While many prefer solid wood for their kitchen cabinets, it is often true for this material, that the cons weigh in much more over the pros. In addition to being a bit prone to humidity and change in the climate, one also finds it quite vulnerable to infestation and other damage.
And so, many a people, for the Modular kitchens in Ernakulam, Kochi and other cities, doe now prefer laminates over wood. These are thin sheets, basically layers of paper that has a pattern or a design printed on it, and plastic resin, with an overlay of a plastic film. These layers when sandwiched together get to be called laminates. For substrates to help install laminate surfaces, people generally tend to use a composite product, such as MDF, particle board, and plywood. On pasting a decorative sheet or film on these boards, you find these substrates not only, quite surprisingly, tougher than solid wood, but also a lot cheaper.
For your kitchen, we’d recommend using high-pressure laminates, for they’re resistant to moisture, durable, and sturdier than their low-pressure alternatives. The choices are literally abound, when it comes to this material; from high gloss, to matte, to digital, and unicore – in addition to most of these being further specialized and customizable, and offering various designs, finishes, and coming in a variety of brands – you’ll be left spoilt for choices!
What’s great about this material?
The compressed sheets that laminates are, we already saw that you have no reason to doubt its durability. But also, these durable sheets are very affordable. So, you won’t have to compromise between money and quality. Moreover, you can make laminates look like any material, because the printed layer is put upon the paper nacking – which you can make look like metal, wood, leather, or anything. Another good thing about this material is, you need not regularly polish it, for it seldom fades away, doesn’t scratch easily, and its skin doesn’t wear off. Their moisture resistance is another feather in the cap, and furthermore, this material is very easy to clean – which is extremely important for modular kitchens in Kochi, Ernakulam, Ahmedabad, and basically just about everywhere.
What about this material should you be wary of?
If you do not install laminates in the proper way, you will find that its edges will tend to peel off. Also, these are made of paper and resins which are plastic-based, that are compressed under a high pressure; the making of laminates, therefore, makes it a non-renewable material, which at times, may also emit certain toxic gases into the air.
Now that you know all you need to know about laminates, do you think your kitchen is ready to get this material installed? Or did the cons make more an impression on you rather than its pros?