The one-sentence version
Vinyl plank for anywhere water can reach: kitchens, bathrooms, laundry rooms, mudrooms, basements, and any house with a large dog. Laminate for living rooms, halls, bedrooms and stairs where you want the most realistic wood look and the hardest surface for the money. Many Seattle houses end up with both, matched in color.
How they are built
Laminate is a high-density fiberboard core with a printed wood image on top, sealed under a clear, extremely hard wear layer. It is a wood product at heart, which is why it looks so right and why it swells if water gets into the core.
Luxury vinyl plank is layers of vinyl around a rigid core, either SPC, stone-plastic composite, or WPC, wood-plastic composite, with a printed layer and a clear wear layer measured in mils. No wood fiber anywhere, so water does nothing to it.
Water
Current laminate lines carry water-resistance ratings, often 24 to 72 hours of surface water, which handles spills and wet boots. Standing water from a dishwasher, a toilet overflow or a wet crawl space below still swells it. Rigid-core vinyl plank is waterproof through the plank; water can still pass through seams to the subfloor, but the floor itself survives. In a region where the dishwasher line, the washing machine hose and the crawl space are the three most common sources of floor damage, this is the decisive difference for wet rooms.
Dogs, kids and furniture
Laminate's wear layer is harder, so it resists furniture scratches and grit slightly better. Vinyl plank's thicker wear layers, 20 mil and up, hide claw marks better and are far more forgiving of accidents. For a household with a big dog, vinyl plank; for a tidy household without one, laminate holds its finish beautifully.
Feel and sound
Laminate is harder and louder underfoot; it has that slight hollow click when installed over thin pad, which quality underlayment reduces. Vinyl plank, especially WPC, is softer, warmer and quieter, which matters in upstairs rooms and condos with sound rules. Both benefit from a good underlayment.
Crawl spaces and basements
Most Seattle houses sit over crawl spaces that run damp in winter; many have daylight basements on slabs. Both floors need a vapor-barrier underlayment and a subfloor that meters dry. Vinyl plank is the safer choice where there has ever been moisture, and it is the default for basements. Laminate is fine over a dry crawl space with the right underlayment and ventilation.
Looks
The best laminates still edge out vinyl for realism at the same price, with deeper embossing and more plank variety. Premium vinyl plank lines have nearly closed the gap. Both come in the wide, matte, light-oak visuals that suit Seattle's Craftsman houses and the greyer tones that suit modern remodels.
Cost
Installed, in the Seattle area, laminate typically runs five to nine dollars per square foot with a mid-grade product, and vinyl plank six to twelve. Removal, prep, stairs and premium products add to both. The difference is smaller than it used to be; choose by room, not by price alone.
Room by room
Entry and mudroom: vinyl plank. Kitchen: vinyl plank. Living and dining: either; laminate if you want the most wood-like look. Halls: either. Bedrooms: either; WPC vinyl for quiet. Bathrooms and laundry: vinyl plank. Basement: vinyl plank. Stairs: laminate or vinyl with matching nosings. Rental: vinyl plank.
Getting both to match
If you split the house between products, choose them together. Many manufacturers make coordinating laminate and vinyl lines, and installers can show pairs that read as one floor across a doorway with a flush transition.
