Need help finding some retro-style kitchen paneling!!

[theHandpuppet]

We are renovating the large country kitchen in our home, which still has some of the wonderful 30's-40's touches. We happen to love that era and are almost finished with our retro makeover, but have one problem. The area of the kitchen where the cabinets and appliances are located has a type of paneling we'd like to replace but cannot find. The original panels, now showing some age, appear to be a glossy masonite in solid sunny yellow and subtle, speckled jadite green. Now this may sound odd but we really love these colors and they are perfect color scheme for the era-friendly kitchen accessories and antiques we love to collect.

Problem is, I can't find these kinds of panels anywhere. Prints, yes, patterns, yes, textures, yes. But where I can I find glossy, solid color paneling? I searched the Masonite website without luck. Can anyone here give me a lead?

[Stinky The Clown]

1. Check all the laminate maker's sites

Formica brand, Wilsonart brand ..... others. Get the laminate in sheets and glue it to an appropriate backer (1/4" plywood?) and fix it to the wall. Most of them have the type of color/pattern you want. Maybe not exact, but probably close. The retro stuff from the mid century is in a real resurgence. We love that style, too .... 30s and 40s.

[troubleinwinter]

2. Also, laminates are available in 'vertical grade' and 'horizontal grade'

For walls, you use vertical. It is thinner, lighter and less expensive than 'horizontal grade' (for counters).

[theHandpuppet]

4. Thanks -- I didn't know that.

Appreciate the info!

[troubleinwinter]

5. Most pattern/designs are available in both...

It is a good thing to know, so that you use the correct thing for your application. Check to see if vertical is available. The thicker grade will work on walls, but is heavier, harder to handle and costs more.

[theHandpuppet]

3. Thanks!

I was getting really frustrated because I had done the google searches and was coming up with nothing after hours of looking. Wilsonart has a shitty website with little useful info... I gave up looking for vertical laminates and you can't even find a phone # to call for a catalog. Lots of info for their flooring laminates but not much else. Formica's website was almost as clunky but at least they provided a 1-800 number so I called for a catalog. Hope I can find something close!

[troubleinwinter]

6. If your town has stores that make custom

kitchen countertops, go there! They have some other brands, as well as the standard big ones. It'll take a long time to go through all their samples!

Websites (Wilsonart, Formica) generally only have a small percentage of their available patterns posted.

Forget the big Home Depot/Lowes... they usually only have a selected number of the 'popular' patterns.

I'm tellin' ya, I've been there! It took determination, but going through thousands of samples at the big ol' countertop shop got me exactly what I'd been searching for.

[theHandpuppet]

8. So most of the laminates for countertops...

... are also available in the thinner vertical laminates? That would certainly give me a lot more to choose from!

This is where we want to shop for some kitchen furniture and a laminate top for the sink area: http://www.barsandbooths.com/ Perhaps I could also talk to them about some vertical laminates.

[wildeyed]

11. I had a lot of luck with the Formica website.

http://www.formica.com/publish/site/na/us/en/index.html

You can order samples online. Click on the color you want, then look to the right and it says "add to samples". Then create your account and pick up to 10 samples. They will mail it them to you. It is nice since they have so many more patterns than you see at the Lowe's.

[Berserker]

7. Hi Husb2Sparky

When I go to a thread that you post in I always get a cookie warning from

I use firefox so I don't let the cookie on my machine it just gives me a box asking if I want to allow pbskids to set a cookie. I don't think you are aware of this but everyone that comes to a thread you post in gets a cookie from them set on their machine. Not a big deal just wanted to let you know. One alternative is to use a site like Photobucket to link your pics from.

[Digit]

9. I realize this is a different product, but what about beadboard?

Possibly that could give you the look you desire?
Not like the original, but retro in appearance.

[theHandpuppet]

10. We already have a lot of beadboard in the house, but...

Interesting you should bring that up. Believe it or not, the previous owners of the house, whose family had owned the home since it was originally built in 1891, had added on this large kitchen during the 40's but sometime after covered the entire dining area of the kitchen in dark wood paneling! ACCCKK! And I do mean EVERYTHING -- even the doors and the built-in floor to ceiling cabinet. And it was all GLUED DOWN. To make matters worse, they laid down indoor/outdoor carpet with a fake brick pattern cabinet in the kitchen. It was a nightmare.

Well, to solve the wood paneling problem we decided to paint the paneling. I know some folks would scream at the idea, but it actually worked out quite well. We ran a chair rail around the dining area, effectively creating a break between the upper and lower wall areas. The lower half was painted in a dark, rich Admiral Blue and the upper in Heavy Cream, with the rail white. The result gave the kitchen a look of old beadboard. I finished it off by making 6 1/2 wood baseboard mouldings (couldn't buy what we needed here) which were also painted white. Then I took the paneled doors off the large cabinet, painted the whole thing in red and ginger, and did not replace the doors as to create an open display area for the Fiestaware and colorful collectibles.

Anyway, I'm an artist and I LOVE color (no white rooms for me!) so I wanted a fun, funky kitchen that reflected a deco/retro style but with a very personal touch. It's still a work in progress, but the next major step is to restore the colorful laminate walls in the appliance section of the kitchen. I never thought -- especially after the nightmare we started with -- that this would turn out to be the most diffcult obstacle of all. Hope I'll find the solution somewhere in the Formica catalog!