Had them, paid extra for them, hated them after about 5 years. Thermofoil started cracking and peeling off. It couldn't be fixed. We are in the middle of a kitchen remodel mainly to get rid of them.

I've had involvement in the thermofoil industry for 17 years. Saying thermofoil is cheap is liking saying cabinets are cheap. Some are, some aren't. There are three different adhesive systems that are used in thermofoil, and many different thicknesses/grades of thermofoil that are available. These all vary in quality and durability.

The problem is that many of the larger cabinet manufacturers intentionally manufacture a "cheap" thermofoil line in order to tap into a low end, builder grade market. If that's your only experience with thermofoil then, yes, it's cheap. But if you are dealing with the product that comes from a number of quality custom door producers it can be an excellent product, like the storage cabinets I have that are no 16 years old with no delamination, chipping, yellowing, etc..

billd - are the higher quality MDF Thermofoil cabinet doors the ones that have 100% fully wrapped doors, vs. doors where the backs are melamine covered??