Questions on Paint vs laminate

[twitami]

I have completed my first Cabinet, it was a conversions of some Atari cab, whihc was made into a NeoGeo cab. I am going to post pics at some point, but it was my first...so it is a bit rough in spots. Of course, I learned a lot, so now I want to build more. I am thinking Bartop probably (so many amazing ones on here!). I have seen a lot of people here mention laminate, and how much they like it. Is it hard to work with, and where do you get it?

Any other info would be great also, tips, ideas, etc. I am in a townhouse, so no garage or basement for woodworking ( I so wish! ). I can do stuff on the back porch though.