Kitchen Cabinet Advice - Lacquered / MVC / MDF with PVC foil / Acrylic

planestrainsautomobiles_2

Hoping that someone who is 'in the know' with kitchens might be able to help...

I've got a few quotes from different kitchen companies but finding it difficult to compare as they all seem to have different types of doors. See list below. Does anyone know which are the best / hardwearing and then maybe list them in order accordingly. Hard to tell which of my quotes is most competitive.

Lacquered high gloss door

High gloss Acrylic

18mm MFC with matching edge lipping. Finished with a top coating of high gloss lacquer

18mm MDF with softly profiled edges encapsulated in a high gloss PVC Foil

Thank you

mrschaucer

Sorry, I'm no expert and I'm sure someone more knowledgeable will be along, but all I would say is to be wary of a door with a separate strip running round the closing edge, or a join at the front/closing edge which is visible from the outside, as they are both susceptible to water damage and possible delamination. We made sure that the doors we chose were "wrapped" - no seams. Good luck!

planestrainsautomobiles_2

Thanks MrsC - thats helpful.

Any other advice out there???? Would be very grateful :beer:

ryder72

MFC doors with matching edge would give you the hardest wearing fronts. However, the quality and finish of the edging varies with manufactureres so check this carefully. They are also usually the cheapest doors too. If you doors are a light glossy colour this edge is usually visible and not very appealing. Consequently these kitchens are not the biggest sellers in light glossy colours.

Foil or vinyl wraps on MDF or chipboard cores are the next most expensive options. Look carefully for orange peel. The better doors offer a flatter surface and look nicer. These doors suffer from 2 potential problems - foil or vinyl can scratch relatively easily so not great for wear resistance. The seam at the back where the foil meets the MFC back is the weak point on these doors and then exposed to humidity or heat, the seam splits and door delaminates. Overall of the 4 listed options perhaps the least durable but benefit from offering the look of more expensive doors at a lower price point.

Lacquered high gloss doors are the best from a looks perspective and quite durable too. However these doors can chip on impact (similar to car paint). However they are the most expensive.

High gloss Acrylic - This is a good all round option. Great finish and durability and costs tend to be between wraps and lacquers. They are usually made in 2 different ways-
Solid acrylic such as Parapan with recessed handle profiles. Look great, durable but expensive and arguably a bit overengineered
Acrylic faced on MDF core with edges. Edges are either a contrasting silver colour to mimic glass, matching colour to door but with a visible edge or with some of the advanced manufacturers edges laser treated to make then invisible.

Ultimately your choice could be driven by budget but I hope this helps.

PM if you need more information

Meepster

I was going to go into great detail...

...but kmdesign did it for me

+1 for what he says...