melamine kitchen cabinets

Melamine Kitchen Cabinets: The Advantages and Disadvantages

July 17 2017

Melamine Kitchen Cabinets

If you’re trying to expand your modern kitchen renovation budget, then chances are you’ve given melamine kitchen cabinets a good look. Melamine cabinets are popular because they’re less expensive than solid wood cabinets, while looking nearly as good.

But you’re probably wondering, what exactly are melamine kitchen cabinets?

What Are Melamine Kitchen Cabinets?

Melamine is a synthetic material that’s composed of different things, including wood particles, glue, resins and even paper. Having a paper and resin finish means that melamine kitchen cabinets are available in a wide variety of styles and colors. The colors they come in are usually solids, or come in multiple shades of faux wood grains.

Advantages

Melamine kitchen cabinets are known for their attractiveness, durability, and affordability.

Here’s why:

Attractiveness

  • Looks as good as wood at a fraction of the cost.
  • The finish is often more consistent than solid wood grains. This is because melamine kitchen cabinets are manufactured in a controlled environment.

Durability

  • The paper and resin finish makes them easier to clean.
  • Resistant to heat, moisture, stains and dirt. Note: to enhance moisture resistance you must keep up maintenance on the outer finish.

Disadvantages

Now of course, like with all types of kitchen cabinets, there are a few disadvantages that you should be aware of.

  1. Heaviness: this could be a disadvantage because you might need to upgrade your brackets for the heavier melamine kitchen cabinets; otherwise they might fall and damage your kitchen.
  2. Even though melamine kitchen cabinets are made of synthetic materials, chipping can still occur. Unfortunately, chips look especially unattractive with melamine, and refinishing these chips can become very expensive.
  3. Extra care must be taken during installation. Because of the heaviness of melamine kitchen cabinets, support is crucial during installation. It’s safer to hire a professional to do the installation. The risk of damages should be significantly lower. Due to the unique inner structure of melamine, nails and screws must be installed carefully to avoid splintering.
  4. These cabinets shouldn’t be installed too closely to a sink or other water source. This is because melamine absorbs water very easily, and this can compromise the integrity of the internal structure. This means that if your melamine kitchen cabinets keep getting wet over a period of time, they can start to swell, become musty, moldy, and difficult to close properly.

Conclusion

You might be pleased with the appearance and affordability of melamine kitchen cabinets. However, keep in mind that they shouldn’t be installed too close to a place where they can get wet (like next to a sink).

We hope this helped, and if you’re in the area, check out our cabinet showroom to see what we have to offer!

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