Ten years ago, most of the floors we installed were hardwood or laminate. Today, luxury vinyl plank (LVP) is the most requested floor in the kitchens, basements, and family rooms we remodel, and it's not because it's the cheap option. It's because it handles New Jersey life: wet boots in February, a dog that hasn't learned to wipe its feet, a dishwasher that leaks once every five years.
LVP is fully waterproof, which makes it the obvious choice for kitchens, bathrooms, mudrooms, and anything below grade. Modern planks have realistic wood grain and texture, they're warmer underfoot than tile, and they can go down over most existing subfloors once we've leveled and cleaned them. For a basement in Rockaway or a kitchen in Ledgewood, it's usually what we recommend.
Hardwood still wins in a few places. If you have original oak floors in a Morristown or West Orange home, refinishing them is almost always worth it; nothing matches the character. And in formal living rooms and bedrooms where water isn't a concern, real wood adds value that buyers notice.
Whichever you choose, the install is what makes it last. Subfloors need to be flat and dry, planks need to acclimate in the house, expansion gaps need to be right, and the transitions at doorways and stairs need to be clean. That prep is the part most people never see, and it's the part we spend the most time on.