Home Improvement Kitchen Remodel & Repair Countertops

Laminate Countertops: What to Know Before You Buy

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Countertops for kitchens and bathrooms need to be tough, waterproof, durable, attractive, and affordable. One type of countertop material satisfies most of those factors: laminate countertops.

Laminate countertops had their heyday in the 1950s and 1960s as U.S. cities expanded into the suburbs and the need for cheap, easily produced countertops increased. Laminate countertops have made a comeback. Homeowners are rediscovering laminate's ease of installation and surprisingly low cost. Learn a few basics about laminate countertops to help inform your buying decision.

What Laminate Countertops Are

A laminate countertop is a countertop usually for the kitchen or bathroom made of a thin sheet of laminate fused to a thick piece of wood substrate. With normal use, only the laminate is visible, not the wood. The wood is usually made of pressed board.

Laminate itself is a layer of treated Kraft paper on the bottom, a decorative print layer above that, and a tough plastic wear layer at the top.

Laminate countertops are sometimes referred to as plastic, but this is not entirely accurate. While the thin top layer is plastic, most of the laminate material is derived from wood.

Scratch Resistance

Do laminate countertops scratch? Yes. But so do every other countertop material: solid surface, tile, wood, and even granite and quartz.

Laminate manufacturers bind a transparent wear layer to the top of the laminate. Some wear layers are especially tough. Wilsonart binds a protective layer called AEON to the laminate, making it up to 500 percent more scuff and scratch resistant than other wear layers and 400-percent more wear-resistant. 

Tip

Laminate manufacturers typically recommend using a trivet when setting down hot pots or baking pans, as the surface may scorch.

Overall Durability

Keeping laminate countertop material in good order is important if only for one reason: laminate cannot be resurfaced.

Some countertops can easily be resurfaced. Fine-grit sandpaper is enough to smooth out scratches in solid surface material. Wood butcher block can be sanded and sealed. With laminate, repairing the surface and returning it to like-new condition is difficult. Chips and gouges can be spot-filled, but a scratched wear layer cannot be replaced or resurfaced.

Water is another issue for laminate counters. Homogeneous countertop materials like solid surface, quartz, and granite are not affected by water. Layered materials like tile or organic materials such as wood can rot, decay, and peel apart when water is allowed to soak between the layers.

Seams

Seams, or joints, are entry points into and under the laminate. Eliminating the number of seams in laminate countertops will reduce the risk of water infiltration and make the counters even more durable.

  • Never introduce unnecessary seams.
  • Use full-size laminate sheets as much as possible.
  • Do not place seams near areas of frequent water such as around the sink.
  • Butt up seamed sheets as tightly as possible.
  • Use seam filler to cover butted seams.

Appearance

Laminate countertops can simulate any material since the image layer just below the wear layer is essentially a high-definition photograph. Laminate countertops are usually grouped in one of four style categories: solids or colors, stones, patterns, and woodgrains.

Solids or Colors

Solid or color laminate countertops come in nearly any color you might want, from florid oranges and cheerful yellows to somber grays, browns, and blacks.

Stones

Laminate counters can simulate the look of granite, marble, travertine, soapstone, and more. Due to improved design and manufacturing techniques, the counters look more like real stone than ever. Unlike solids and patterns, stones need to simulate the appearance of depth to look realistic.

Natural stones, such as granite, have the appearance of depth because they are deep. Even solid surface and quartz countertop materials can have that desired three-dimensional quality because they are thick materials. But laminate countertop materials are a thin veneer—no more than a few millimeters—so the appearance of depth is achieved with high-definition, crisp image layers.

Patterns

Spend enough time staring at some brands of laminate countertops and you might notice the pattern repeating roughly every so often. This is pattern repetition. Look for a laminate with low pattern repetition. Formica, with its 180fx series, has photographed large slabs of real granite (up to 5 feet wide) and reproduced these images in high-definition on the material.

Patterns

Patterned laminate countertop materials have objects or lines that are repeated throughout the entire material. Patterned laminate can be hard to match up from side-to-side, so it's usually best to have professionals install this type of laminate.

Woodgrains

Though less popular than other types of laminates, woodgrain laminate countertops can still be found in most manufacturers' collections. Cherry, elm, ash, oak, birch, and even plywood are just a few of the laminate woodgrains available.