Plastic Laminate

[lino-man]

Guys, Im familiar with the common ones found in our area - Formica, wilsonart, Pionite and Nevamar.  But what I am looking for are the products that arent found in the big box stores, so that I have something different to offer my customers.
What do you think of products such as Arborite, Abeti or others?  Im not even sure whats available out there, but would love the input.

thx
Jeff

 

[Pete Pedisich]

Not sure of Arborite, but Abet Laminati offers the best colors I've seen. When you put Abet color chips next to those of Formica/Wilsonart/etc... it becomes more apparent. The colors are more subtle, cleaner, classier. Fantastic patterns, textures, metallics. But you will pay, man you'll pay.
Sometimes we show a client the Abet range, then they see the price and they look for an equivalent domestic plam and sometimes you'll come close if you're lucky.

Wilsonart is a great product for the money, though.

Not sure if any of these would be appropriate for you, but some are very cool: http://www.chemetal.com/

-Pete

 

[tiralie]

Jeff:
Pete has made some good suggestions.
I like Tafisa and some of the Flake board thermally fused melamine straight grain textured panels.
Formica/Wilsonart is good stuff with a lot of colors, textures wood grains.
I would suggest that you visit some cabinet supply shops in your area and check out what's new and get some samples. It takes extra time but it's worth it just to develop a relationship with those vendors.
Often (I) get an idea for something after I have seen as sample (chip) in my local cabinet supply shop.
All the major manufacturers have interesting HPL patterns and colors, but there are always some new ones that they introduce (textures/colors) that you need to see first hand.
Tim

 

[greenleaf]

Check out paperstone. Is a man made material used for counters and similar items. It is very expensive. Last time ilooks $2k for a 5x12.

 

[lino-man]

Thanks guys for the good suggestions. I do wish that Abeti was supplied locally and more affordable because its definitely a great product. I worked with a chemetal product last fall. Expensive to ship here-think its made down under isn't it?
I've had a couple friends tell me about Paper stone, but one of them says it scratches after not much time. Has anyone else had this problem?

Sent from my NookColor using Tapatalk

 

[tiralie]

I did come across Kinon recently. Not really a laminate per se, but some interesting patterns and textures.
Tim

 

[Tedric Pancoast]

I have Abet laminati laminate on the bed stands in my bedroom.  It was ofal from a job we did a few years ago (maybe closer to 6 years........... yikes)  It seems to be holding up very well although it's a low wear area so I can REALLY say.  It's gorgeous, my wife loves it, but it was expensive.  I'm not even sure where we got it now at this point, but I do remember it was expensive.  I like your idea of offering more choices to clients but I wonder about the availability issues.  Our local Wilsonart distributor even stocks most of the HD colors matching snap in bevel which is a nice perk.  We don't make our own bevel so that's why I stick with Wilsonart.

On a couple of occasions I have had a customer say they don't like the HD look on the Wilsonart (literally only about twice in the last 5 years).  I did kind of shut me down.  I didn't really know what to tell them.

Good luck, let us know what you decide to do.

Ted