Peel and Stick Laminate

Many manufactures , cabinet shops, sign shops, handymen, and installers use high pressure laminate from brands such as Formica or Wilsonart. Although these laminates are great they are rigid and may require a table saw and router. On site fabrication can be dusty, noisy and have the smell of glue.

Dackor manufactures a product called Peelstix. Peelstix is a flexible laminate that can be trimmed with knives and can be fabricated in a shop or on site with no dust or smells. By having the adhesive already on the product it can also save time.

Peel and stick laminate is used for cabinet refacing for single family homes, DIY, apartment remodels, and adult living facilities. Other applications are items such as office desktops, particians, walls, columns, cabinet faces, metal, ceilings, glass, on drywall, on plywood, check outs, healthcare, and many more. With over 150 stock colors and a 9 foot minimum order doing business with them is an ease. In addition, they offer a school, installation manual and guidance. You can visit them at www.dackor.com or www.refacesupplies.com or by calling DACKOR at 407-654-5013

Kitchen & Bath Retailers and 3D Laminate/Thermofoil Kitchens

We all aware that North America has deep roots with woodworking. With our past abundance of low cost wood and forestry, natural woods have been the driving force for KB Retailers in North America.

Since the 90s, most of the larger Kitchen & Bath manufacturers have had a large wood line up with only white thermofoil being their only laminate line. The reason most of these manufacturers were early adopters of white thermofoil was that it was superior to paint in many aspects. Firstly it was more uniform, easier to control the colors, more scratch resistant and less likely to show dirt. With the governmental agencies regulating the spraying of paint and releasing VOCs it also became much easier to use these thermofoil doors. But, for the most part, woodgrains were not added to most of the large producers line. Why? Profits….. Consumers simply were not willing to pay as much for the thermofoil woodgrains and who can blame them?

The market, however, has been changing dramatically. As I write this we are still in the midst of a deep recession that has been in for several years and the KB Retailer are also facing competition from importers of KD, RTA Cabinets. These lower cost wooden cabinets are being sold in flooring shops, distribution warehouses, by remodelers and so on. But what is most interesting is that the American consumer is slowly becoming more open to Euro style Cabinetry. There are multiple cultural reasons for this. The reasons i will list are:

1. POP CULTURE: Companies such as IKEA and APPLE are influencing pop culture.
2. AFFORDABILITY: Consumers are becoming tired of paying $30K for a Kitchen
3. PRODUCT LINE CREATION: KB Dealers can offer proprietary offerings more easily by working with American cabinet producers.
4. DESIGN TREND CHANGES: Design trends work in polar opposites.

POP CULTURE: Companies such as APPLE are influencing pop culture in very subtle ways. When you watch the commercials featuring MAC vs PC what you might believe is that MAC is advertising that there computer is superior to a PC however its not that simple. What APPLE is actually saying through their advertisements is that PCs are old, yesterday and for your geeky uncle and not for the modern world. Although is arguable, I would imply that such changes in society can also simultaneously change the tastes of that society. Through large scale social changes such as the preference of cars or computers it has been proven throughout marketing history to influence trends as a whole. I may write another article about this subject. The second part of the equation is IKEA. If you are in this industry you may have already spotted the IKEA Kitchen affect. Although its not destabilizing to the Kitchen industry, IKEA has and will continue to influence Euro style cabinetry in North America as they grow in this market.

AFFORDABILITY: The next reason that KB Retailers will continue to add 3D Laminate Cabinet Line collections is that they are more affordable. Throughout the 90s and early 00s we noticed that Kitchens became super expensive. If you think about spending $30K on cabinets and countertops retail it certainly makes one wonder. If you look at Entertainment Centers, end tables, dining tables, sofas and other furniture its clear that on average these items cost less than the average Kitchen Cabinet or countertop per weight, per square foot or however you might calculate. I don’t want to say that these Kitchens are not worth the money because this article is written for KB Retailers…. Rent is high, advertising and lets not forget that Kitchens require design and are essentially installed rather than set in a room. With 3D Laminate Kitchens, however, it enables a more cost affective Kitchen while enabling the KB Retailer to maintain adequate profit margins.

PRODUCT LINE CREATION: If we compare an American made 3D Laminate Kitchen to an imported Wooden Kitchen I would suggest that its more possible to create a proprietary line with the 3D Laminate. With the Wooden Kitchen Cabinets they seem to be more easily copied. We’ve all seen chocolate glazed maple cabinets and if you’ve been to one showroom you may feel that you’ve been to them all. With the print and emboss affect of 3D Laminates its very possible to create interesting Kitchens that are not seen at the showroom next door.

