Guide

How to Choose the Best Laminate for Your Kitchen

Choosing kitchen laminate feels overwhelming because a kitchen is many surfaces with different jobs. Break it into four simple decisions — thickness, finish, design and care — and the right choice becomes obvious. Here is the method.

By Artis Laminates · Updated 2 July 2026

Step 1 — Decide where to spend

Do not pick one laminate for the whole kitchen — decide where it shows. Everywhere the room looks — the visible faces, table tops and the shutters of a showpiece kitchen — is 1MM territory: deeper texture under the hand, and imported designs you will not see in every kitchen. The 0.8mm Woodrica and Artvio lines are the everyday-value step-down — the same durable sheet to the same IS:2046 standard, right for secondary panels, interiors and full-kitchen budgets.

Lead with 1MM where the room looks; step down where it does not. Get this right and everything else follows.

Step 2 — Finish, by how each surface is used

Choose finish by use, not by taste alone. A high-gloss finish brightens the room and deepens colour — best on upper cabinets and surfaces seen more than handled. A super matt or suede finish stays calm and hides fingerprints — best on busy lower cabinets touched all day. Many of the best kitchens combine a gloss lift with matte elsewhere.

Whatever you pick, both are the same durable HPL underneath; the finish changes the look and upkeep, not the grade.

Step 3 — Design and combination

Now the fun part. Marble and stone looks suit backsplashes and visible faces; solid colours make clean, easy-to-combine cabinetry; wood grains add warmth; metallics make a modern accent. Rather than one shade, choose a combination — a darker base with lighter uppers, or a marble backsplash against solid shutters — using our kitchen colour-combination guide so the room reads designed.

Step 4 — Confirm the standard, then care for it

Before you buy, confirm the sheet is a genuine high-pressure laminate made to IS:2046 — ISI-marked under a BIS licence, as every Artis line is. That is the assurance behind the heat, water, stain and scratch resistance.

Then keep it simple: wipe spills immediately, clean with a soft damp cloth and a mild agent, never use abrasive scrubbers, and keep very hot vessels off the surface. That care keeps a kitchen sharp for years.

The method, in four moves

01
Decide where it shows
1MM wherever the kitchen shows; 0.8mm where it does not.
02
Finish, by use
Gloss where it is seen; matt or suede where it is handled.
03
Design as combination
A pairing — base, uppers, splash — not a single shade.
04
Standard, then care
IS:2046, ISI-marked — then a soft cloth and no abrasives.

Thickness by where it shows, finish by how it is used, design as a combination, and the standard confirmed before you buy — four decisions, one kitchen that reads designed.

The four-step choice

Choose the best kitchen laminate in four moves: lead where it shows (the premium 1mm Artis 1MM line wherever the kitchen looks, 0.8mm Woodrica or Artvio where it does not); finish by use (gloss where it is seen, matte or suede where it is handled); design as a combination, not a single shade; and confirm it is a genuine IS:2046 ISI-marked HPL before you buy. Follow that and you skip the overwhelm and land on a kitchen that looks designed and lasts. Browse marble and solid-colour designs to begin.

Good to know

Frequently asked questions

Work surface by surface: the premium 1mm Artis 1MM line wherever the kitchen shows — faces, table tops and showpiece shutters — with 0.8mm Woodrica or Artvio where the budget calls. Pick the finish by use — gloss where it is seen, matte or suede where it is handled — choose a colour combination rather than one shade, and confirm the sheet is a genuine IS:2046 ISI-marked HPL. Then follow simple care to keep it looking new.

For the counters themselves most Indian kitchens use stone. Where laminate is used, both thicknesses meet the same IS:2046 Type S standard, so it is not a durability question. The 1mm Artis 1MM line carries deeper texture and the line's imported designs, which show best on the surfaces the kitchen shows; the 0.8mm Woodrica or Artvio lines are the value option for the panels that matter less.

Matte and suede are easier to keep looking clean — they hide fingerprints and smudges, so they suit busy lower cabinets. Gloss looks brilliant and brightens the room but shows marks, so it needs wiping more often and is best on upper cabinets seen more than handled. Neither should ever meet an abrasive scrubber.

Lighter solid colours and a high-gloss finish help a small kitchen feel brighter and larger by reflecting light, while a marble look adds depth without darkening the room. Keep busy lower cabinets in a matte finish to hide marks. Pair shades using our kitchen colour-combination guide.