(Below is a description of the products used in the kitchen industry).
What is 2 Pac?
Two Pac is car paint on a melamine MDF door. These doors are as tough as your car exterior. They do not fade in the elements and certainly not in your kitchen. This 2 Pac product had always been the Rolles Royce of kitchen cupboard doors. Its’ handicap is the price as it is considerably more expensive than most other doors.
What are recessed handle doors?
Recessed doors are those which appear without a handle. There are various ways to do this. One is to have a recessed gap between the door and the benchtop whereby one can place his or her fingers over the top to open the door.
The advantage of doing this is that you appear to have a flat surface without handles if that takes your fancy. There are four ways to accomplish this (visit our showroom to see the various methods). You can do wonders with strip lighting in the recess accentuated by a different color in the strip.
The disadvantage is perhaps a little more cleaning as grubby hands must touch doors and leave smudges and the recess itself requires some cleaning. Another disadvantage is that they cost more than with standard handles.
What are Melamine doors?
Melamine doors are the foundation of the modern kitchen industry. Melamine is a super thin sheet of laminate pressed onto a sheet of MDF board. The board is then cut to size and a band is placed around the door usually the same color. In years gone, by the edge-band was .04 mm thick, either paper or vinyl which burred on the edges or melamine which chipped. Today, the more reputable kitchen manufacturers use a 1 mm thick vinyl edge which does not burr or chip or come off. Nowadays this has become a reliable long lasting reliable kitchen door and remains the most used throughout the industry.
What is the popular kitchen door used in kitchens?
The most popular door in the kitchen industry is the melamine door by far and the most popular color is white gloss. When we travel up-market, we find that 2 Pac is the most common. The door shape on the 2 Pac doors is mainly flat panel and when we go to patterned door, we find that the colonial shaker door is the most sought after and the color is again white gloss.
What are laminated kitchen benchtops?
Laminated benchtops are a sheet of laminate stuck to a substrate, (either moisture resistant particleboard or moisture resistant MDF board. The words “Postformed Benchtops” refers to this top and means that the bench face edge can be rolled over the front to a variety of rolled shapes. The most common today is a 6mm x 6mm roll called “Tight-Form”.
What are stone kitchen benchtops?
Stone benchtops, simply put, is a mixture of powders and chips of whatever, pasted together into sheets of stone. This is a tough surface and very popular but has silica fibers which is unhealthy for the fabricator and is being phased out in the industry because of Government regulations. Other similar products are on the way which will supersede this product.
What are Granite kitchen benchtops?
Granite kitchen benchtops are magnificent. Some of the very light colors can be porous and require sealing. The different granites are mined from quarries throughout the world and usually machined into sheets and on-sold to various countries. Many bench edges can be applied. The durability of granite must be counted in thousands of years and so is not a problem on your benchtop.
What are Solid Surface kitchen benchtops?
Simply Solid surfaces are a man-made product which is a good product mainly because it allows the fabricator to create seamless joins incorporating seamless sinks, and seamless drop down facures and splash backs.
What variety of timber doors are available to me?
This is too complicated to answer as all species are possible and most are available. However, the timber must be dried and aged properly to stop the timber warping after being manufactured into kitchen doors. Light colored doors often yellow which can add to the appeal or not but one must take that into account when choosing a species. New Guinea rosewood is popular as it is not overly dark and has character and is not overly expensive.