A timber look warms a kitchen in a way solid colours can't. Our range has five ways to get it, from budget flat laminates to embossed and profiled woodgrains. None of them is real timber veneer: they are woodgrain surfaces on board. This guide compares them so you can pick the one that fits your kitchen and budget.
What are the timber-look options?
Formica woodgrain
Seven woodgrains laminated onto 16 mm moisture-resistant MDF: Soft Oak, Autumn Oak, Golden Oak, Tassie Oak, Sapporo Oak, Natale Walnut and Black Grain. Plain profile only, with identical front and back faces and matching edging. See the woodgrain laminate doors for METOD.
Polytec Decorative 16mm, Woodmatt
Polytec's flat 16 mm board, with 27 Woodmatt woodgrains in the range. Plain profile only, identical faces and matching edging. Browse Polytec Decorative 16mm doors.
Laminex AbsoluteGrain
32 textured woodgrains on 18 mm board, in the Plain profile with identical faces and matching edging. See the Laminex doors.
Polytec Thermofoil, Woodmatt
The only way in our range to get a woodgrain on a shaped door. 19 Woodmatt woodgrains, including Blackened Oak, Tasmanian Oak and Florentine Walnut, on profiles such as Classic Shaker, Reeded and Scallop. These doors are bought in finished from Polytec; we drill the hinge and drawer holes in our Mortdale factory.
NAVURBANâ„¢
46 timber-look finishes with a 3D-embossed vertical grain you can feel, identical front and back faces and matching edging, in Plain, Slim Shaker and Shaker. NAVURBANâ„¢ doors are made in our Mortdale factory.
How do they compare on price?
For a 60 × 80 cm METOD door (597 × 797 mm), as priced on our site in October 2026:
| Finish | Plain | Profiled |
|---|---|---|
| Laminex (incl. AbsoluteGrain) | $160 to $190 | Plain only |
| Formica woodgrain | $190 | Plain only |
| Polytec Decorative 16mm | $190 | Plain only |
| NAVURBANâ„¢ | $255 | $370 (Shaker or Slim Shaker) |
| Polytec Thermofoil, Woodmatt | $370 | $370 to $515 |
Which should you choose?
- On a budget, flat doors: Formica, Polytec Decorative or Laminex AbsoluteGrain.
- A grain you can feel: NAVURBANâ„¢, with its embossed grain, or Polytec Woodmatt and Laminex AbsoluteGrain, which are textured.
- Woodgrain on a Shaker or reeded door: Polytec Thermofoil Woodmatt, or NAVURBANâ„¢ in Shaker and Slim Shaker.
How do people use timber-look doors?
From our project gallery:
- Autumn Oak woodgrain laminate with white painted Coastal doors, in a kitchen and laundry in Sans Souci.
- American Oak NAVURBANâ„¢ with painted Slim Shaker doors in Warm White (Dulux Natural White), in our showroom kitchen.
- A display kitchen in Walnut woodgrain laminate, and Tassie Oak on METOD cabinets and panels.
- PAX wardrobes in Walnut and in Autumn Oak woodgrain laminate.
Pairing a woodgrain with a painted colour comes up again and again in our gallery. Our guide to kitchen cabinet colour combinations has more.
See the grain before you order
Woodgrain is hard to judge from a photo. Order a sample from our samples page: two Formica finish samples are $5, a NAVURBANâ„¢ finish sample is $10 and a Laminex finish sample is $10, and the value of finish samples comes back as a discount code on a joinery order of $1,000 or more. We don't stock Polytec samples at the moment; Polytec sends free chips direct, and you can see full-size Polytec Thermofoil doors at our showroom at 600 Princes Highway, Tempe.