by
Lawton Brothers
| Apr 03, 2023
Kitchens bare some extensive and oftentimes dangerous activities. Picking the right materials to use in your kitchen is essential for maintaining your facility with ease, as well as ensuring a return on your investment.
Flat Paint
Flat paint, also known as matte paint, has durability issues (to say the least). Trying to wipe off a splatter of anything from a flat paint will ruin the paint job and render your work pointless. Instead, you want to use semi- or high-gloss paint on your walls. This type of paint is smooth to the touch and can withstand multiple scrubbings before they show any sign of wear and tear.
Thermofoil Cabinet Fronts
Most laminated cabinets are made with thermofoil. Despite what its name suggests, thermofoil is actually vinyl that has been heated and molded around fiberboard. There are three main problems with thermofoil. Thermofoil is not heat resistant (if it’s near a dishwasher or oven, it can delaminate), it can warp and yellow with age, and the wood underneath is not particularly good quality, so it also won’t hold up over time. That being said, advances in technology have led to higher ends of thermofoil that are much more durable and may become more so in the future.
Inexpensive Sheet Vinyl Flooring
In a kitchen, the floors are getting a lot of activity, so quality really matters. Cheaper vinyl flooring is usually very thin and can become delaminated from water seeping into the floor. While luxury vinyl tile (LVT) is more forgiving and even comes in tiles, so you can avoid bubbling of your sheeted flooring, it still doesn’t hold up well enough to be suitable for a kitchen.
Laminate Countertops
Laminate countertops are made with heated vinyl melded to fiberboard. While they are cheaper and come in a range of colors and patterns, laminate countertops are not heat-resistant, scratch-resistant, or stain-resistant. With the average slicing and heating in a kitchen, it won’t take long for your countertops to peel and warp (usually beyond repair).
High-Gloss Lacquered Cabinets
Of course, a nice shine is quite eye-catching. However, high-gloss cabinets achieve their nice shine thanks to 20 coats of lacquer. If a cabinet is dinged or scratched, it’s a multi-step process that is lengthy, and expensive to repair them.
Questions from the Kitchen?
While these materials aren’t suited for a kitchen, there are plenty that are! And along with that, there are cleaners and routines that are best suited to maintain your kitchen. Give Lawton Brothers a call today and we can discuss the materials in your facility and how to best take care of them. Or ask about a free cleaning audit at: 800.432.0813.