What They're Actually Made Of
Laminate flooring is a wood-fiber core topped with a printed image layer and a hard, clear wear layer — it looks and feels closer to real wood underfoot but the core will swell and delaminate if it stays wet for any length of time. Luxury vinyl plank (LVP) and vinyl flooring are made almost entirely of PVC and other synthetic layers, with no wood content, which makes them genuinely waterproof rather than just water-resistant.
Moisture Is the Real Deciding Factor at the Shore
For homes near the water, moisture exposure is the single biggest factor in this decision — not just from flooding risk, but from everyday humidity, sandy wet feet from the beach, and homes that sit closed up for stretches of the off-season with less climate control. Laminate can handle incidental spills if wiped up quickly, but standing water, high humidity, or a slow leak under an appliance can ruin it in a way that isn't repairable.
Vinyl plank tolerates all of that far better, including direct water exposure, which is why it's become the default recommendation for kitchens, bathrooms, mudrooms, and ground-floor rooms in shore homes, especially any space near an exterior door where sand and water get tracked in regularly.
Feel, Sound, and Appearance
Laminate generally feels firmer and slightly more like real hardwood underfoot, and tends to have a more convincing wood-grain texture in higher-end lines. Vinyl plank has gotten much closer in recent years, especially rigid-core (SPC/WPC) versions, and it also tends to feel warmer and quieter underfoot than laminate, which can sound hollow without a good underlayment.
- Laminate: firmer feel, more wood-like texture, not waterproof
- Vinyl plank: fully waterproof, quieter and warmer underfoot, softer feel
- Both install as floating floors over most existing subfloors
- Vinyl generally handles temperature swings in unconditioned seasonal spaces better
Cost, Durability, and Installation
Pricing between mid-grade laminate and mid-grade vinyl plank is often similar, so the decision usually comes down to the moisture and use factors above rather than budget alone. Both are floating-floor systems that click together and can go over most existing subfloors without glue, though the subfloor needs to be flat and clean either way — an uneven subfloor will telegraph through and cause clicking or gapping over time regardless of which material is chosen.
Durability under foot traffic and pet claws is comparable between quality lines of each; the wear layer thickness matters more than the base material for scratch resistance.