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Did you ever think why a lacquered furniture is more expensive than a laminate one? Which of these two materials should you choose? Is there a real aesthetic difference?

We start to explain from the support.

A laminate furniture arises from a standard particleboard (composed by wood chips and synthetic resins). A lacquered furniture instead, is made up of a MDF support (medium density fireboard composed by wood fibres and resins). There is a different resistance between the materials (MDF is better than particleboard. It’s smooth, uniform. It’s stronger and denser than chipboard).

The different support involves a different price and quality of furniture, particularly on the aesthetic aspect.

In fact, laminate is a coating based on sheets applied to wooden panels. It offers copious options in term of colour and finish. It’s also strong, hygienic and waterproof. But we are talking about a glued material. This imply that the edges of melamine doors have the characteristic “black line”. And in the course of time, with water and humidity, they could unstick.

A good product generally uses polyurethane adhesives for the edges which in turn are especially resistant to water and humidity.

Lacquered instead is a MDF panel coated with polyester and polyurethane paints. The lacquer finish can be matt or gloss and covers the entire surface, without the unaesthetic black line on the edges. It has many advantages and is very smooth because the MDF support is uniform and fine, but it’s definitely more mild than laminate.

A little secrets: more the reflections of the objects are clean/tidy on the lacquered doors, more the furniture is good. Its quality is determined by the paint used.

Finally, the two methods are very different. The first is a glued covering. The second is a painted covering. For this reason we have an important difference in term of cost.

With the modern print techniques and laser cuts, laminate has more finishes and colors than lacquered. An example are the products of Abet, one of the most important Italian company for the production of laminate.