Invisible edge

To achieve a clean finish on kitchen cabinetry, the edges of the doors need to exactly match the rest of the door, without a visible glue line. While that doesn’t sound like a complex thing to achieve, it’s actually not that easy without the right equipment and materials.

Sage Doors have worked hard to achieve a solution to this issue, and with a new technology available on the market, have developed a product called Invisedge,  in which the edge tape gets melted onto the edge of the door instead of being glued on. “This makes for a seamless edge and it is virtually invisible,” Sage Doors’ Lydia Posthuma says.

Until this product was available, the edge of melamine doors were made by gluing down an edge. “Invisedge is a new edgebanding technology, in which the edge tape is melted directly to the edge of the board. This eliminates the need for standard bonding agents such as glue to be used to attach the edging to the board and enables us to manufacture doors with no ugly glue lines.”

Until recently, the options for cabinetry edging in New Zealand were PVC or ABS. Invisedge introduces the next generation of plastic edging. Made of polyproplene, it shrinks less than other products, is very colour fast, is more resistant to household cleaners and chemicals, and is also more environmentally friendly.

“We find that New Zealand often follows European trends and this is a product that has become extremely popular in Europe over the last few years. Now, we’re seeing it taking off here,” Lydia says.

Invisedge offers a different option for cabinetmakers, and one that comes at a lower price point than many of the other products available. “Because it is available at a much lower price point, this has helped it gain popularity fast. But the price point isn’t indicative of quality. This is a product that won’t age and provides a seamless, clean, virtually invisible edge.”

Sage Doors are the manufacturers of Invisedge in New Zealand.

If you’re interested in achieving an invisible finish in your next cabinetry project, get in touch with Sage Doors here to discuss the options.

To achieve the seamless finish, Sage Doors invested in a large piece of equipment – a laser edgebander that uses hot compressed hot air to melt the edge tape on rather than use glue, which is the traditional process. “Because the edge tape gets melted onto the edge of the door, the edge is much more seamless – more like a lacquered door” Lydia says.

Often, people finish cabinetry doors with a painted lacquer finish or a vinyl-wrap thermoform finish. “While both these options have their own merits, lacquer can chip over time. Invisedge is becoming a very popular alternative.”

Invisedge is available in three finishes: Melamine, Acrygloss and Acrymatte, and in a range of colour options. All of the edgetape is manufactured from polypropylene so they are colour fast and won’t deteriorate over time. The edging itself is imported from Germany and then Sage Doors use their laser edgebander to finish the edging to the cabinetry in their Auckland factory.

“A big focus for us is achieving quick turnarounds. We aim to have a 4 day turnaround time, which is much faster than cabinetmakers can often even source the boards and manufacture the doors themselves,” Lydia says.