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Are Vinyl Wrap Kitchens Any Good?

To vinyl wrap your kitchen, a plastic coating is stuck onto raw MDF cabinet doors and drawers. It is one of the options available if you’re looking to refurbish your kitchen, along with having it fully replaced or spray painted.

For the average person considering whether to have their kitchen wrapped, sprayed or replaced, key factors are:

  1. That the cost of the renovation is within their budget.
  2. That the appearance of their kitchen will be improved once the renovation has been completed.
  3. That their new kitchen’s appearance will endure for a reasonable period of time.

Cost

Opting to have your kitchen vinyl wrapped is by far the cheapest option of the three. Kitchen sprays are the slightly more indulgent option but they’re vastly less expensive than kitchen replacements. Bear in mind however that in the long term, wrapped kitchens may not be the most economical option as those kitchens are likely to need refurbishing much sooner than if the kitchen had been sprayed or replaced (see our endurance section below).

Appearance

A drawback of vinyl wrapping is the quality of the finish. Where cabinets and drawers are coated in spray paint, the wood grain can still be felt and will be visible beneath the coating. The finish of wrapped items will always be smooth. You can however order vinyl wrap in an imitation wood effect and there are additional selections available too, such as patterned vinyl.

Both vinyl wrapping and spray paint are available in an extensive range of colours. One advantage of having your kitchen sprayed is if you’ve found a specific colour that you would like for your kitchen, as you can have your kitchen coated in your chosen colour by having the paint colour matched.

Endurance

If you use a reputable spray company, the coating will be guaranteed against discolouration, peeling, scratching and flaking for 10 years. The reason that this guarantee can be offered is that the paint used is extremely resilient. On the other hand, while vinyl wrap has been made tougher in recent years, it is still more susceptible to scratches. If vinyl wrap scratches it is not possible to touch up the affected area and so the entire cabinet/drawer will need to be replaced.

Kitchen wrapping is often criticised due to peeling and bubbling issues that arise. The plastic coating that is applied can be damaged by heat and moisture, which can be problematic in kitchens which house kettles, toasters, steamers, dishwashers and other such appliances. Whilst vinyl wrap may be a viable option if you’re on a budget and looking to coat your bedroom furniture for example, it’s not the best choice for a room which will be subject to heat and moisture on a daily basis.

If you do decide to go ahead and have your kitchen wrapped, we recommend that you be especially careful and do what you can to minimise the risk of damage, such as by positioning your kettles and other heat/moisture emitting appliances so that the heat/moisture directs away from your cabinets and drawers, rather than towards them.

A Few More Points to Consider

  1. Vinyl wrap is faster to install than having your kitchen sprayed. Whilst this may be important if you desperately need your kitchen completing ASAP, it’s worth bearing in mind that kitchen sprays can often be completed within a day (or up to three days for larger kitchens with the entire front, back and internal carcasses being sprayed).
  2. Whichever option you go for, your kitchen should be easy to maintain. We advise our customers to wipe down their sprayed kitchens with warm, soapy water and to avoid using any solvents.
  3. Sprayed kitchens can be resprayed again in a different colour and/or finish should you wish to redecorate your kitchen again in the future. It is not so easy to replace vinyl wrap should you decide to do so.
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