DESIGN TREND CHANGES: The next subject is a very popular one for me. I often speak about this theory. I do plan to write a book about this subject some day…. Its about style predictions in color and design. Its my theory that one can predict the future trends of color, fashion, music or design (loosely) by taking the antithesis of today’s current trend. So my theory is that since faceframed, wooden and antiqued or glazed cabinets have been en vogue that the exact opposite will now come into affect. How do I come up with that assumption? OK…. lets look at the music industry….

Lets start with my one of my favorite generations of music and that is the 70s and work all the way through to today.

1970s ROCK: American Classic Rock: Think Led Zepplin; macho
1970s POP: Disco. Started as antithesis of Rock and some speculate that it killed Classic Rock.
1980s ROCK: Glamour Rock “Hairbands”. Think Motley Crue. Antithesis of macho hence they wore makeup.
1980s POP: British Invasion: Also Antithesis of “American Rock” because completely imported. Think Duran Duran
1990s GRUNGE: Think Nirvana. What is the opposite of “Glamour”? Grunge of course.
2000s RAP: What is the opposite of “Grunge” Bling and Excess of course.
2010s Yet to identify but by 2015 I predict we’ll have seen music go the Antithesis of Excess or Bling. We can already see the “Green Movement”

So if you look at the past 30 years its clear that we have close to a 10 year run of music followed by an underground sound that gives birth to the exact Antithesis of that music genre.

All of this is to say that before Glazed Face Framed Wooden Cabinets were the biggest trend and next we should expect more clean, straight lined woodgrains to become the norm. Actually we can already start seeing that change.

SUMMARY: In future articles I would like to expand some of these points out more but the purpose of this article is to say that “YES, 3D Laminate Kitchens should be considered by KB Retailers.” If you are a KB Retailer and would like to call or email me to discuss I would be glad to do so.

If you produce thermofoil components, be prepared for a customer shift in 2010.

If you manufacturer or use 3D Laminate, thermofoil doors and drawers you should prepare yourself for a customer shift in 2010, 2011. In this article I will give market conditions and observations that I believe will convince you of a coming shift in thermofoil component buyers. As the market slowly rebounds, its my belief that you will find many customers WILL NOT come back because they will start buying imported KD cabinets. Many larger Kitchen company lines who service KB Dealers, however, will increasingly use 3D Laminate thermofoils due to the quality control and ability to be made in North America by automated machinery.

If your company has been producing thermofoil components since the late 90s or early 00s, your entire company is structured around the market as it was. The router profiles you stock, colors in your warehouse, pricing and customers you send samples to are all a result of what you believe to be connected to your target market. Certainly most of your feedback probably comes from your customers, but you should ask if they are still your ideal target customers? Is your target market shifting? Its my belief that the market "as we knew it" will not return to thermofoil in the same manner. Not only is the market smaller, but the people seeking out these components are often new people and new companies. Do you think its possible that these new people may be of a different demographic in terms of their market view, their wishes and wants when it comes to colors and profiles? Lets examine...

In Europe, most of us are aware that thermofoil has been utilized in over 50% of the Kitchens in prior years whereas we've never topped 8% of the Kitchens here. The primary reason is due to the shortage of low cost wood, however the second reason is that the larger Kitchen producers adopted thermofoil as a viable way to market kitchens via KB Dealers. Consumers trust larger manufacturers due to their warranties, elaborate brochures and higher quality of dealers.

In North America, however, thermofoil has traditionally been used primarily for lower end cabinets. As a result, the major cabinet companies have primarily only used white thermofoil due to its superior consistency to a white painted door. The vast majority of users of the woodgrain thermofoils have been buying a raised panel door that is been marketed as a counterfeit wood door.

In addition to the US building market shrinking there has been a rise in imported "Knock down" cabinets coming from Asia. Although the US Cabinet market has decreased by a reported $3 billion in sales, the imports from Asia have increased by over $250 million in wooden cabinets in the last 2 years. Does this signal anything for you? Do some research on the American Furniture industry that evaporated in the 90s.

Many of the past sellers of value based cabinets have concluded that when the building market does rebound that they can buy from a cabinet importer and resell cheaper than they can construct a cabinet box and buy thermofoil doors. In addition, they can give the illusion of more quality since their new cabinet will be solid wood. In reality, most of these imported cabinets have been failing due to the expansion and contraction of the wood doors revealing the unstained center panel edges. In addition, most importers or distributors of these cabinets lack the capital to stock enough SKUs to complete many of the projects they undertake. As a result of these two reasons, the market perception of a value based wooden cabinet will decrease and the market perception of an American made thermofoil Kitchen will increase.

