Keeping your desks and tabletops in tip top condition

Choosing a desk or tabletop at Box 15 is easy. We’ve designed the process to make it as easy as possible. Simply choose your colour, your size and the depth or thickness of the table top you’re looking for.

Why choose melamine-faced chipboard?

Most of our desktops are made from Melamine Faced Chipboard. This means that they’re heat resistant, easy to clean and durable. Unlike wood, they don’t warp when they get wet (no need to worry about those hot drink rings), they don’t stain and they are scratch resistant. Their colour doesn’t become bleached by sunlight, and they are relatively light weight for moving around.

We use melamine-faced chipboard for our operator desks, multi-personnel bench desks, meeting tables and even our poseur tables. We also use them for our pull-out table range which is perfect for extending worktop space in the kitchen.

Out Melamine faced chipboard comes in a variety of different colours so, if you want to colour match an existing scheme- you can, fancy a wooden look (read our recent blog on The Science of Workspaces to find out why this could help your productivity and wellbeing) then we have Beech, Oak, Cherry, Ash and Walnut tones to choose from. We also stock a wide range of thicknesses, so you can get a worktop or desktop that fits exactly the requirements and the look that you need.

Our standard thicknesses start at 18mm which offer an entry level cost-point and are perfect for smaller workstations. We also offer 25mm worktops which are our best-selling worktops and are perfect for most applications. However, for those wanting to really make a statement, we stock worktops with a 36mm thickness. This is perfect for meeting tables and boardroom tables.

The edges of the chipboard are also faced with melamine too and we use a standard 2mm thick melamine to protect the sides of your worktop or desktop. By default, we match the colour of the melamine facing, however, we can use different finishes on request.

Keeping your melamine faced chipboard clean

Melamine-faced desktops and worktops are really easy to keep clean. Typically, a wipe over with a damp microfibre cloth will get rid of the majority of stains such as ketchup (in case you don’t have time for a lunch break) highlighter pen, or pencil. Keeping on top of cleaning your worktop will help prevent stains from becoming established and more stubborn to remove.

For next level stains such as biro, adding some washing up liquid or soap and rubbing the microfibre cloth in small circular motions will usually remove all signs of such marks.

However, with desks and worktops, sometimes they become marked with more stubborn materials such as permanent marker. For these (and this is why melamine fronted chipboard is so versatile), you can rub the stain in small circles with some rubbing alcohol such a methylated spirit, surgical spirit or isopropyl alcohol on a microfibre cloth and, in an instant, your stubborn stains will be gone!

While melamine coating is both extremely durable and scratch resistant, the one thing you do have to be careful with, especially when using melamine faced chipboard in the kitchen area, is deep scratches. The golden rule for keeping your melamine faced chipboard in good condition is to always use a chopping board when cutting on a melamine coated work surface.

If you have any specific questions about our desktops or tabletops, contact us on our online chat. Our helpful team will be able to answer any questions you might have about our desktops and worktops.