Cabinet furniture
1) Laminated plywood
The feature of plywood is the fact that wood veneer layers are glued together with carbamide adhesive, which provides medium level of resistance to moisture. This is more than sufficient for indoor premises with normal air humidity, since the adhesive bond does not emit any hazardous substances, which is especially important in accommodation premises.
Moisture-resistant plywood is used for manufacturing of such types of furniture as: bathroom furniture, outdoor furniture, furniture for constant operation in increased humidity conditions. In this case only high grades of plywood (first or second) are used. The plywood is usually covered with paint or lacquer, which increases its resistance to moisture.
Speaking about wood for veneer used for manufacturing of furniture plywood, preference is given to the birch, which is stronger than the wood of conifer species and has a tougher and sweeter grain as well.
2) Chipboard is manufactured by pressing of wood particles mixed with bonding material. Carbamide-formaldehyde resins are used as bonding material.
Chipboard features:
- low cost,
- good strength - chipboard easily holds screws and nails,
- water resistance,
- quality complying with sanitary and hygienic requirements and GOST certificates of conformity.
By certain parameters (strength and stiffness) chipboard is almost as good as wood of conifer species. However, unlike the latter, it does not fracture or spring, it is less subject to swelling and easily processed.
For furniture manufacturing chipboard is used, all surfaces of which are processed: painted, covered with decorative films, veneer wood, laminate or lacquer.
3) Laminated chipboard - Melamine board is chipboard covered with film-based polymers. The film represents paper impregnated with melamine resins.
Laminated chipboard features:
- high stiffness - hardly subject to deformation and inclined to keep its shape,
- excellent strength, this material is resistant to abrasions,
- processing completeness - laminated chipboard does not require further finishing,
- moisture resistance - special coating with lacquer characterized with water resistant properties,
- resistance to high temperature,
- resistance to chemicals.
Beside the abovementioned, one advantage of laminated chipboard is its excellent feature to imitate different textures, mostly wood texture imitation, as well as its low cost.
4) Fiberboard is a material in sheets manufactured by hot pressing of a wood fiber blanket with special additives. At manufacturing of fiberboard no bonding materials are used, panels stiffness is provided due to fiber natural adhesion. On the surface of fiberboard you can easily see a netted pattern. As a rule, one side of fiberboard is laminated so that it complies with texture of the whole product, and the other side which is turned to the wall is left non-laminated.
Fiberboard features:
- good replacement for plywood,
- homogeneous by its physical properties in all dimensions,
- durability,
- non-toxicity,
- water resistance,
At the same time, fiberboards are not strong enough to bear the main load in furniture-type products, therefore they serve as supplementary construction materials allowing to reduce furniture weight.
Modern manufacturers produce back walls of wardrobes and drawer units from fiberboards . This material is widely used for bottoms of drawers, sofas and armchairs
5) MDFis a medium density fiberboard manufactured by special technology (other than that for fiberboard). MDF is manufactured from dried wood fibers using the method of dry hot pressing at high pressure. Carbamide resins with melamine serve as filler.
MDF features:
- MDF strength and moisture resistance exceeds that of natural wood and chipboard,
- fire resistance due to use of antipyrene additives,
- high environmental friendliness,
- high resistance to various fungi and bacteria,
- MDF can be easily milled and lathed,
- MDF can have any shape.
The board surface can be painted, laminated or covered with veneer. Painting is performed with polyurethane enamels which can make the surface glossy, mat or semi-glossy, as well provide it with chameleon or texture effects.
6) Wood or solid wood is a universal construction and finishing material. Interior with wood finishing always looks good and indicates your tastefulness and high social status. Natural wood can provide any interior with a good style and make it noble. Oak, pine, cherry, beech and hazel wood are most frequently used for manufacturing of cabinet furniture.
Oak wood is a splendid construction and finishing material: wood used for furniture, parquets and finish carpentry (winter oak is preferred). Bog wood immersed into water (for up to hundred years) and having a dark, almost black color is the most precious. It is easily subject to artificial aging.
Pine wood is know for its gumminess, strength and stiffness, which is especially true for central parts of trunks. Pine wood has high indices of air and water permeability and has a light tone.
Cherry wood has decorative properties with a beautiful light tone, but eventually it darkens. It is easily subject to special thermal treatment smoothening its painting and making it closer to dark red tones. In terms of stiffness it is significantly softer than oak wood.
Beech wood is very strong, stiff, easily bent, cut, polished and painted. It has a wide range of colors - from white to pink. To conceal this variety and make beech wood uniformly colored, it needs vatting.
