Kitchens from the skin: features, photos

What is it?

Skinali - glass panels on which the image is applied “from the inside”. You can apply it in any way - just draw, stick on individual elements, for example, old newspapers, which is especially suitable for the loft style. But a more advanced way to create kitchen skins is to print using photo printing.

There are no restrictions on the picture - it all depends on your imagination. And you can be sure that you will not see anything like it in any apartment!

Skinal are monochromatic, with graphic images, are bright, juicy, using a whole gamut of colors. Smooth colored skins that are made from special, factory-stained glass also look good.

Skinali in the interior can become a style-forming element, and designers often use this technique to “revive” a boring room and give it dynamics, saturation, brightness.

A significant plus of skinalis is their resistance to atmospheric changes, to sun rays, and to high temperatures. No less important is the fact that they are simple to manufacture, made quickly and easily put in place, the main thing is not to make a mistake in the sizes when ordering.

The foundation

Kitchens with skinheads look advantageous, but how strong and durable are they? The basis of the skin is tempered glass. Its strength is five times higher than usual. Glass is a heavy material, and ordinary can crack under the influence of its own weight. With hardened such trouble will not happen.

Tempered glass is an expensive material, its budget replacement can be plastic or plexiglass. Minus - not every pattern can be applied to such a substrate, moreover, it will look less expressive. In addition, plastic can withstand temperature extremes and the effect of ultraviolet radiation much worse, which means that the pattern can quickly burn out, and the base itself can warp.

Picture

The image on the kitchen skins is printed directly onto glass - this method is considered the best. Quite often, a polymer film is used. Less commonly, a silk-screen printing method, even less commonly, laser engraving. After the drawing has already been applied, the glass is tempered.

• Photo printing. With the photographic printing method, the illusion of a three-dimensional image appears. Using this method allows you to create impressive compositions that allow you to change the perception of space, give it depth and expressiveness. The main principle of choosing images is a harmonious combination with the color scheme of the interior, and the correspondence of the image scale to the size of the room, unless a special solution is provided for by the designers.
• Stereo printing. Volumetric skinheads in the interior will give it even more depth. To obtain a 3D effect when applying a pattern to the base, special inks are used. The image can be any, but certain requirements are imposed on it: large resolution, high quality, certain proportions.
• Film. You can stick a special film on the glass. It is monophonic, with a pattern, matte, transparent, with various patterns, including relief, made in 3D technology. The use of a film reduces the cost of the production of skinale, and accordingly the price for the buyer will be lower. The high quality of the film and the tight fit of the apron to the wall will prevent it from peeling off under the influence of steam and temperature drops and discoloration of the pattern.

Installation

Glass. Kitchens with skinal will look impressive regardless of which glass you prefer for making an apron - frosted, transparent, smooth or with a textured surface.

It should be borne in mind that textured glass having a surface of the fabric (satin), or having small (crisset) or large (straight) pyramidal protrusions, is not suitable for all patterns, and it is more difficult to care for them.

Glass thickness should be at least 6, and no more than 8 mm. For greater expressiveness of the picture, especially if it has a lot of white color, you can use the optivite glass, which has full transparency. It is devoid of the greenish tint that ordinary glasses have. But its cost is much higher. For color images, its use is impractical.

Sizes. It is believed that the length of the kitchen skin should not be more than two and a half meters. If your kitchen is larger, you can make an apron from several parts.

This limitation arises from the fragility of the glass, which can easily be damaged during installation if it is large. The junction of long skins can be beaten, or made almost invisible.

Training. Sophisticated surface preparation for the establishment of the skin is not needed if the walls are even, they can be mounted directly on the wall. With a large curvature of the walls, it is better to align them.

They put the skin in place only after the complete assembly of furniture. Keep in mind that the places of attachment of sockets, roof rails, etc., must be transferred to the manufacturers skinned at the stage of ordering, since after the products are ready, it will be impossible to make any holes in them.

Mount. Depending on what role the skins will play in the interior, what pattern is applied to them, in what condition the wall on which they will be mounted, choose the method of panel mounting.

• Checkpoint: the panels are screwed directly to the wall, while decorative fastening heads protruding on the glass surface are used. These peculiar “rivets” can be made of different materials, for example, brass, chrome, or even glass imitating crystal. This method allows you to mount the skin even where the wall is not too smooth, as between the panel and the wall remains an adjustable gap.
• Mounted: The panels are glued to the wall with polymer glue. In this case, better preservation of the pattern is ensured, the panel is more resistant to mechanical stress. Minus - requires careful alignment of the wall before installation. Another advantage of kitchen skins is the short installation time. Specialists will put the finished apron in place for one and a half to two hours.