Oh no...dogs need to worry also?
Seriously, my kitchen cabinets are lined with melamine, but I didn't build them, a friend I went to middle and high school that I have known most of my life built them for us before I was getting back into woodworking.
I can say that if you spill milk ON it, it wipes right up!
My wife is pretty happy with it, the sides and shelves are lined with it, over particle board as Jamie mentions. If any liquid did penetrate inside the particle board would fall apart, so that would be one downside.
It is easy to clean, which is good for my wife. We actually like it, just don't want it inside our kid's milk...
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Life is about what your doing today, not what you did yesterday! Seize the day before it sneaks up and seizes you!
Alan - http://www.traditionaltoolworks.com:8080/roller/aland/
All of my kitchen cabinets, plus my dining room built-in china cabinet and buffet, plus my pantry cabinets, plus my sunroom cabinets, are built from white (or almond) melamine, with oak faceframes and doors. They are super easy to clean - just a damp cloth or, for sticky or stubborn things, a spritz of 409 cleans them right up.
Word of warning---if you are going to rabbet and/or dado for the backs, joints, and/or shelving, do NOT use the "special" glue that is recommended for use with melamine. If you do rabbets or dadoes, you will be gluing MDF (or particleboard) to like, or melamine to the substrate, and the glue does not work, unless you are gluing melamine to melamine. Use regular yellow carpenter's glue, and also screw the boxes together about every 6-8". The melamine glue will only soak into the substrate, the joint will dry out, and the box will fall apart in a very short time. Do NOT ask me how I know that--the recollection is too painful.
Nancy Laird
Owner - D&N Specialties, Rio Rancho, New Mexico
Woodworker, turner, laser engraver; RETIRED!
Lasers - ULS M-20 (20W) & M-360 (40W), Corel X4 and X3
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It's nice to be important, but it's more important to be nice.
Melamine was more available to the regular guy and gal back in the late 1980s and early 1990s. I was able to get it in white, gray, almond and black. I was also able to get it in 3/4", 1/2" and 1/4".
Today, only white 3/4" is readily available at Lowes or Home Depot. Black is available at only one select lumber yard near me with limited stock.
Melamine certainly has some advantages: stable, inexpensive, no finishing, and a clean-able surface.
Here's a re-post of a melamine kitchen that was refaced about 2 years ago. The door faces have high gloss formica applied over the melamine surfaces. The sides of the melamine carcass's are real wood veneer and are now 20 years old.
-Jeff
HPL >> Melamine. A good quality laminate will be tougher than melamine which is pretty soft. For cheapo drawer, shelves, etc. it's usually fine, but for something nice or countertops, etc., I'd stick with HPL, but it will be more expensive.
China has a lot of it. They use it in dog food.
Maurice
I did a couple book cases using Borg Melamine/particle board. I did get chipping when cutting it in one trip. I found that if I made 2 passes, one with the blade about 1/16" high just to score the melamine then a 2nd pass to cut the rest of the way through it worked great. Obviously not a technique for large scale usage but it worked fine for a dozen or so cuts. Sort of a poor man's scoring blade setup.
HTH
Curt