Main > Main Forum
Is laminate worth the time, effort, and cost?
Doom bucket:
I'm having some seconds thoughts about my plan to cover my cab with black formica laminate. If any of you have used laminate, I'd like to hear whether or not you think it was worth it.
somunny:
I think it's worth it. Did my first cab in all black and working on my second with two-tone black/red. However, I haven't built, or examined in person, a painted cab so take my two cents with a grain of salt.
There's some skilled people around here that I've seen work magic with paint and MDF...
Steve
DrewKaree:
It's up to you. Laminate has benefits paint simply can't beat, paint has benefits laminate simply can't beat. If your only reason to use laminate is to get a nice finish in black, then that's not all that solid a reason, as you can get the same thing from paint. If your reasons include being far more impervious to water damage and wear and tear, then paint CAN'T beat that. Cost? Paint by a long shot. Ease of application? Paint by a long shot. Best results AFTER application? Laminate by a long shot.
97thruhiker:
I've now painted and laminated a cabinet and I can say that both have their advantages/disadvantages. With that said if an exact color match is not cirtical (i.e. cabinet restoration looking for exact Nintendo Blue, etc) then I would go with laminate every time, especially if I'm building a Mame cabinet.
My biggest reason for liking laminate is in my opinion the ease of it. If you have the proper tools its really very easy. Painting was much more difficult for me as well as time consuming. Sanding, bondo, sanding, primer, sanding, painting, sanding, painting, etc (a good two weeks of work). You can knock out a laminate job in a couple of hours and be done with it and ready to move on with the project. Additionally the surface will withstand as much abuse as your kitchen countertops.
1UP:
Use laminate if you EVER plan to move it--even to another room. Paint--any kind of paint-- is just so easy to scratch off with the least of mishaps. I would recommend at least laminating the outer side panels, they will take 99% of the abuse during moving. It's not that hard either--seriously it's just an hour job to do both sides. A cheap router and the right bit will do the job. You'll need a router anyway (rent one for a day at Home Depot if you're cheap) if you're doing any t-molding, which I also highly recommend to protect the finish.
I ended up laminating both sides of the two side panels and doing the rest of the panels with black melamine. Melamine is notorious for chipping, but just the tmolding and those two laminated side panels have seen it thru two hard moves without a scratch. (I also edge banded the melamine to minimize the possibility of chipping.)
Color selection is obviously more limited, but between the two major brands (Wilsonart or Formica) you can usually get pretty darn close.
Navigation
[0] Message Index
[#] Next page
Go to full version