Inlaid plastic laminate

When I was a kid the stuff was often seen on restaurant and elevator doors. A lot of it ,of course, just fell apart because of bad glue. And I consider today's contact cement to be "bad glue". But laminate secured with plastic resin glue is a pretty enduring material. I have tried many times to see pics and info, surprised that there is so little. Wondering if you have ever used your CNC machines for such a project. Could be a new contender for kitchen cabinet doors. Proclaim yourself a "kitchen scientist" and reinvent it.

I'm sure I could make it work but I prefer the V-carve inlay technique, which requires a thicker material.

How did they do it back then Mel? Die cut?

I really don't know, really hard to find info now. Some years back when our local botanical garden visitor center was built they made an inlaid linoleum floor. And they were common at same time as the laminate. My guess is the laminate was done with router and some filing at corners. It would make great cabinet doors.

For whatever reason to me, the lamintates of today seem kind of cheap looking. That said we are currently doing a large two story commercial bank interior, solid cherry that incorporates a lot of laminate as the panel backdrop for simulated wainscotting. I guess its a justified cost savings. We just build what we are told if we win the job.

There are some pretty impressive laminates out there and a lot of really impressive panel material. Tafisa is pretty cool. I could see it implemented with a solid wood panel profile in the right setting.

Unfortunately for us we are not in the world of people looking for something "different".

Id love to see some photo examples of what your talking about. May get the wheels turning.

Most of the old examples were solid colors. Again,it's hard to find pics ,I don't know why. Some of the pieces were in use for a long time ,restaurants were not constantly remodeling the way they do now. I bet some of you did not get to see your restaurant jobs in the open establishment ....because they went broke too quickly. Some of my stuff I saw only once as it seemed to be saying "look at me, I'm top notch" as it proudly strained to be a little higher in the dumpster. "I shouldn't be in here with all this low quality garbage....help me ,please". There was a restaurant my extended family used to meet in that had a laminate chef face that used to flap every time the kitchen door closed ; a brief funny cartoon that now plays only in my old stories and re- run dreams !! Some building restoration stuff that I read year ago referred to protocols being established for saving old laminate. The best examples I can find now are Art Deco elevator doors . I think the Empire State Building had laminate on its elevator doors. Fell off or was changed out pretty early.

There are some examples by a Lucy Turner on line .