A 5 piece MDF is the best choice for paint. Second best is maple plus MDF panel. The absolute worst wearing will be the all maple. Solid wood needs much better humidity control. Or it needs people who don’t freak out over it moving and showing all the splits and gaps between each of the joins.

I assume you are painting so the mdf panel makes the most sense.

Ditto both previous answers. Larger the wood - the more it will move....forever, thanks to temperature and humidity. MDF is dimensionally stable. I like hardwood door rails and stiles with mdf center as the center of the door is usually much larger than the perimeter.

What about if you have a humidifier ( whole house) and keep a consistent humidity level in your home. Is there still issues with expansion and contraction?

There are always issues with expansion and contraction with wood. Unless you have a very expensive and precisely controlled HVAC system that a book conservationist would use winter and summer. No more than a 10% variance. And never open the windows and doors. Because it’s wood. Composites are far more stable. And far greener.

IMO the best for painted is all MDF

What about formaldehyde off gassing with the MDF products,? Also what about longevity? Down the road I have options with an all wood kitchen like staining the cabinets and or re painting. I also read that all wood painted cabinets will hold their value better than the MDF type which will depreciate more. This is then an advantage if we sell our home later.

For paint grade shaker doors, we use maple stiles and rails with a mdf panel. Maple holds the hinges well and the edges paint up easy.

For the drawer fronts, all maple. The screws to hold the fronts grab better into the maple panel.

MDF is the preferred standard for painted anything for a reason. It’s smoother and produces a superior surface. It’s more stable and doesn’t move as much over time. Its denser and more resistant to impact damage. With the correct fasteners for the job, and the correct attention paid to the coatings process, it will offer the same or better wear over the years. Its also been in use long enough to have assurance that it remains that better product over time.

The reason that many woodworkers don’t like working with it is that they don’t have the right tools to do so. It’s denser nature eats up blades designed to deal with wood. Woodworkers tend to use the wrong fasteners and then blame the material instead of themselves for using the wrong fastener types. It’s denser nature means that it’s heavier than wood, and needs more muscle power to manipulate. They prefer easier is why they prefer wood.

The major manufacturers who have invested in the correct technology for the materials produce superior products. They would not have invested in that expensive machinery if the use of MDF doubled their warranty claims as some people claim. It actually greatly reduced their warranty claims. Because people don’t like normal cracks between wood joins. They say they understand that it’s normal, but they don’t. Even having them sign a disclaimer, and showing them in advance, doesn’t stop the unfounded griping about wood behaving like wood.

I have two friends with factory painted cabinets less then 5 years old (one as custom cabinets) and both have a few chips - mostly on the garbage pull out and both need to do a bit of touch up. While I've never seen a painted kitchen that did not require occasional touch-ups, there have been a few posters here who have said their painted kitchen has not need them. If you want the most durable kitchen, do stained wood. Mine is over 22 years old. It is in great shape - but most would think it is "dated". Today's marketing is geared toward changing styles and trends so that many rooms are now "dated" before they are worn out. Not good for the environment, but it is how marketing works. A US made MDF cabinet is fine for paint and as has been pointed out will be more stable to temp and humidity. Unless you are selling soon, build the kitchen you want. You cannot predict the trends and style of 10 years from now.

Our cabinet company offered a stainless guard for the top of the garbage pullout to protect from damage. Highly recommend it.

The company I work for manufactures a two piece MDF door that allows for a beautiful built-up, painted finish. The excellent painting process wears well and we don't have any call backs.

That's exactly why I don't like trash cars inside a cabinet. They get a lot of abuse. I much prefer a freestanding kitchen trash can (Simply Human).

My custom fabricator used maple with mdf center panels for paint. All straight, square, consistant. Hung with fully adjustable 120 degree hinges.

My client supplied Kraftmaid were 100% mdf slab. Paint grade was 30-40% flawed w damaged corners, warpage, inconsistent size & edge radius machining, high rate of flawed &/or broken replacements. The thermofoil on mdf was much better. The stained veneer plywood was pretty good but still suffered from inconsistent sizes. All hung with cheap factory euro hinges.

The weight of mdf greatly contributed to shipping damage & I'm guessing door warpage due to unsupported doors left horizontal for any period of time.