# Forum Home Renovation Laundry  Flatpax Laundry Installation

## davewastech

I'm a newbie to cabinets and I'm considering to instal a rather basic Flatpax (or similar) laundry plus sink. It's not worth spending too much since the laundry is in a basement with 1.9m ceiling - it's sure not the Taj Mahal. 
So here's a few questions I'm still pondering. 
1. Materials - The Flatpax laundry cabinets ("door base cabinets") come complete with doors. I presume the cabinets and doors are melamine coated? I'm reading around the topic about "melamine", "vinyl wrapped" and "thermoformed"... where do I get which products, and which is the longer lasting?
2. Benchtop type - I only need one length. Any thoughts on which type to buy? Options at Bunnies seem to be  37mm Kaboodle laminate, bullnosed on front at $199 or 25mm Marquee laminate, square edges all sides at $99 (I worry these edges will chip and get water damage) orwood made out of little pieces of hardwood glued together, 26mm thick eg acacia a rather dark looking benchtop on special $99 orbamboo (I dont like the appearance)  *3. Drip rail - I read the thread Bunnings Flatpak Kitchens about a drip rail. Sounds like a good idea. Where do I get one? Can I just glue one on? Also the bullnozed laminate has a little 5mm groove running along the front, underneath the bullnozing  what is this for? Looking into the groove youre looking at chipboard. Can water spills get inside here and wreck it?*   *4. Waterproofing benchtop  if I go with a wood benchtop should I use 2-pack polyurethane (Estapol 7008) to coat it? Alternatively if I go with laminate should I coat the cut edges with something?* 
5. Kickboards  the Flatpax kickboard looks like melamine coated chipboard. Can these resist water spills on the floor? I was considering to buy a length of grey synthetic decking board (Bunnies have a plastic/bamboo composite decking  supposed to be water-resistant). Any opinions?
6.  Stainless Steel Sink  I thought the 45 litre Nugleam sink in Bunnies looks good at $132. Its 304 stainless steel. I dont know how thick the metal is. Is it worth paying more for a 316 stainless steel sink? 
Thanks for all help,
Cheers - Davewastech

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## Random Username

The cabinet carcass is melamine coated; melamine is that hard, white, usually textured finish bonded onto chipboard during manufacture.  A well cut edge on a melamine coated sheet will be sharp enough to cut skin.  Melamine is typically very durable, and you'll be sick of the kitchen before you wear the melamine out.  Melamine faced doors use a wood or aluminium or PVC strip for the edge and are probably the most durable doors. 
Vinyl = thermoformed - a vinyl layer is applied to the face of to a substrate such as chipboard or MDF and made to conform to the shape of the door with heat and vacuum - so you can have doors that look like they are frame-and-panel doors, or doors with patterns on the face.  Typically the substrate has a form of melamine coating on one side while the vinyl wraps around the face and edges. 
I'm not a big fan of vinyl - you can't cut it once it's done, there can be problems with delamination near ovens and dishwashers, and there can just be problems with delamination in general. It is also unrepairable once damaged. 
The other option aside from vinyl is a polyurethane spray paint finish.  Since it's just paint, you can touch it up like you would do for car paint. 
The little 5mm groove on the underside of the benchtop is the driprail. 
If waterproofing a benchtop, I'd use an epoxy coating similar to the ones you can find here: https://secure.solidsolutions.com.au...ucts.php?cat=6

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## davewastech

Thanks for quite useful info Randomusername, 
Anybody like to have a go at any of my questions 2, 5 & 6 ? (posted 2 Nov 2012)
I'm still doing my homework on this project. 
Cheers,
davewastech

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## Godzilla73

If you want a better colour range go to a post former/ bench top manufacturer 32mm tight form is way better than the old 180 degree edge. 
 The melamine face of the kicker will be fine if a bead of silicone is used between it and whatever is on the floor. 
That trough will be fine, just make sure whichever tap you choose doesn't wobble to much in the hole. Some of the larger taps can bend the trough.

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## davewastech

Thanks Godzilla73, 
I will go visit a benchtop maker. 
Cheers
Davewastech

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