Solid wood or veneer?

Many customers often ask for clarifications and explanations on the strengths and weaknesses of tables and furniture in solid wood or veneered.

Let's visually see how the two woods look like: veneered wood on the left, solid wood on the right.

To be able to choose which wood is the most suitable, first of all you need to keep in mind what your personal requests should be:

intended use (kitchen, living room, tavern, etc.)
visual impact
ease of use
expenditure budget

Veneered and melamine tops and panels

The first advantage is the quality/price ratio, the lightness, combined with flexibility and non-deformability, especially for use in humid environments such as a kitchen.

Generally composed of agglomerated wood panels (chipboard) or multilayer wood panels then covered with sheets of noble essence wood (veneer) with thicknesses ranging from 0.4 to 3 mm or with melamine sheets (laminate) with high resistance like HPL.

Especially handcrafted, blockboard panels (parquet type) are also used, covered with sheets of noble essence wood (veneer) with thicknesses ranging from 0.4 to 3 mm or with melamine sheets (laminate), or honeycomb panels (perimeter structure with honeycomb interior), the latter mainly used in the production of house doors. Aesthetically, a top veneered in noble essence has a visual impact similar to a solid top.

Tops and panels in solid wood

When you buy a table with solid wood top, you need to love and know its qualities but above all the defects of solid wood.

The value lies in the beauty and uniqueness of solid wood. In fact, the tops can have various thicknesses and are made up of strips of solid wood, glued together to ensure greater shape retention. In principle, the "defects" of solid wood tops are the heaviness and the presence of impurities such as knots or small cracks. The solid wood tops are still "alive" and will tend to crack or move over time even if properly seasoned. The cost also increases by 40-50% compared to a veneered top.