From what I discuss daily with customers, I learn that in the general sense there are only three types of materials from which the furniture is “made”: solid wood – which “has no death”, MDF – which is something good but no one knows exactly what is … and chipboard, which is the worst quality and is something to be completely avoided!
However, chipboard (wood chipboard) is the most widely used material in the furniture industry. Almost everything you see on Pinterest is chipboard!
“Chipboard” is a generic term, meaning a wide range of products … such as “cheese”. Obviously, just as cheese exists in many specialties and qualities, so too chipboard is produced in many types … and qualities.
If you have had unpleasant experiences with the chipboard used by the “local carpenter” to make your “custom furniture”, this usually means that your edges have come off and that the material has swelled in some places, I assure you that these problems have occurred both due to the very poor quality of the material used and its poor processing. And maybe you remember how happy you were when you paid a small price for that furniture. And if you don’t remember the price then it means that you paid really very little.
But let’s try to overcome the fear of chipboard!
Produced at modern industry standards, chipboard has long been the best choice for making kitchen furniture cabinetry and carcasses in particular, where a special type of chipboard is used, with a variable density, a material as solid as it is light, which ensures load capacity and provides stability to the furniture unit, and also allows the solid mounting of the hardware. In the case of kitchens, the material of the carcass is waterproofed and is designed for use of minimum 20 years in conditions of humidity, temperature differences and intensive wear.
Chipboard, in its various solutions, is used as a support both for fronts (furniture doors) and for all vertical or horizontal surfaces / countertops. The chipboard can look in any color, material, texture or finish: it can be melamine, laminated with HPL or Fenix, painted / lacquered or veneered, each of these variants having a very wide range of finishes. In the best quality variants, it is provided with an additional layer (bilaminate) that has an anti-fingerprint role.
Attention: MDF is not superior to chipboard! It is simply another type of material, which is mainly used for painted / lacquered panels, which are processed with different milling or profiling.
The latest finishing procedures of the chipboard are based on the exact reproduction of natural materials, especially stone and wood, the reproduction being faithful in all respects: appearance, texture, gloss and especially touch. The edging of the panels is almost invisible in the case of a quality product and you can be sure that it will withstand the test of time and use without any problems.
Yes, I know that wherever you go, any seller – from any showroom – will tell you that all you see on display is MDF, just to give you (… falsely) the image of a superior product.
You can be 100% sure that what you see everywhere is 95% chipboard! But this does not mean low quality as long as the material is of quality and processed to the highest standards.
In conclusion, unlike cheese and its specific odors, which represent its refinement, chipboard and new furniture must have no odor. The pungent smell of “new furniture” betrays a lower quality and is mainly due to formaldehyde emissions, harmful to health, for which in Romania there are still no regulations in the field. With us you can be sure that all the materials used are internationally certified in terms of formaldehyde emissions and the impact on human health.
Conclusion: don’t be afraid to choose chipboard, but make sure it is of good quality. It is a long-lasting and economical choice, a recyclable and eco-sustainable material, and new technologies offer you lots of advantages in choosing the most demanding design.
