Laminate Finishes Explained helps you understand the surface textures available across our laminated boards, worktops, and table tops. The finish affects appearance, durability, light reflection, and ease of cleaning, so choosing the right one is essential for long-term performance.
We use high pressure laminate finishes from trusted manufacturers including Formica and Altofina. Standard options such as Matte58, Shell, and Satin suit most interior applications, while textured and specialist finishes offer enhanced visual depth and character.
You can explore these finishes across our full laminated boards, birch plywood worktops, and table tops ranges, where each product clearly states the surface finish supplied.
If you are unsure which finish suits your project, we recommend ordering a sample before placing a full order.
Formica
Matte58
Matte 58 is a versatile, lightly textured laminate finish that offers a smooth touch and understated elegance.
Its low light reflection creates a muted, elegant appearance, ideal for achieving a subtle, sophisticated look.
A very practical surface choice, Matte 58 is a robust finish suitable for high traffic environments.
Gloss
Gloss laminate texture enhances the visual appeal of any space with its smooth, highly reflective sheen.
The Gloss texture in combination with the Frosted pearlescent series of decors provides a modern alternative to glass for wall panels and splashbacks.
Suitable for light-duty horizontal and vertical applications.
AR Plus
This is a superior high gloss laminate with enhanced abrasion resistance, intensifying colour depth and clarity for a more vivid and dynamic look.
AR Plus stands for Abrasion Resistant Plus technology, helping your surfaces retain their high gloss shine longer than standard gloss laminates.
Shell
Shell is a versatile, lightly textured laminate finish that offers a smooth touch and understated elegance.
This finish is used for Formica Fundamentals laminates.
Satin NDF
Satin NDF combines a luxurious, smooth, and soft-to-the-touch laminate surface with a subtle sheen. It has no direction or grain, adding to its versatility and making it an ideal choice for various applications where a sophisticated surface is desired.
It provides an elegant sheen which works well with a multitude of laminate decor combinations.
Naturelle
With its natural appearance and authentic touch, Naturelle laminate texture adds a layer of realism to any design, making it the perfect choice for a subtle real wood feel.
The matte wood pore finish of Naturelle adds depth and authenticity, enhancing the visual and tactile appeal of wood decors.
Suitable for light-duty horizontal and vertical applications.
Puregrain
Puregrain laminate texture brings the warmth and character of traditional wood to life, enhancing your spaces with its authentic and deeply textured surface.
The deeply brushed texture adds a pronounced tactile quality, making laminate surfaces more engaging and visually captivating.
Paper
Paper is a new laminate texture that brings a touch of organic tactility to your interiors.
Paper texture offers a soft, grainy, and ultra-matt surface that resembles the organic feel of natural materials, enhancing the sensory experience in any space
Linewood
Perfect for both wood decors and plain colours, Linewood laminate texture brings the authentic feel of natural pine to your surfaces, enhancing them with a refined, wood-inspired finish.
Linewood texture replicates the effect of sandblasted or brushed straight grain pine, providing a realistic and refined wood texture.
Arcosa
Arcosa is a laminate texture that celebrates material imperfections, offering a unique blend of subtle details and tactile depth.
Arcosa’s pitted structure and hairline cracks replicate the natural imperfections found in raw materials, adding depth and character to surfaces.
Its matt and grainy feel enhances the sensory experience.
Monolith
Monolith is a dramatic texture inspired by the beauty of natural stone and enhanced by manmade artistry.
In combination with different solid colours, the hybrid characteristics of Monolith reflect different natural materials such as marble, slate, and leather, bringing a dynamic and layered texture to any surface.
Essence
Essence is a matt laminate texture that provides a sense of subtle, natural and timeless beauty without overpowering the overall aesthetic of the decor.
Characterised by its low gloss finish and tactile, grainy feel.
Plex
Plex is an award-winning texture that combines a small-scale textile like structure with a crisp touch and silky sheen.
This highly tactile texture brings textile-inspired laminates to life, offering an authentic touch and feel that mimics the experience of woven structures.
Honed
With its subtle sheen and rich texture, Honed laminate texture provides an authentic stone-like appearance that enhances the depth and realism of your design.
Honed replicates the appearance of brushed stone, offering a natural aesthetic.
The low-gloss finish adds a subtle, refined touch.
Altofina
Satin
Satin is a smooth, low-sheen texture. It provides a subtle, low-reflective finish that is less shiny than gloss but slightly more reflective than a true matt. The finish is designed to be resistant to impact, moisture and abrasion. This finish is very similar to the Formica Matte58 finish shown above.
Gloss
Gloss is a shiny, reflective, ultra-smooth surface. The finish offers good moisture protection, but is more prone to showing fingerprints and smudges, especially in high-duty areas. A gloss finish requires more frequent cleaning than matte finishes.
Matt
Matt is a non-reflective, smooth and natural look that offers an understated aesthetic. It is highly durable, resistant to heat and moisture, and designed to withstand everyday wear and tear. The low-sheen finish helps to conceal fingerprints and minor scratches. It’s is a practical choice for high-duty areas such as kitchens, as it is hygienic, food-safe and simple to clean. This is similar to the Formica Satin NDF finish shown above.
Str 2
Str 2 is a finish designed to provide an authentic surface texture to replicate the feel and appearance of natural materials. It is mostly found in woodgrain laminates, but is also used in concrete laminates. This is similar to the Formica Naturelle finish shown above.
Stone
The Stone finish is designed to imitate the look and texture of natural stone and concrete.
Unit 4, Bewicke Road Industrial Estate, Willington Quay, Wallsend, Newcastle upon Tyne, NE28 6LX
0191 263 3973
info@exactedge.co.uk