Better is relative, of course. Since you mention in your question radiant heat and stable humidity and temperature, it seems these benefits of engineered flooring have already been pointed out to you. Since none of them apply to you I understand why you're still undecided. Personally, I do prefer engineered because it is more stable and environmentally friendly, assuming the plywood is made with non toxic adhesives. It uses less hardwood which saves trees and the plywood layers are made from scrap pieces. My advice for engineered is to make sure the top layer is thick enough that it could potentially be refinished years down the road. Good luck in your decision.

Also, if your putting it down on concrete versus a crawl space, you should use engineered.

The engineered is more stable, easier to install, but what thickness are you looking at? Dont go with anything less than a half inch thick or it will feel cheap when you walk across the floor. Solid gives a more solid feel.

As a builder who almost exclusively builds with real exotic hardwoods, I would say this is a very tough call. All of the benefits mentioned above for engineered wood are definitely true, and it tends me to the trend now - another perk is that it may hold up to scratches better with kids and dogs, which is my greatest complaint with wood floors; however, you're the one who will know that the wood is really, and engineered wood carries a stigma (in my opinion) of not being the real deal. So, if that's something that is going to bother you with them being very similar, you might go with solid wood.

Thanks for all your answers! Really helpful things to think about. We live in Pebble Beach. We aren't snobs but want to remodel in line with what is "expected" or appropriate for the neighborhood so it doesn't hurt us down the line when we sell. Can you truly not tell engineered hardwood underfoot assuming we could get the type we want with 1/2" thick top layer? Also, If we go with solid hardwood, does the width and depth/thickness of the plank affect warping? Is there a cut off size width/depth of solid plank that is best? We are thinking 7" planks or maybe a bit wider. Thanks to everyone for taking the time to answer. I really appreciate it!

It's smart to remodel your home in a fashion that is expected for your neighborhood in terms of resale. No, you truly can not tell the difference between engineered versus sollid once it is installed. As noted above, a thick, high quality engineered floor will feel just like a solid when you walk on it. I'm sure some of your neighbors have engineered.
A solid wide plank (5"-9") floor is milled on the underside with grooves to give it stability and prevent cupping. A flooring expert can explain that more thoroughly than I have. Another way to treat solid wide planks is to install them with pegs which is especially suitable for a rustic or old world feel.

I personally only use real 3/4" thick hardwood flooring. All the benefits above in regards to the engineered flooring are correct, but when you walk on it it will feel fake. When you walk on real hardwood flooring it sounds solid. I have two small dogs and they run and play on our hardwoods all day and I have no problems with scratching. If you are talking pit bulls or german shepards then you may have a problem with the scratching.
One of the benefits of real hardwood is it most likely can be refinished 2-4 times depending on the quality of the materials used and the name of the brand. I primarily use Mirage or Mercier hardwood flooring and yes it is the most expensive, it is very durable.
A lot of the engineered flooring products are floating floors which to me means you are relying on the edge strips to hold everything in place. To me that is not strong or secure, however if you have large dogs in the home it will hold up better against scratches but will have the sound of not being solid when you walk on it with shoes, plus you most likely cannot refinish the engineered flooring more than once if at all because the actual hardwood veneer is very minimal as opposed to the hardwood veneer that is applied on real 3/4" hardwood which most often than not can be refinished 2-4 times.
Hope this helped you and good luck with your decision.

Glad to help with any information. You absolutely should remodel with what is appropriate for the neighborhood, and consider resale especially if you plan to sell anytime soon. Wood flooring, be it engineered or solid, is one of the best remodeling choices and gives a high return on investment. If cost is not a prohibitive factor then go for the solid wood flooring options, but just know that solid floors will have their limitations as mentioned above. Again, you need to have someone come out and inspect your property because no flooring project is exactly like another, every situation is different and unique. Its hard to give you all of the pros and cons since I don't know your particular situation. Ask your neighbors or friends that have existing wood floors what products they used and find out how satisfied they are with their floors. If a solid product will work for your situation and that is what you want, then go for it. There are many beautiful solid choices out there.

