Office Furniture – Laminate vs. Veneer

This seems to be a common predicament when choosing office furniture, laminate or veneer office desks? You may or may not know that veneer tends to be more expensive and this is usually the deciding factor when choosing a desk for the office, whether it is an executive desk, reception desk or workstation.

Veneer office furniture is not often a piece of solid hardwood; it is still quite durable and is more commonly found among executive desking and reception desks, it is often more durable than laminate finished pieces of office furniture.

Veneer office furniture is also common in a lot of designer home office furniture. The reason for this is that usually veneer furniture has more of a rich and sumptuous finish and which you can understand why it is used in more managerial situations. It is also typically more environmentally friendly than laminate office furniture.

A major con of veneer is that it is often heavier than laminate, thus making it harder to move around. This can also have an effect on the installation as it will be harder to install.

The first advantage to buying laminate office furniture is the price. The obvious reason for this is that it costs less to produce. Laminate is worktops are typically made from MDF board that is covered in a 2-3 mm thick high pressurised laminate.

Laminate is never going to be as durable as veneer; however in recent years the advancement in technology and manufacturing processes has increased the strength of laminate meaning it does now come a close second to veneer office furniture. The advantage to using laminate is that is can be finished in not only a wide range of wood effect finishes, but also solid colours as well.

Laminate is usually lighter weight than veneer and is often the preferred material for installers as they are the ones that have to fit it!