Laminate willingly used in the decoration of the kitchen, and this is easy to explain. From an aesthetic point of view, laminate flooring in the interior of the kitchen is magnificent: its textures and colors correspond to the main trends in the design world.
- Color harmony in the interior of the kitchen
- Feeling clean
- About durability
- High-quality and inexpensive imitation
- How to use laminate in the kitchen
- Laminate flooring: when aesthetics matter most
- Why is there a laminate wall in the kitchen?
- Laminate apron - if you really want, you can
- The Joy of the Experiment
- Photo gallery - laminate in the interior of the kitchen
- Video
Color harmony in the interior of the kitchen
Designers love laminate. It provides a wide range of shades, which allows you to create kitchen interior projects in the perfect color palette. Its color is not limited to stunning variations of grey, brown and black. Manufacturers offer fantasy wood imitations with shades of green, indigo, marsala or terracotta. Everything that becomes relevant in the color scheme of the interior is immediately embodied in new laminate collections.
Laminate provides a wide range of shades
Feeling clean
The surface of the laminate shines with cleanliness. This is so important for the kitchen! Any dirt can be easily wiped off with a damp cloth. However, the joints ... However, you can try to protect them with wax or sealant. There are also models with a chamfer reinforced with melamine, in which the joints are emphasized, but they look neat: dirt is easily removed.
About durability
The practicality of laminate flooring is debatable in the long run, mainly due to its lack of water resistance. This is not so important if it is planned to finish the walls in the kitchen with laminate - water rarely gets on them, in the form of steam or splashes (if we are talking about a laminate kitchen apron). Flooring is another matter, but here, too, the consumer is looking for a balance between durability, maintainability, price and aesthetics.
Finishing the walls of the kitchen with laminate
High-quality and inexpensive imitation
The most current design trends involve the use of natural wood and stone, but this is expensive. Laminate allows you to bring the kitchen interior project closer to reality. Actually, this is the main thing that makes it more and more popular. This is the trend: the mass consumer prefers not to invest in luxury real estate, choosing budget or rental housing plus impeccable interior design for relatively little money.
Laminate imitates any type of wood
Laminate imitates any type of wood, from democratic pine to exotic African oak, as well as cork and ceramics. The manufacturing technology allows us to reproduce the color and texture of the original material with photographic accuracy. So far, it has not been possible to apply such a reliable pattern to other surfaces.
back to index ↑How to use laminate in the kitchen
1. Flooring.
Most often, the floor is covered with laminate - it turns out to be clean, beautiful, and if you choose a commercial class of 32 and higher, then it is quite a moisture-resistant coating.As an example, let's take the flooring of an elegant kitchen (photo) made of laminate, which copies the texture of an old board, but is cheaper and easier to maintain than natural material.
Elegant kitchen flooring
2. Panel on the wall.
The most fashionable life hack - laminate on the wall kitchens (photo): as an active visual element, it is used locally. For example, in the photo, the laminate in the kitchen decorated with warm wood on the wall dilutes the Scandinavian black and white gamut and helps to highlight the cozy dining area.
Laminate helps highlight a cozy dining area
You can further develop the theme of an ecological island by placing green plants on the panel, or vice versa, play on the contrast of nature and technology by fitting vintage loft-style lamps into the “wooden” interior.
3. Cozy apron.
No one would argue that laminate is the most practical wall protection in the cooking area. But on the other hand, a laminate kitchen apron is incomparably easier to keep clean than wood panels, so there is no better material for Japanese-style or country kitchens.
Laminate apron - practical wall protection
Laminated chipboard panels can compete with him, but he has no equal in a wide palette of colors, which means that designers will use laminate for an apron in the kitchen again and again.
4. Everything that is not forbidden is allowed.
Sometimes kitchen furniture is decorated with laminate - countertops, doors, shelves. Adhesives, sealants and wax help to give the surface maximum moisture protection. In each individual case, the designer solves a very specific problem, taking the opportunity to choose the right color and pattern.
How practical is it? durable? It depends on the thoroughness of execution and the accuracy of the owners.
back to index ↑Laminate flooring: when aesthetics matter most
The use of laminate for kitchen flooring is a subject of ongoing debate. Surprisingly, the material, which obviously loses in terms of moisture resistance to linoleum and ceramic tiles, is still considered as an alternative to ceramics and linoleum. How did he do it?
The secret lies in aesthetics, special tactile properties, ease of installation, care and price. It replaces natural floor coverings, copies their external features, and introduces new useful properties - ease of installation and dismantling, wear resistance, extremely easy maintenance.
Laminate flooring is easy to install and durable.
In the design of modern apartments, especially studio layouts, there is a tendency to use a single floor covering for all rooms, including the kitchen, avoiding “patches” from other materials. An exception is made only for the bathroom. And here the question arises: how to cover the entire room - with linoleum, wood, ceramics or laminate? It is difficult to make a choice, but in terms of the combination of properties, in terms of versatility, laminate often wins.
