The hardwood vs. LVP debate comes up on almost every free measure we do in Minneapolis, and the honest answer is almost never "one is better." It depends on the room, the subfloor, the humidity in your home, and what you are asking the floor to survive.
Minnesota puts floors through conditions that most product marketing does not mention. Your home's interior relative humidity probably swings from around 20% in January (when you are running forced-air heat flat-out) to 60% or higher in August. Solid hardwood expands and contracts with that swing. On a good install with proper acclimation, the seasonal movement is controlled and barely visible. On a bad one — boards installed too tight, subfloor not prepped flat, wood not acclimated — you get gaps in winter and buckling in summer.
Where solid hardwood wins
Above-grade living spaces with a wood subfloor and a home that maintains at least 35% relative humidity in winter are good candidates for solid hardwood. The floor refinishes over decades, adds real resale value (especially in the pre-1960 Minneapolis home market where original hardwood is a selling point), and the wood improves with age in a way no synthetic product replicates.
The mudroom door, however, is not that room. Neither is the finished basement. Neither is the kitchen of a family with a dog that drinks with its whole face. Those spaces need something that laughs at water.
Where LVP is the honest answer
Modern commercial-grade LVP — we spec 12-mil wear layer minimum — is dimensionally stable across the humidity range that destroys solid wood. It will not cup, gap, or buckle. Ice melt tracked in from a Minneapolis parking lot wipes off. The wear layer resists the kind of pet-nail and boot-sole damage that sends solid floors to the sander every five years.
The caveat: LVP cannot be refinished. When it is done, it is done. For a mudroom or a rental unit that will see a full replacement cycle anyway, that is irrelevant. For a living room you plan to own for thirty years, it is worth knowing.
The room-by-room answer we actually give
Living rooms, dining rooms, bedrooms, and upper-floor hallways: solid or engineered hardwood. Mudrooms, below-grade spaces, kitchens with dishwashers adjacent, and homes with radiant heat: LVP or engineered with a real-wood veneer. In-between spaces like open-plan kitchens that flow to a wood living room: engineered hardwood in the same species bridges the gap. We draw the line on the free measure visit so you know before you decide.