Solid Hardwood, Engineered and Laminate Flooring - Direction of wood flooring slats

Hello All,
I know this should be an easy decision. However, my husband and I disagree on the direction our wood floor slats should take.
We'll be having installed some wood laminate floor next month as part of a kitchen-family room remodel. And the contractor showed us the way the slats would run on the computer drawings (lenghtwise to accentuate the long, narrow quality of the room or foreshortnened to make it boxier). Since the kitchen is open to the family room and looks like a very wide corridor, my husband thinks that we shouldn't accentuate the length of it any more than we have to. I, on the other hand, think that overall the kitchen and family room is not a huge area (about 13x21 overall) and it would work well to stress the length and so make the whole area look bigger.
Any opinions, and your very valuable input would be so appreciated.

Maria

I personally would have the planks laid lengthwise like the contractor.

Having it run lengthwise also sometimes cuts down on how many cuts are going to have to be made thus saving more material thus saving more money.

Manufacturers recommend running the length of laminate flooring planks with the direction of areas main natural light source, and that is for purely aesthetic reasons so the joints are less noticable.

Other than that, structurally, it doesnt matter as it does with solid hardwood flooring over 1/2" thick.