Cabinets: Laminate versus Wood (stained or glazed)
I am redoing my kitchen and I really want to get white cabinets. For those of you that have had laminate or wood cabinets (glazed), how do the cabinets hold up? Do they chip or scuff more easily than wood (unglazed) cabinets.
I am redoing my kitchen and I really want to get white cabinets. For those of you that have had laminate or wood cabinets (glazed), how do the cabinets hold up? Do they chip or scuff more easily than wood (unglazed) cabinets.
After being discouraged with prices of white wood cabinets (approx. 20k). I searched and searched for an alternative b/c we could not live with laminate cabinets.
So the solution was ordering “bare” Kraftmaid cabinets and having our contractor airbrush them w/white paint. make sure you get the paint with a washable finish. The sales guy at the cabinet store thought I was crazy. But when we were shopping for cabinets last year, the closest color that Kraftmaid had to white was a sick looking off white which I wouldn’t settle for. I believe our cabinets cost 7k, minus the hardware, and they’re GREAT!
If you have real wood cabinets now, you can just paint them.
Me again from 2:47, this isn’t quite what I was talking about, but it shows mixing of materials and it is another idea for using white mixed with woodstained:
http://www.qualifiedremodeler.com/images/article/1181323724429_12.jpg
The greater concern is the wood that’s used underneath the laminate, which is often cheap particle board. It’s not as sturdy, and can’t take the weight and wear and tear. My husband’s old coop apartment had laminate & particle board cabinets that had been installed in the late 80’s or early 90’s, and all the shelves were bowed and bent. Also the hardware on cheaper cabinets will give out on you.
One option I am a big fan of, is getting a wood-stained cabinet box and shelves, then getting the cabinet doors and fronts of drawers painted white. Then you can refresh the white painted parts as much as you want with greater ease, or even change the color of the paint. It’s not fashionable to be too “matchy” anymore in kitchens. Feel free to play with the materials a bit.
I don’t know if you’re being sarcastic or not, but really, wood is the way to go. You can sand and repaint wood to suit your tastes or those of a prospective buyer; and if they are of sufficient quality, they won’t scream for replacement in 10 years. They will meld better with a brownstone-ish residence, and increase the property’s value in the eyes of many prospective buyers (if not yours)
Thanks brooklyncouch- very helpful! You have really opened my eyes.
Wood or suburban/upper east side/passenger jet sterility!
Ive had laminated cabinets and they are definitely more stain resistant than the wood doors in terms of everyday splatter. That said, once the laminate cracks or gets damaged its pretty much gone where as the wood can be sanded/repainted, etc.
There is a totally different look too. The white laminate cabinets don’t look anything like the painted wood cabinets in person. Granted, you pay a lot more for painted wood cabinets rather than the laminated white ones. So its a trade off.