>>>>The reason I didn't mention the Shelving is because a lot of times it's not very good quality.



This really depends. In fact I would say that when it comes to Home Depot and Lowes most of the time the pre-cut melamine shelving is HIGHER quality than the melamine sheets. I use the shelving preferentially over the sheets at both Home Depot and Lowes, even though it has always costed me more per square foot.



At Menards I use their melamine shelving ONLY for racks - their product is the foil coating. Melamine comes in two basic varieties, 1) melamine foil (cheaper, less durable) and 2) thermofused, which varies from 80 weight to 140 weight - the higher the number the better.



At both Lowes and Home Depot (and I have checked several around the midwest) the full melamine sheets are cheap particle board with a melamine foil coating. At the same stores the melamine shelving is often a denser particle board with a 100 or 120 weight thermofused melamine coating.



The reason why these companies use the higher grade melamine is simple - they save on tooling costs and time due to the reduced chipping characteristic of the 100 or 120 weight thermofused melamine used on the shelving.



Another "advantage" to the melamine shelves is that they often have been edge-banded. This is done at the factory by machines that cost more than my house (and I have a pretty nice house) and is a quality that is hard to match. If you can incorporate the edge-banded surfaces into a cage or rack it saves time/money and improves quality over what you can do with an iron.



Sorry to ramble on. Since most people on this forum only shop at Lowes or Home Depot I thought I should point this out. Melamine varies dramatically in quality, as I know you're already aware of. In fact I think you buy your melamine sheets from somewhere other than HD or Lowes.



Sorry to jump in. I see this thread is pretty long and I've hardly read any of it. Maybe this has already been brought up.

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