Another interesting thing is that KB Dealers are faced by a decline in cabinet sales as a whole. KB Dealers are also facing increased competition from the importers of value based Kitchens. Imagine being a small KB Dealer selling an American made particle board cabinet with maple door for $20K installed whereas a flooring shop is selling a solid wood box with Cherry door for less than half. This is not every case, for every area or every dealer but it is a scenario that is playing out as we speak across North America.

Daily, I see more and more KB Dealers as well as American Kitchen manufacturers promoting a Euro style cabinet with high end thermofoil. These higher end cabinet shops and KB Dealers are finding that the sophisticated consumer willing to purchase a $20K plus Kitchen does value Euro styling in many cases, but in most cases aren't too keen on buying a $8K Kitchen from a tile shop for example.

In conclusion, I do recognize that there will continue to be need for custom solid white and custom raised panel woodgrain thermofoil doors from the value based door buyers, but please do shoot for the the higher end cabinet factories that sell cabinets via KB Dealers. You may be surprised....

Do you see the subtle shift that I do? If so, drop me a quick email mark@dackor.com

Best wishes in 2010..... Mark

3D Laminate Thermofoils are ideal for High End Kitchens

(THIS ARTICLE WAS PUBLISHED by SURFACE & PANEL magazine Q2, 2008; www.surfaceandpanel.com)

Whether you refer to it as thermofoil, foil, PVC Veneer, 3D Laminate or Vinyl, one thing can be certain: there is an identity crisis regarding our product here in North America. As with marketing any product, it is not only important that people know what your product does, but that they also have a positive impression about it and the product segment that it resides in; as a result, the quality and reputation of your product segment as a whole is ever bit as important as your company and brand.

Since there are numerous names for our product segment, it is very difficult to explain to outsiders what our product is. I’ve even met cabinet makers and specifiers, much less people in typical social settings, who didn’t know what product I meant when I said “thermofoil”. I’d have to explain that it’s the same material used for “white vinyl wrapped doors”; even at that, though, they didn’t know that those same 3D laminates were available in wood grains! If I said that I sell granite, they would all clearly identify and usually have a positive reaction about that product segment; however if you take a look at our product segment, we lack all of that. When you think about it, though, how could a product segment that lacks a single, clearly identifiable name build awareness as an industry?

I have long thought that there should be one clear name to identify our product segment. In 1998, I started using the phrase “3D Laminate”. I can’t be certain that I was the first to use it, but I certainly had never seen it used previously. The year prior I had noticed at the NeoCon office furniture show that people would ask how our product was used. In response, knowing that most people clearly understood what an HPL chip looked like, I created a professional board that was backlit and spread chips out in front that were cut to represent the size and look of HPL chips. I used the term “3D Laminates” on top of the board. At that show I received many comments that, “Wow, they have 3D laminates now?” I realized then that the more descriptive name of “3D Laminate” helped to identify our product segment while also adding value over a traditional laminate.

Aside from a more descriptive name, our product segment lacks a positive image. Cabinetmakers and consumers alike do not recognize the quality and high end application potential that 3D laminates can offer. In Europe, 3D laminates are viewed as a durable, hygienic and a fashionable surface. It is not only more economical than wood, but it is also more consistent and offers a great deal more color and design options. If a project called for an exotic West African wood, the cabinet door could cost as much as $50 per square foot; however, a 3D laminate door in that same design and application would cost only a fraction of the price. In addition, a quality 3D laminate would be more consistent in design, and no “Old Growth” forest would need to be touched. Although 3D laminate doors are typically produced using PVC as an overlay, the bulk of the finished product is made by MDF. MDF is composed of blended raw wood material utilizing low priority wood composites of branches, small diameter trees, mill waste and forestry chips. It could be argued that our product segment even deserves recognition in the revitalized green movement.

In Europe, why are 3D laminates perceived as fashionable and modern surfaces to be used in mainstream and high end applications, but not here in North America? In North America, we typically see 3D Laminates as a lower end product used only in the bathroom, for apartments or in the closet. One problem is that, unlike their larger European counterparts, the extremely large kitchen producers here do not promote 3D laminates as a consumer friendly product and product of desire. At the opposite end of the scale, the small custom shop, which got its start as a custom wood craftsman, is pro natural wood, especially since “real wood” has a tendency to be viewed as a product that a cabinet shop without an automated CNC can roll up their sleeves and work with by hand.

So without the large kitchen producers and small cabinet shops pushing 3D laminates, what remains is only a small niche of kitchen and component producers who specify and utilize the product segment. The exact numbers are hard to pinpoint, but it has been reported that over 55% of kitchens in Europe use 3D laminates, whereas in North America that number is less than 10%. Typically, when you do see 3D laminates in North America, they are marketed as a type of counterfeit wood door. Mostly, though, they are promoted as multi-pass raised panel doors which require more CNC time than a slab door, thus warranting a higher price than a single pass routered door.

