the floor has held up well and doesn't seem to scratch or chip very easily. The scratches we have are from moving furniture and a few high speed cat vs kitten chases but otherwise, no major scratches or dents.
If I had to do it all over again, which we will be soon, we are going with engineered hardwood (the floating kind) as I think it appears more natural and isn't as loud.
The biggest thing I hate about our floor is that if there is any water or any areas that are damp, the water or moisture can get in between the seams and will raise or bulge up. We have had ours for 6 years now and bought it from Sam's Club. We went with the most expensive, thinking that meant better quality but I am not so sure.