As they loosen, you get squeaks. So I favor glue, but that may be partially due to my hatred of noisy floors. Realistically, it's not likely to squeak for many years.

IMO, if it's not going over a slab, then a vapor barrier isn't necessary. And since you're talking staples, it's not going over a slab. If you have a subfloor on top of the slab, you need the vapor barrier under that subfloor anyway. In that situation, a vapor barrier under the finish flooring is actually a bad idea - it will trap moisture within the subfloor.

I don't like squeaky floors either, thanks for the reminder.

and the veneer can be ruined by a good soaking, so you'll want something you can take up in sections and replace if something starts to leak. My vote is for staples.

I shouldn't be getting any standing water but who knows so i think staples it will be.
I bought an extra box of them just in case. I'll put it back for later. 22.9 sf per box.
2.99 per square foot.

The previous owners installed it some time before we moved in 16 years ago. I don't know if it's engineered or what, but it is the worst kitchen flooring I've ever had.

Because there is a small built-in gap between each wood plank, dirt and liquids seep in them and can't easily be cleaned out. Unless I want to kneel down and spend hours running the end of an opened paper clip down every single gap to scrape out the junk.With two cats and two dogs and a household of relative slobs, I've found that keeping the flooring nice is really a pain.

If I could afford it, I would get real linoleum -- the kind that lasts 50 years and is made of natural materials.My second choice would be vinyl flooring that comes in planks and looks like wood.

Just my 2 cents.

I had Mannington resilient professionally installed several years ago and it looks like new.

The problem with linoleum is the colors are limited and some are odd.