Hi Jan. I apologize for the delay on this response. Thank you for your interest in our work! To answer your question, MDF is not a stainable material. If you would like to use it in place of a stain-grade wood -- for it's stability and cost savings -- you might want to consider having a decorative finish applied to it to appear to be wood. However, a decorative finish is significantly more expensive than a standard stain and poly -- which would cut into your savings. Personally, I would use MDF and have it spray finished. I like molding when it's monochromatic, rather than exposing the grain in wood; the shadow lines are more pronounced and there's no grain to distract from the profile.

Good luck with your project!