I went looking for images of doors that showed the crack between rail and stile and came up empty. It might be helpful to see some actual cracking to see how much it will really bother you. I assume the cabinets will be painted.

Have you considered stained cabinets instead without the defined edge?

I didn't vote because I can't know how disturbing you will find those cracks. And you know they WILL crack.

Thanks @groveraxle. It's hard to find images of the cracks - trust me I've looked.

I have considered stain but I don't think that is the direction we want to head.

I took this pic a while back to show the hairline paint crack which occurs when all wood cabinets are painted. I understand this is less likely to happen with MDF as it is more stable to temp changes.

This is very close up - you can tell it was an oak cabinet painted white:

Here are the same cabinets from farther back:

https://www.houzz.com/photos/my-pics-work-in-progress-phvw-vp~48834534

I did those in my stenciling days:)

I think Sophie has pics of hairline cracks.

Thanks for the pictures @jhmarie! Did you ever try to touch up the paint when it cracked?

Replacing the hinges and touching up the paint has been on my todo list for about 5 years... :) Its the laundry room so out of site is out of mind. The wood will continue to move with the seasons and so I assume it would crack again.

I did just go look at those cabinets again and most of the joints have not cracked, and they have been painted a long time - I was a little surprised that most were fine. I live in the midwest where dry winter indoor air can play havoc with wood.

I like the handles in the photo. :)

Thanks for the input Lindsey. I think that's where I fall as well.

Agree @Everdebz! I need to ask where they are from!

Here's a close up of my shaker cabinets, my hubby designed, built, and painted (sprayed) our kitchen cabinetry. Mine are still pretty new, these doors are probably 6 months old and you can see some hairline cracks in the paint in some of the joints. We knew it would happen, we are fine with it.

Mitered doors are worse than stick and cope.

He is a professional for a good reason: he knows what he's talking about. If it were just a matter of style, then you'd want to go with your idea but when it involves any kind of structural problems or compromising the integrity of the material, then you must trust your pro. And I seriously doubt if a crack, either painted wood or stained, will be acceptable to you. So why chance it! Sometimes we just have to be a little bit flexible and give up something for the greater good.

I like the look of that "defined joint", it looks like some thought went into the door fabrication, and if it lessened the "oh, there's a crack in the finish" reaction, even better. Kind of like expansion joints in concrete - provide a defined location for movement to occur and not be as noticeable.

The only thing that bothers me in Sophie's examples is that they look grungy. I will never understand the glazed look; just looks dirty to me.

I didn't realize the cracks indicate a structural problem. I just thought the paint expands/contracts at a different rate than the wood so it cracks along the easiest route, which is the seam where there isn't as much wood to adhere to.

Hairline cracks in paint do not indicate a structural problem. Wood moves and when it does, it cracks the paint at the joints - not a structural crack.

Thanks Sophie. Our second choice was a shaker with a bead that had mitered doors. I kept wondering why that would be any better if the underlying issue is that it’s solid wood being painted which invariably is going to expand and contract. From your photos I can see that would actually be a worse decision!

Judrand05 - this isn’t an issue of structural integrity. It’s an aesthetic choice only. I would never go against his recommendation for something which might compromise the durability of the cabinets.

Thanks skmom. That doesn't bother me one bit!

skmom, what type of wood did your husband use and what part of the country are you in?

The cabinet boxes are maple plywood, the doors and drawers are solid maple (well, some plywood in the the drawers and doors too to help save money and have fewer joints... But mostly solid maple) We live in Indiana, we got most of our maple at Menards. We got some of the maple at a Rockler woodworking store. (We found a nice deal on wormy maple and used it for all of our drawer dividers) We got all of the walnut that we used (our island top and above our range hood) at a different, local lumber/woodworking store. Here are some photos of our kitchen. :)

We could've saved a bit more money getting all of the maple at the lumberyard, but by that point in time hubby was looking to save some time and energy and wanted some boards that were already the size that he needed. From start to finish, our diy kitchen project took over a year. Now, I was only without a functional kitchen for two weeks, but it took a long time to get all of the doors and drawers made because as hubby was doing all of the work himself, he was also working his full time aerospace engineering job, finishing his seminary degree (yay! He graduated!) went on a short term missions trip, and accompanied myself and our oldest son to a couple of out of state diving competitions. So yeah, there were some months he just didn't do the woodworking. LOL!

Beautiful kitchen @skmom!!