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Cabinet Terminology

What is Wood Laminate?

Wood LaminateA wood laminate is a thin sheet of material used to cover the core of a wood project in order to change the appearance of the material. Laminates may be any material, but typically they are made veneers, which are thin sheets of wood. The advantage to a laminate is that they help to lower the overall construction cost of kitchen cabinets while still providing the same sort of aesthetic beauty as solid hardwood cabinets. A disadvantage is that a laminated cabinet is slightly more difficult to refinish in the future and the overall cabinet lacks the strength of the hardwood it is being made to resemble.

Special care should be taken when maintaining and caring for laminate cabinets. Unlike that used on countertop laminates, the material used to laminate is thinner on cabinets. They can be maintained with regular soap and water, but one should exercise caution to prevent any water from sitting on the cabinet as this can lead to a softening of the glue used to attach the laminate. The laminate used on countertops is designed to handle prolonged exposure to moisture, but the laminate on cabinets is not.

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