In various houses, at various times, I have had hard tile, vinyl, laminate, kitchen carpet. At present, not my choice, I have ceramic tile in kitchen, marble in LR & DR, & hallways, carpet on stairway going up and in all bedrooms. Before Ike we put down laminate in the down stairs, really liked it but Ike ruined it and now I am back to the ceramic tile & marble. Ceramic tile can get broken or cracked. Laminate is alot better and holds up better than it used to. After Ike it looked OK but it had an underlayment that would have given us problems later. My son chose wood through out his down stairs and they love it. Every one of these has its pros and cons. My suggestion would be to go with the look you like.