I had laminate cabinets in my last house for almost ten years. Easy to clean, didn't show fingerprints, and the only damage was when I accidentally bounced a knife off it. I admit, I did a hack repair and touched it up with paint. But I reckon, knife scars would affect most cabinets.

Good hard wearing surface. Not top of the pops for design, but practical.

Heck of a lot easier to wipe off a spill. No nooks or crannies on a slab door to collect goo. What's the style of the rest of the home? More important is what is the nine grand relative to your loving the kitchen result.......and what is the financial impact on the remainder of your life? Assume it's your last "new" kitchen.

I had high quality laminate cabinets before this remodel. They were wonderful, looked great and very easy to clean. My husband nixed them for this remodel and we have painted wood. I honestly miss not having to worry so much about scratching, etc.

As long as you still choose a mid to high quality laminate. I think you can achieve fantastic results. As @Sophie pointed out, laminates are very popular in Europe, including high end kitchens.

I actually prefer the look and cleanup of a good laminate slab cabinet to a stained wood, for example (but I veer more towards that modern look). And you have some amazing choices with laminates too in terms of colour, design, etc.

We all need to make compromises due to lifestyle, budgets, locations, local markets, and personal circumstances. If you have a great designer I am sure she can help make laminate cabinets look amazing, and you won’t even feel at end of day you compromised on the cabinets for functionality - rather you will feel like it was a win/win for you!

It may depend on how that 'look' integrates with the rest of your home. Especially if your kitchen is part of a larger space.

I have a while laminate cabinet door in the bathroom and I absolutely love how easy it is to clean. Of course, the bath does not get the grimy hand dirt and cooking vapors that the kitchen gets. But, it is easy maintenance and it is just---white.

I have slab doors on my kitchen cabinets. They are maple wood from KitchenMaid and the finish on them is amazingly resistant. I would not put any doors in a kitchen with all of those sashings and doo dads that collect kitchen grime.

I’ve had laminate doors in my laundry room and bathrooms for years and they are easy to keep clean, no bubbling either. They’re a little shiny and not as pretty as wood doors but they look a lot better these days. You can always have them wrapped too.

Laminate doors can last for years! All materials have their pro's and con's to look at. Laminate doors are easy to clean, to do expand and contract with humidity and are clean and timeless, although they do not like excessive heat. Wood doors are easier to fix should a scratch happen and have no problems with steam; but they will expand and contract with humidity. This may not be an issue depending on where the house is located.

I don't think the issue is durability - it is one of style.

The laminate kitchens I've seen have tended to be very sleek and modern - which is a great look if that's what you want. When assessing the work of my designer, the GC and the cabinet maker, I went to view a condo they were just finishing up which had white slab cabinets (not painted wood) and it was quite modern - i.e. top cabinets opened from the bottom with push bottoms.

The kitchen went with their design aesthetic as the rest of the apartment also was done in very contemporary style.

If that isn't your style and the kitchen is open to the rest your unit, you might find it aesthetically difficult to design around it. Therefore, I would try to get your designer to provide you with renderings which enable you to visualize how the totality of it will all look and whether you like that.

It really comes down to economics which no one but you and your financial advisor really know. I am somewhat in the same position in terms of remodeling a unit that I anticipate dying in LOL and I also am making some relatively expensive choices so that it functions as well as can be in terms of aging and increasing disability. However, since this is the last place I will be living in with no intentions of exiting, I also am making relatively expensive choices purely for my own aesthetic pleasure. I am getting more costly quarter sawn white oak cabinets - and I have a LOT of cabinets since I am also doing a custom wall unit for my office/den as well as a room divider that will house my stripper pole television :-). I can afford it as I am not borrowing and the expense represents discretionary income - in lieu of a cruise around the world ha ha or whatever. Since I am living in it, having both a fully functional home as well as one that gives me aesthetic pleasure is my top financial priority in terms of discretionary income. If I had any doubts as to whether I would need the money for non-discretionary expenditures, I would probably have reined in some choices.