Once you have settled the layout and the core material, the next question is the finish on the shutters. This is the part of the kitchen you see and touch every day, and it usually accounts for a large share of the price difference between two otherwise identical quotations.
There are five kitchen shutter finishes in common use in India: laminate, acrylic, PU paint, membrane and veneer. Each has a real trade-off.
Laminate
A decorative sheet pressed onto the board. Available in matte, glossy, textured and wood-grain patterns, with hundreds of designs.
- Look: wide range. Textured and suede finishes look considerably better than basic glossy laminate.
- Durability: good. Scratch resistant and forgiving of daily use.
- Maintenance: easiest of the lot. Wipes clean, hides fingerprints well in matte.
- Cost: lowest.
- Watch for: edges. Cheap edge banding on laminate shutters peels within a couple of years. Insist on 2mm banding rather than 0.8mm.
Choose it if: you want the best value and a kitchen that stays looking decent with minimal care.
Acrylic
A high-gloss sheet with real depth of colour, giving that mirror-like reflective finish.
- Look: the most premium of the glossy options. Colour looks rich rather than flat.
- Durability: good, and it does not yellow the way some glossy finishes do.
- Maintenance: shows fingerprints and smudges clearly. You will wipe it often, especially in dark colours.
- Cost: high.
- Watch for: it needs a perfectly flat substrate, which is why acrylic sits best on HDF rather than plywood.
Choose it if: you want a bright, modern, reflective kitchen and do not mind the upkeep.
PU paint
Polyurethane paint sprayed in coats and cured, giving a smooth painted surface in any colour you like.
- Look: the most flexible. Any shade, any sheen from full matte to high gloss.
- Durability: good when done properly, but it is the finish most dependent on workmanship. Poorly cured PU chips at the edges.
- Maintenance: matte PU hides marks well. Glossy PU behaves like acrylic.
- Cost: high.
- Watch for: repairs. PU can be touched up on site, which laminate and acrylic cannot. That is a genuine long-term advantage.
Choose it if: you want an exact colour match to the rest of your interiors.
Membrane
A PVC foil vacuum-pressed over a shaped MDF board, wrapping the front, edges and profile in one continuous skin.
- Look: the only practical way to get moulded or profiled shutters, so it suits classic and country-style kitchens.
- Durability: moderate. The foil can lift near heat sources over time.
- Maintenance: easy, seamless surface with no edge banding to peel.
- Cost: moderate.
- Watch for: keep membrane shutters away from the oven and hob area where sustained heat is highest.
Choose it if: you want a traditional profiled look rather than flat slab doors.
Veneer
A thin layer of real wood bonded to the board and then polished.
- Look: genuine wood grain, warm and natural. No laminate reproduces it convincingly.
- Durability: good with proper polishing, but it is a natural material and will age.
- Maintenance: highest. Needs occasional repolishing and is sensitive to prolonged moisture.
- Cost: high.
- Watch for: grain matching across adjacent shutters. Done badly it looks worse than laminate.
Choose it if: you want real wood and are willing to maintain it.
Mixing finishes
You do not have to choose one for the whole kitchen, and mixing is often the smarter move. A common approach is acrylic or PU on the wall units where they catch the light and stay cleaner, with a hard-wearing matte laminate on the base units that take the most abuse. It looks deliberate and it saves money.
A note on colour
Dark glossy shutters photograph beautifully and show every fingerprint in real life. If you have children or cook heavily, a mid-tone matte finish will look better on an ordinary Tuesday than a dark gloss will. Ask to see a physical sample in daylight rather than deciding from a catalogue.
See and feel the samples
Finish is one of those decisions that a screen cannot settle. Visit our Greater Noida workshop and handle the actual samples before you choose, or share your room details and we will bring samples to your site measurement.
Phone: +91 98991 13191
Enquiries: Contact Intercraft Furniture
Explore: Modular kitchens and our kitchen portfolio