As far as the statement about "a lot of engineered products are floating" is completely false. We are not talking about laminate flooring which uses a floating system (meaning there is no glue adhering the floor to the substrate, the floor is snapped together using a tongue and groove system). Engineered flooring can and usually is glued to the substate under most situations. If a customer is concerned with cost, then one of the options is to use a floating application if the manufacturer recommends it. But that is certainly not the norm, most customers do want the wood to be glued down. I agree if a floating application is chosen for an engineered product it will sound hollow when walked on and will feel different from a glued down application or solid nail down application.

Engineered flooring is real hardwood flooring. It has a wear layer of varying thicknesses - the thicker the wear layer, the more expensive the product will be but it will have the opportunity to be sanded and refinished more often compared to a thinner wear layer. Underneath the wear layer is a composite of layers that can be of the same species, or of different species. The grain of each layer runs in different directions, which makes it very stable. This means that the wood will expand and contract less than solid wood flooring during fluctuations in humidity and temperature.

I have 2 kids and a large chocolate lab and the flooring in my home is glued down engineered Santos Mahogany. It does not sound hollow when walked on, nor has my dog contributed scratches to my flooring and it has been down for 9 years. The biggest culprit of scratches to tell you the truth is my wife's vacuuming over the wood. The vacuum will pick up rocks or small pebbles and scratch the floor. The safest option is to clean with a broom or microfiber dusting head followed by a manufacturer approved cleaning system.

I hope I have not confused you anymore than necessary. I just don't want you to think that you only have one option. Check out the following website for the National Wood Flooring Association (www.woodfloors.org) they have a wealth of information on wood flooring.

Good luck with your flooring search and again contact me with any questions, I can go over your exact situation if you provide me more details. Call me at (949) 279-8858 and I would be happy to tell you more.
Jason Elliott - www.elliottfloorcovering.com

I am facing the same dilemma- Our floor is a slab/concrete- it is my dream to have a wood floor for my family room and dining room. Most of the store told us we need to install the engineering wood ( I just dont like it much since I can hear the " crinket" sound) and one of the contractor told us we can install the wood floor by putting down the "dura foam" ( it looks like our family room has a plywood) and I fall in love with either Hickory/Walnut by Mirage but they are wicked expensive. My question: is it possible or save to install the hardwood floor on the slab? IF so any suggestion what kinds hardwood floor ( less $ than mirage but still maintain the beauty and quality?) Right now we pick the Alapachian engineered wood but can be changed .Thank you

This thread was started 4 years ago. We were building a new house at the time and rather than opt for the extra expense of the foam sub flooring, we went with engineered hardwood. We've been very happy with our floors and if faced with the same choice again today, it's 50/50 we would've gone the same route. If we could have found solid hardwood at a cheap enough price to fit our budget in a style we like, maybe. If your heart is set on solid hardwood, then save for the investment. For us, we are perfectly happy with our engineered hardwood and I get tons of compliments on them. They are easy to keep and hold up really well.

Thank you so much for the response, Budget is tight -we want to use the saving for other things needs to get done. May I ask the brand of your engineered hardwood? We are leaning toward this engineered - due to budget and also the value of the houses in our neighbor ,

I believe it's American Hardwood. We bought it through Georgia Carpet online. We do a lot of house flips and have bought the same type of floor through them for the houses we fixed up. Our house is rustic and while we ideally would have loved antique heart pine flooring, the budget wouldn't allow. We have oak in gunstock in the engineered hardwood and it reminds of the floors in the houses where I grew up. I'm old, so that would be old houses. My daughter just bought an older home and is replacing the carpet with a really pretty distressed bamboo she bought through Wayfair of all places. I think you'll be happy with the engineered. We're rough on our floors and I'm amazed at how well it's holding up.