Question
I have a job coming up that requires me to copy some existing cabinets. The cabinets seem to be built from white melamine with a laminate on the outside only. Am I asking for problems by doing this, these cabinets seem to have held up as they are many years old. I expected the doors to be laminated on both sides but when I opened one of them I was surprises to find the melamine surface. Can I just order a one face melamine and laminate the other?
Forum Responses
(Laminate and Solid Surfacing Forum)
From contributor K:
Yes, you can order melamine G1S it comes with a glueable surface that you should scuff or just scuff the G2S with some 60 or 80grit. As long as you use contact cement you will not have warpage. This is a very common practice, don't be scared. You will be fine.
Here in New Mexico, where it is very dry, this is still being done by some shops and we did it for years with relatively few problems, but it doesn't meet AWI custom grade so we changed to balanced panels- also because we work in different parts of the country. We recently lost a project in Nebraska by about $30,000 - the low bidder installed casework with melamine backs and laminate fronts and every door cupped. I found the contractor someone to help him fix the problem and it cost the him a little more than the $30,000 he could have paid me. So you can get away with it, but you might not. It's better to make a balanced panel with color on one side and a white or almond to match the melamine on the other. If there is any quantity involved you can find someone to lay it up for you, often for the same or less than you would pay for the materials.