It’s also interesting to note that the perceived value of a kitchen in Europe is created by the color or design, whereas in North America the perceived value is more closely associated with how long it takes to produce. We have all heard the adage, “You sell what you show.” Well, in North America, the marketing efforts of 3D laminate door producers have collectively leaned towards selling their product as counterfeit, raised panel wood doors, which by their very nature is lower end on the pricing scale; as a result, thermofoil has become synonymous with low end.

As an Industry, shouldn’t we be promoting our 3D Laminate components to the High End design market? I feel that we should. The reason that 3D Laminates are not being offered to the high end clientele currently is a direct result of a category identity problem, which derives from a lack of information and education about our product segment as a whole.

As I mentioned, 3D Laminates are more popular in Europe, but let’s further examine why. First of all, the European market has a greater concentration of large manufacturers whom value consistency in their production line. These larger manufacturers create brochures that rival the automotive industy’s in style and quality and they proudly promote Kitchens that utilize 3D Laminates. Wood is also more scarce in supply and comes at a higher cost, and the average labor rate is high in most European countries. As a result of all of this, the large manufacturers are compelled to better utilize their machinery and material, such as 3D laminates, to add the most value possible to their finished product. Consequently, the 3D laminate product segment is perceived as a high end, high quality product in the European kitchen market. (On a side note, the consumers in Europe also live in tighter spaces; therefore “Euro Style” or “Full Access” cabinetry lends itself to being more desirable since more of the cabinet is usable.)

Now let’s compare the European situation to that in North America. In North America, “real wood” cabinet doors are viewed to be higher quality than 3D laminates. It is interesting that some of these “real wood” kitchens use the low-end wood doors, cheap hardware, untreated paper on the cabinet sides, and low-grade particle board. Then these kitchens are sold as being a high quality kitchen simply because they utilize “real wood” doors. Compare that kitchen to a Euro Style kitchen produced here in the US using a CNC with an all melamine board construction and Blum hardware; I would contend that the US made Euro Style kitchen offers more quality and value than the former. That is not to say that 3D laminates are superior to wood, but at the same time they are not necessarily lower in quality either. Allow me to give some examples of where man made products can outperform or have a higher perceived value over the “real” surface:

“Real” but LOW END PRODUCTUses Natural Wood, Leather, Steel
“Man Made” but HIGH END Uses Graphite, Plastic or Fiber

Wooden Golf Clubs VS. Callaway Graphite Clubs
Leather Shoes at Wal mart VS. Nike Running Shoes
Leather Handbag from Mall VS. Gucci Designer Handbag
Butcher Block Island VS. Corian Solid Surface by Dupont
Steel Ford Pinto VS. Fiberglass Corvette
Steel Bike from Target VS. Carbon fiber Racing Bike
Low end Maple Cabinets VS. High End 3D Laminate Kitchen

The above examples show that a man made product with artificial surfacing can be of a higher quality or of a higher perceived quality when properly produced, designed and marketed. If you sell your product based upon the wood species or how many passes it takes on the router, then you are not branding your product to its full potential.

Let me give an example:

Two years ago I visited the showroom of an Italian kitchen producer here in Florida, and was very impressed by the size and appearance, as well as the beautiful kitchens on display in large, wide-open spaces... It was obviously a very upscale showroom. I was admiring one of the Kitchens when an attractive saleswoman walked over and asked how I liked the kitchen. I remarked that it was indeed beautiful, and asked whether it was thermofoil. She began to explain to me that it was a special lacquer dipped process they do in Italy, but after hearing this, the showroom manager quickly walked over and corrected the sales person. They did have a special lacquer line, but it was for special order only. As it turns out, the kitchen I was looking at was indeed thermofoil. When I asked how much it retailed for, I was surprised at the high price level. In general, the average retail for their kitchens was considerably higher than the average “real wood” kitchen, but it did have a lot more hardware, function, high quality melamine construction and most importantly style.The Sales Manager and I ended up speaking for hours about the Kitchen Industry, the US market and the perception of foils in the market. I then realized that some of these kitchens coming in from Europe were sold widely into condos, as well as high end homes. When I have mentioned to designers the names of some high end kitchen producers from Germany and Italy, they drool over the thought of specifying them into their next project. They are viewed as an ultra luxury product, yet they don’t know or don’t want to see that they are using products that can be sourced in North America as well. After leaving that showroom, and after multiple trips to Germany and Italy, I have realized my calling. Although I didn’t hear a trumpet sound, I knew that it was my job to bring design and profitability to producers of 3D laminate components and kitchens to North America. I hope that this article reaches those who are in a position in their daily activities to join me in spreading the awareness of 3D laminates for use in high end kitchens.