Why melamine is unforgiving
Melamine is particle board or MDF with a heat-fused decorative laminate on both faces. The face is hard, brittle, and chips easily - one bad cut and the whole panel is scrap, because chipped melamine cannot be sanded out. That makes accurate cut planning more important than for raw plywood: you want every dimension right the first time, and you want to fit as many parts as possible per sheet to keep material costs down.
Use the calculator to map out your full project before touching the saw. Enter your panel size (most melamine ships in 4x8 ft or 49x97 in for North American kitchen modules; 2750x1830 mm in European TFL stock), the kerf of your scoring blade, and the parts list. The tool returns a layout that minimizes both sheet count and the total number of cuts.
Common melamine panel sizes
| Panel | mm | inches |
|---|---|---|
| Standard (US cabinet) | 2440 x 1220 | 96 x 48 |
| Cabinet shop oversize | 2440 x 1525 | 96 x 60 |
| European TFL | 2750 x 1830 | 108 x 72 |
| Long-grain panel | 3050 x 1220 | 120 x 48 |
Tips for melamine cuts
Score before you cut. If your saw does not have a scoring blade, run a shallow scoring pass first - about 1.5 mm deep - on the bottom face. Then make the through-cut. This stops chip-out on both sides.
Use a triple-chip blade. 80T TCG blades made specifically for melamine cost more but pay for themselves on the first chipped-panel rescue.
Keep the good face up on a table saw. Tear-out happens on the exit side of the blade. Track saws are the opposite - good face down.
Plan for edge banding. Tape adds its thickness to every banded edge - about 0.5 mm for iron-on veneer, up to 2 mm for PVC - so a part listed at its finished size has to be cut that much smaller. Switch on Edge banding under Settings, mark the taped edges in the parts list and enter the tape thickness: the optimizer packs the cut sizes and totals the tape to buy.
Do not rotate freely if the pattern matches. If your melamine has a directional wood-grain print, enter the sheet long side first and switch on Grain direction matters under Settings: every part then keeps its length along the sheet's length, the way the print runs. Unlock hidden parts like backs with the arrow on their row so they can still rotate.