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Laminate Kitchen Countertops
Laminate kitchen countertops have come a long way from the white with black speckled tops that were so popular in the 1960's and 1970's. Lamination has improved, making your tops more durable than ever. The color selections have grown to include granites, marbles, woods, metals, not to mention the wide array of speckles and patterns in several appealing colors and shades. QUALITIES OF LAMINATE KITCHEN COUNTERTOPS:
COMPANIES THAT MANUFACTURE LAMINATE FOR COUNTERTOPS There are several companies that actually manufacture the laminate that is used to build laminate kitchen countertops. They only make the laminate, they do not actually manufacture the countertop form. As far as quality, they all seem to be equal, although they will disagree with each other about that!! Quality really comes into play regarding the individual companies that actually build the countertop shapes and form the countertops (called post-formed) using the laminates (see below - Countertop Manufacturing Companies). WHAT'S UP WITH FORMICA? Formica was the first company to manufacture laminate for countertops, so laminate is often confusingly called "formica". Formica is a brand name, however, and is not laminate itself. Their are four main companies (brand names) that manufacture laminate sheets used in the manufacture of laminate kitchen counterops:
COUNTERTOP MANUFACTURING COMPANIES - SOME PRACTICAL ADVICE (Don't Believe the Myth that a Custom Cabinet Shop or In-House Manufactured Countertop is better and more economical than the really good laminate kitchen countertops the larger manufacturing companies make.) Here is where it get's a bit tricky, and quality counts. There are several countertop manufacturing companies. They all purchase their laminate from one of the above companies (Wilsonart, Pionite, Formica, or Nevamar). They then mould and shape that laminate onto particle board forms, gluing the laminate to the particle board to manufacture countertops. If you go to a large building center, such as UBC (United Building Center), Lowe's, or Home Depot, they will usually use a manufacturer like this to obtain their countertops. That is good for you, the consumer. You want your laminate countertops to be built by someone that specializes in laminate countertops. For example, if you are in western Wisconsin, and go to UBC and order a countertop, UBC will take all your information and measurements, and actually order the countertop from one of these manufacturing companies in Marshfield, Wisconsin called Counter-Form. Counter-Form will build your countertop to order, not UBC. They will cut it, size it, create the mitered corners (or spline-miters as the case may be), radius ends, etc. You, as a consumer, usually cannot buy directly from these types of manufacturers, but please use building centers that do. Ask your building center where they get their countertops (hopefully they don't manufacture them in-house, if they do, think about going somewhere else). In our custom cabinet shop, we tried to use nothing but countertops that Counter-Form built. They were always accurate, built excellent corners (miters) that were easy to put together, and if they made an error, they corrected it immediately. The only problem we had was that customer's did not always understand that Counter-Form made the best countertops in our area, and didn't sell to small shops, only big building centers. We purchased our countertops from UBC, and rarely had any problems. Custom cabinet shops can purchase flat sheets of laminate and make their own countertops, and that is what our customer's expected us to do. If we would have, being a small shop, they would have received an inferior product. It's okay for a custom cabinet shop to build a laminated desk top or something similar, but if you're talking laminated kitchen countertops that are formed (rounded, have back-splashes, etc., they can't build as good a top as the large companies, and can't come anywhere near the price). The reason is that companies like Counter Form have multi-million dollar machines, and an expertise that no custom cabinet shop can match. Even large companies that try to be countertop manufacturer's fall short. We tried to purchase countertops, from one large building center that built their countertops in-house, for our cabinet shop. Every time we did, we had problems. Things weren't ordered correctly, took a long time to arrive, and when they did arrive, had errors. Be wary of ordering countertops from companies that manufacture countertops in-house. The quality and accuracy is usually not as good, and when you are installing laminate kitchen countertops, it better be right or you are going to have a mess. BEWARE OF THE SMALL COMPANIES THAT ORDER FROM THE LARGER LAMINATE KITCHEN COUNTERTOPS MANUFACTURING COMPANIES, AND TRY TO PASS THEMSELVES OFF BEING AS GOOD. There are several small companies that will purchase lengths of countertop from the larger, more well known, companies. These small companies will, after ordering lengths from the larger companies, cut your corners themselves, add their own radius's, etc., and pass them off as their own. They try to sell to small custom cabinet shops and consumers alike. The quality of these small countertop companies is also inferior. They will pose as companies that make their own tops, but in reality, they only cut them to the size you need, and add finished end-caps. Why bother? If you have problems, it will take twice as long to get the problem fixed because you are, in reality, going through two manufacturer's. LAMINATE KITCHEN COUNTERTOPS: DO'S & DON'TS If you've gotten a good quality laminate countertop, it will last for years, even decades. It depends on how well you treat it:
Return to our Compare Kitchen Countertops page from this Laminate Kitchen Countertops page. OTHER RELATED SITES: Kitchen Laminate Countertop - Styles and Options
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