Hazelnut wood is a very tough and strong type of wood, but in spite of it, hazelnut wood it is easily subject to cutting and finishing. Hazelnut wood texture is also known for its variety: curved strips, lines, spots. Hazelnut wood is widely used for finishing of interiors and manufacturing of furniture. Hazelnut wood properties allow to use it for floors and stairs. Besides, hazelnut wood materials have a high durability, which is ensured with a good resistance to various types of effects.
Wood features:
- easy processing using available technologies,
- unique combination of strength, environment friendliness and durability,
- unique wood texture,
- air ozonation and unique smell,
Wood furniture has its disadvantages as well: wood is not resistant to fire and water, it can be easily damaged, it needs special treatment. Wood furniture is very heavy.
In spite of variety of artificial materials created for furniture manufacturing, natural properly processed wood remains very popular. Wood is necessarily dried and treated with special substances, otherwise high humidity and temperature difference typical for kitchens will cause its deformation. Bearing structures, panel components (walls, doors, shelves, worktops) and decoration elements can be manufactured from wood.
7) Rubberwood . This noble tree has soft-cream colored wood. From this type of wood exclusive furniture can be made due to change of wood texture and tones. Hard wood is processed more easily and accurately than other types of wood, which lets implement designer's ideas freely and make pure lines and refined shapes for furniture manufacturers.
8) HIGH GLOSS panels are an innovative material for furniture manufacturing.
Splendid deep color is obtained due to image spot application to acrylic base and acrylic lacquer coating of 12-layer panel with use of ultraviolet latest 100% Italian technology.
High Gloss panels have a number of advantages:
- ideally smooth surface,
- strength and high resistance to scratches,
- 95% gloss,
- bright deep color combining feel of glass and high-quality gloss,
- durability, the color does not fade or change,
- easy maintenance - dirt and grease can easily be wiped off from the surface,
- resistance to all detergents,
- environmental friendliness confirmed by certificates,
- maintainability, it can easily be sawed up and processed.
High Gloss panels are used at furniture manufacturing (kitchens, cabinet furniture, sliding wardrobes, office furniture and partitions) and as finishing material which ideally suits for indoor premises finishing. Gloss adds live color to any vertical surface and visually increases the room.
9) Veneer is a very thin wood sheet (0.1-3 mm) which is used for imitation of expensive wood types. In case of manufacture of furniture and doors, veneer is stuck onto a surface of other material, such as MDF.
- Natural veneer represents thin wood sheets with natural color and texture. A natural veneer sheet is manufactured by thin cutting of part of solid wood surface; it is sawed off, scaled off and planed. The main purpose is to save the surface wood structure. Natural veneer has the following advantages: ecological friendliness of material, unique texture, aesthetic material. Veneer is less expensive than solid wood and veneer leaves weigh less.
- Colored veneer is painted and stained wood, therefore the color range is almost unlimited,
- Fine-line veneer is veneer reconstructed from scaled-off veneer of soft-type wood by its molding into units which are subsequently used for manufacturing of natural wood veneer of different colors, patterns and sizes. Due to modern manufacturing technologies it is possible to imitate valuable species of wood with the same pattern, structure and appearance from material of less expensive fast-growing trees. In this case total cost becomes lower.
If veneered coating is stuck onto an MDF base, such veneer will serve longer.
10) Film materials (PVC film)
Modern technologies allow to create film materials that make furniture surface more attractive when they are applied to it. This material, as well as other polymers, is very durable, not subject to damage or corrosion. Such materials include films based on paper impregnated with synthetic resins, as well as plastic films.
Films can be transparent or colored, glossy, mat or semi-glossy, firm or elastic. A pattern can be applied to them. Films can be metal-coated and fluorescent. Their application makes it unnecessary to coat surfaces with lacquers or paints. Due to their plasticity and durability, products faced with decorative PVC films can be widely used for finishing of all types of furniture, facing of milled and smooth surfaces of front parts of furniture and other products.
Kitchens with fronts covered with PVC film have a very attractive price. Such fronts are manufactured from environmentally friendly MDF laminated from the inside and covered with structural or glossy films using the method of vacuum pressing with high-technology equipment.
11) Lacquers are liquid solutions of film-forming materials in organic solvents. Lacquer coating makes furniture glossy and serves as a barrier against moisture, dirt and various insects. Nowadays furniture is covered with synthetic lacquers, mainly nitrocellulose lacquers, polyester and polyurethane lacquers. Lacquers are used for finishing of furniture from solid wood, plywood, other wood materials as well as metal and plastic surfaces.