Plastic laminate is pretty tough material. If you treat it properly, your laminate-faced surfaces, such as kitchen countertops and bathroom vanities, should give many years of service before they need replacement. In fact, short of burning it with a hot frying pan, there’s no reason why the laminate can’t last a lifetime, as long as you don’t abuse it with abrasive cleaners.
Before we get into any repairs, let’s look at the reasons why tables crack. Throughout the course of a year, the relative humidity inside your home may run from as high as 90-plus percent (in the summer) to as low as 10 percent (in the winter).
Are you getting bored with your plastic laminate kitchen counter tops? One way to liven them up, and give them a more contemporary look, is to give them a decorative hardwood edge. The job is relatively simple (in principle, if not in practice), and the only special tool it requires is a router.
Laminate-covered kitchen counters are inherently tough, but they won’t last forever. One of the first areas to show signs of age is the front edge. It’s exposed to more wear and impact than any other part of the counter, and it’s also the first place where adhesives and the laminate start to come loose.
If wind and rain can grind away a mountain range, nothing lasts forever. Still, laminate countertops come close. Given reasonable care, they can take years of hard knocks, spills, daily wear and even boiling water. How to provide reasonable care?