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Interior Design vocabulary · Materials & Finishes

Laminate

Meaning in interior design, with examples

/ˈlæmɪnət/nounCommon term

In interior design, laminate means: A hard, man-made surface made of layers of paper and resin pressed together, often printed to look like wood or stone, used on worktops, cabinets and floors.

In Turkish: laminat, HPL, lamine kaplama

How it is used

Budget-friendly and hard-wearing, common in rental homes, offices and kitchens. High-pressure laminate (HPL) is used on demanding surfaces. Laminate flooring has a printed layer on a fibreboard core. As a verb, laminate means to bond layers together.

Example sentences

  1. To stay within budget, we used a wood-effect laminate for the office desks.

  2. Laminate worktops are cheaper, but they don't like hot pans.

Common collocations

  • laminate worktop
  • laminate flooring
  • high-pressure laminate
  • wood-effect laminate
  • veneerA very thin sheet of real wood or stone glued onto a cheaper, more stable board such as MDF or plywood, giving the look of the solid material.
  • MDFShort for medium-density fibreboard: a smooth, stable board made from wood fibres and resin, used for cabinets, shelves, panelling and painted furniture.
  • worktopThe flat, hard surface on top of kitchen cabinets where food is prepared, made of materials such as quartz, granite, laminate or wood.
  • engineered woodFlooring with a top layer of real hardwood fixed to several layers of plywood or fibreboard underneath, which makes it more stable than solid wood.

More terms: Materials & Finishes

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