A hot pan, an air fryer pushed to the edge, a pot lid put down for a moment. Laminate benchtops burn easily, and the mark does not come off. It does not need a new benchtop either. We repair burnt laminate on site every week as part of our laminate benchtop repair in Sydney.
What a burn does to laminate
Laminate is a thin decorative sheet bonded to a board. Heat changes the top layer of that sheet. It goes brown or black, it can bubble, and on a light colour it looks worse than it is. The board under the sheet is usually fine. That is why a burn is a repair and not a replacement.
The exception is a burn that has gone through the sheet and charred the board. That happens with a fire, not a pan. We see it rarely.
How we repair a burn mark
- We cut out the scorched layer. We remove only the damaged area, with clean edges.
- We fill the spot with a hard filler and let it cure.
- We sand the fill flush with the surface.
- We colour the fill to match the base colour of the laminate.
- On a patterned laminate we paint the pattern back across the repair by hand.
- We re-finish the spot to match the sheen, matt or gloss, of the rest of the top.
A burn the size of a pot base is a normal job for us and is done in one visit. We tell you in the quote when the top is ready for normal use.
What can be fixed and what cannot
| Damage | Repair? |
|---|---|
| Scorch mark from a pan, a pot or an iron | Yes, on site |
| Burn on the front edge from an air fryer or a toaster | Yes. We rebuild the edge if it has lifted |
| Bubbled laminate around the burn | Yes, if the board under it is dry and sound |
| Burn that has charred the board underneath | Usually not. The board is gone |
| Laminate swollen from water near the sink | Not as a burn repair. Small swollen edges can be rebuilt. A long soaked run cannot |
| Burn on a top that is lifting across most of its length | The top needs re-laminating, which is a joinery job |
We tell you which line you are on from a photo, before you spend anything.
Will the repair show?
On a plain colour, the repair is very hard to find once it is finished. On a stone-look or a wood-grain laminate, we paint the pattern back by hand and get close. On a plain high-gloss laminate the sheen is the hard part, and we say so up front. We mix the colour on site against your benchtop, not from a chart.
What to do before we arrive
- Do not sand the burn. You will go through the laminate sheet and make the repair bigger.
- Do not paint over it or cover it with a sticker.
- Do not use bleach or a scourer on it. The colour around the burn will change.
- Take a photo of the mark with a coin next to it, and one from further back.
Send us the photos and we reply with a fixed written quote within one business day.
If you are renting
A burn is the most common benchtop item on an exit inspection. Two things help. First, repair it before the inspection, not after the agent has priced a replacement. Second, keep the invoice. A repaired benchtop, back to its condition before the burn, is a very different conversation from a burnt one. We book end of lease jobs around your inspection date.