Its lack of water resistance has to be compensated for by accuracy. In case of force majeure - flooding - you can re-lay the laminate in one day, and the repair will cost inexpensively, given the standard dimensions of the kitchen.
In terms of rigidity, the laminate occupies an intermediate position between porcelain stoneware and linoleum. It does not leave sagging marks from chairs, as on linoleum, and at the same time it is far from the stone - if you accidentally drop the plate, it will not break. Laminate flooring has a hard surface and a shock-absorbing backing that is pleasant to walk on.
Thanks to the shock-absorbing backing, it is pleasant to walk on the laminate
There is also such a thing as underfloor heating. This is not about heating systems, but about tactile sensations. Stone flooring (ceramic tiles and porcelain stoneware), despite its exceptional durability and hygiene, does not take root as a kitchen floor in northern latitudes. He is too hard, cool, uncomfortable.
Wooden, and even more so parquet flooring is not only not moisture resistant enough, but expensive and capricious in operation. Linoleum has another drawback - it does not meet the modern aesthetics of the home. The leader of the compromise is the laminate floor for the kitchen (photo), spectacular and easy to clean.
Laminate flooring is spectacular and easy to maintain
Laminate is much cheaper than wood, aesthetically perfect (manufacturers follow trends in the design world and promptly update their product line), the best samples are completely moisture resistant. It is inferior to natural coatings in durability, but it is chosen by those for whom price, aesthetics and comfort are more important.
back to index ↑Why is there a laminate wall in the kitchen?
Let's say right away - sheathing all the walls of the kitchen with laminate is a bad idea, it is used to create accents.
Creative finishing of the walls of the kitchen with a laminate can surprisingly distort the space. This happens, for example, with a smooth transition of the floor finish to the wall. Because the border between the flooring and the wall is blurred, the room seems either more spacious or more intimate, depending on the shade and pattern of the panel.
Finishing the kitchen wall with laminate
In the case when the laminated board flows from the wall to the ceiling, a kind of tent is created that closes the dining area. Hidden under it is the electrical wiring going to the lamps.
Shelves for tea sets and various accessories are easily attached to the decorative panel. And how spectacularly live green plants reveal themselves against its background!
The photo shows how a section of the wall with a laminate in the kitchen sets off a light dining group.
Laminate sets off the dining group
Behind the sofa in the dining area, such a coating performs at least two roles, decorative and applied: it protects the space behind the back of the bench from abrasion and from constant pollution.
Panels laid diagonally or with parquet look interesting.
If there is a technical niche in the dining room, this is good luck. A cascade of open shelves is placed in it or a free, clean surface covered with laminate is left.
A Japanese-style kitchen with a dark wenge-colored laminate on the wall seems impeccably clean and concise - this is the effect the designer wanted.
For Provence, manufacturers offer whitish, as if faded wood patterns. The local finishing of the kitchen with a laminate wall (photo) or a small section of it gives the room a nice rustic ease.
Finishing the kitchen wall with laminate
A special role is played by the laminated walls of the kitchen-loft. To do this, they select a pattern in the style of barn boards or complex textures that imitate the longitudinal cut of an old mighty tree. Purpose: to combine industrial metal and rough concrete with no less brutal wood to achieve a picturesque contrast.
Picturesque contrast of textures of wood and brick
Laminate apron - if you really want, you can
Based on purely practical considerations, a laminate kitchen apron is not the best option for protecting the wall from the aggressive effects of water, temperature and grease. But in some cases, it supports the design so well that it is impossible to refuse this idea.
In fact, this finish has its advantages:
- Easily mounted, including on walls of complex configuration, with niches and ledges.
- Conceals irregularities in the base.
- Thanks to a rich choice of structures and shades, it allows you to complement the interior with a finely tuned accent.
- It is inexpensive, which means that the apron can be replaced with a new one without regret.
A laminate apron will complement the interior with a finely tuned accent
The disadvantages of laminate as an apron are obvious, but to complete the picture, they will have to be voiced, if only to debunk the myths:
- Joints will become clogged with grease over time. You can fight this: wipe the panels immediately after contamination, and in practice - after cooking.
- It is believed that the laminate will swell from moisture. Not if you wipe it right after washing the dishes.
- Over the stove, the laminate will warp from the heat. This is how it should be fried, to hot coals? The material withstands even short-term contact with a hot pan, and there will be no harm from ordinary heated air.
Laminate masks uneven walls
Laminate on a kitchen apron - finishing for an amateur. Lover of originality, perfect color combinations and changes.
back to index ↑The Joy of the Experiment
Laminate has firmly taken its place - it has become a budgetary and high-quality substitute for natural coatings. It imitates any type of wood, from democratic pine to exotic African oak.
New collections are put into production immediately after the annual expositions of interior salons. Relatively inexpensive material reflects the latest trends in the design world!
Experiments with non-traditional kitchen finishing with laminate have become a kind of fashion, a life hack. Try it too!
back to index ↑Photo gallery - laminate in the interior of the kitchen
Video
