Laminate Finish and Acrylic Finish are the most often recommended finishes by any designer who works on Modular Style of Working. This is because they are both available in ready made sheets and need to only be glued to an engineered wood base to give the desired finish. For the sake of discussion here, we will only consider the sheet acrylics and not acrylic polish which is very different in all aspects.
So how do you decide which one to choose? Laminate or acrylic? Here we discuss some differences between the two.
Laminates are by far the cheaper of the two options. There are three layers in the laminate of which the innermost craft paper is usually the most expensive which provides strength. Local brands take cheaper craft paper from sub standard manufacturers and lower the prices as well. Genuine acrylic sheets will always be more expensive compared to laminates and could sometimes be as high as 3 to 4 times the cost of laminates.
Acrylics are a lot more difficult to manufacture. Hence they are not commonly found. They are also available usually in only 20-30 shades compared to laminates which could be found in several 100 varieties.
Acrylics are glossy. In fact, most of the people like acrylics because of their super glossy surfaces. Unfortunately, acrylics are not possibly to be made in less gloss or matte finishes in case someone wants to use those. Laminates on the other hand are available in matte, semi gloss, high gloss and even in special finishes. This makes laminates a lot more versatile compared to acrylics.
Acrylics are a lot more stronger compared to laminates. In addition, they are significantly smoother which also ensures that dust and dirt do not stick to the surface as easily. For that reason, compared to laminates, acrylics are much more longer lasting as well as more sturdy and scratch resistant.
Both laminates and acrylic sheets are stuck to the base plywood or other engineered woods by application of glue and pressing them on the surface. The difference lies in the fact that unlike laminates, acrylic cannot be stuck using a rubber based glue like marine fevicol. It requires special adhesives to ensure that they stick properly.
Most people go for acrylics not because of their strength and hardness but because of their glossy finish. If that is the case, you can go for high gloss laminates at a much lesser cost. In fact, there are many local companies which call their high gloss laminate range as acrylics and try to dupe people. Keep in mind that if you are going for acrylics, ensure that the thickness is at least 1.2mm. A 1.2 mm laminate will become expensive and hence no unbranded player will try and sell that thickness as acrylic just to make money. This will give you some protection against spurious acrylics. If budget permits, you can always look at good options like polishes of acrylic or polyester which are much more superior and give a long life and elegance to the interiors.
You can check who are the brands which provide these finishes in our Comparison Engine.
