Clear or Premium Clear – which film for which table?

Clear and Premium Clear look the same on the surface: crystal clear and glossy. Grain, colour and texture of the panel stay visible, and on smooth, closed surfaces the film is practically unnoticeable. Both use an acrylic adhesive, both are applied wet and squeegeed, and both can be peeled off again later.

The surfaces they hold on are the same too: painted, sealed, foil-wrapped and coated wood, glass, ceramics, metal and smooth plastic. Oiled and waxed panels are not suitable for either. So the choice between Clear and Premium Clear does not depend on your substrate, but on how heavily the surface is used.

Clear is our basic film. It is the thinnest film in the range and therefore follows tight radii and edges well. It has the lower price per square metre – which you notice above all on large surfaces that are to be covered completely.

It has no self-healing surface. Fine scratches that get into the film stay visible. For surfaces with normal everyday use this is usually not a problem: a sideboard, a chest of drawers, a coffee table, a shelf, a room door. For worktops and dining tables that are used hard every day, we ourselves call Premium Clear the better choice.

Premium Clear has a thicker carrier layer and a self-healing surface. Fine scratches such as crockery, keys or pens leave in everyday use disappear again in the surface of the film. That applies to fine scratches: deep cuts, for example from a knife, remain here too.

That is why Premium Clear is our recommendation for anything used every day – dining table, desk, worktop. It is also the default in the configurator and in the Home Protection Kit. The price per square metre is higher than for Clear; the configurator shows the current value live for your dimensions.

A note on matte surfaces: both films are glossy. On a matte panel you would therefore see the film. There, Matte is the right choice, as it takes the gloss out of the surface.

As a rule of thumb: the more often and the harder the surface is used, the more Premium Clear pays off. A dining table with children, a desk with laptop and mug, a kitchen worktop – this is where the fine scratches that even out by themselves occur most often.

Clear is enough for surfaces that are looked at rather than used: sideboard, chest of drawers, shelf, bedside table, room door, windowsill. If you want to cover a very large surface completely and price is the deciding factor, Clear can also be the right choice.

A mix is perfectly fine: dining table with Premium Clear, the sideboard next to it with Clear. In the configurator you choose the film per cut piece, and both end up in one basket.

The sample set contains a piece of each film. This way you check transparency, feel and finish on your own surface before you order. With unclear substrates, also check that the film adheres across the whole area.

The assistant asks about surface, desired look and use and names the matching film. And if your case falls in between, send us a photo of the surface – we will tell you what we would take in your place.