Laminate and Melamine: What You Need to Know
The decade that your kitchen, bathroom or laundry was constructed will greatly impact the type of cabinets you have in place. The 1980’s and 1990’s were known for vinyl wrapped kitchens, so a number of these homes may have peeling vinyl doors. However, if you have a more modern kitchen, your kitchen is probably made of melamine or laminate.
These types of cabinets are pre-finished and come in almost any colour – which has made them an extremely popular, inexpensive choice for kitchen cabinets. The compound found in both melamine and laminate is extremely strong, durable and mostly heat resistant which make sure your cabinets last as long as your kitchen.
Over the years, kitchen trends come and go. We have seen brightly coloured cabinets, misshapen door handles, crazy patterned tiles and bold splash backs rise and fall in popularity. These changes have resulted in a number of outdated, sometimes crazy kitchen cabinetry. Luckily, the process is update a melamine or laminate kitchen is an easy one.
How Do I Update a Melamine or Laminate Kitchen?
The best thing about melamine and laminate is it’s durability. As long as there is no significant water or heat damage to a cabinet door, it can easily been taken off and painted to look like new. Unlike a vinyl wrapped kitchen where to vinyl needs to be prepped and removed prior painting, the process for painting melamine or laminate doors is a lot quicker and easier – which saves you time and money!
How Do I Know if I Have a Melamine or Laminate Kitchen?
Unlike vinyl, melamine and laminate do not peel or bubble. If you check the corners and edges of your cabinet you should be able to tell whether it is melamine, laminate, or a vinyl cabinet. If you have checked your cabinets for peeling or bubbling but you’re still unsure on what it is made out of, it’s best to give a professional polish shop such as Dianella Polishing a call. A professional polish shop will be able to distinguish what hardware your cabinets are made from.
If you have any further questions about melamine or laminate kitchen, feel free to comment below!
Totally agree with your points. Thanks for sharing.
Thanks Jane glad we could be of help!
Hi, I hope you can help me. I had a kitchen installed by a company in Malaga less than a year ago and have a case against them with the Building Commission. As it is still going and has been almost a year now, we have noticed our kitchen cupboard doors are peeling and have completely lifted off the wood. We ordered vinyl wrapped doors but believe they aren’t. We are having difficulty trying to work out if they are vinyl wrapped, laminate or melamine. We also have a two door pantry which should have been high gloss vinyl wrapped doors but they have no gloss at all and there is a strip running the length of the doors next to the handles so there isn’t a smooth edge finish. Were we cheated? If needed we will put a claim in for these issues but we need to be sure. We are hoping to receive a monetary settlement so we can replace everything. Could you give any advice? Thank you for your help.
Hi Gaye,
it is always disappointing if a product or service does not turn out as expected. Unfortunately we can not comment on jobs which we have not completed ourselves for liability reasons. If you come in with a door enquiring whether or not it can be painted- we might however be able to advice hou what material / substrate you have and whether or not we can paint it…
Kind regards,
your Dianella Polishing – team for Kitchen and Laundry renovations