Hi there,

I'm a kitchen designer at a custom millwork manufacturer. We are located in Canada where the climate change is quite significant from summer to winter. We use MDF on 9 out of 10 painted kitchens because it's engineering makes it a much stronger product that doesn't expand and contract in the same way that solid wood does. We will paint on solid wood but strongly discourage it due to the cracking that can occur both on the seams and between the rails and panel. A rule of thumb is that a panel will shrink 1% of it's size over time... so if your door panel is say... 1200mm high, then you're panel will likely shrink 12mm (half an inch) throughout the year. A 5 piece door can only be painted after the door has been fully assembled, so this will result in 1/4" of natural wood showing around your painted panel. It's kind of a scary idea when you're spending several thousands of dollars on a kitchen!

I also strongly recommend MDF - I've never seen a door from our company that "falls apart".. I'm wondering if this is a bigger issue with low quality cabinet makers. This may also be an issue with your door joinery. A cope and stick joint is always the strongest, and a miter corner joint is best if done by a high end machine that can build good finger joints.

We also use a catalyst based spray paint which has strong hardening agents - I'd wish you good luck to try to remove it! We use this to protect the doors from chipping over time and provide free touch-up bottles to our customers over time. I would typically recommend purchasing painted MDF if that's the look you want, and to purchase new doors if you ever change your mind later. This will result in a better quality kitchen for the next 20 years.

Another great solution is to do a wood island or wood base cabinets if you don't want so much engineered wood in your kitchen. This gives a really custom appeal and gives future home buyers an opportunity to work with 2 different finishes if they choose.

My suggestion is to go to a well informed cabinet maker. Our president started as a cabinet maker and has been running a successful business for 25 years now. Any concerns our customers have about construction and quality will rest easy with his responses.

Wishing you all the best with your kitchen renovations!

Jennifer

Jennifer Prior - would you mind saying where you are located? We are in Canada too and trying to decide on which type of cabinet to use. We have seen in a local manufacturer who uses painted maple that the panels in his new showroom have shrunk already. We thought it was poor craftsmanship. It seems to me that quality MDF might be the answer. I think people may be comparing to inexpensive MDF that has a equally inexpensive thermofoil wrap. (like cabinets you purchase at Canadian Tire). Thanks in advance.

I work in the western Canadian market with two different manufacturers and have worked over the years with 8 manufacturers. I mention this becasue it is important to understand regional
differences in relation to your furnishings and interior comfort levels. Much of my work was on the Canadian prairies where the climate is dry and harsh and the nearest repairman could be 2 1/2 hours away. Homes with forced air furnaces often required humidifiers in the past to keep comfort levels up and keep wood from drying out. Newer homes have better interior climate controls and humidity controls. I continue to sell both MDF and painted maple or alder cabinets becasue each client has different needs. I hope this helps you make an informed decision.

For example: I myself moved into an existing city centre home with PVC cabinets, MDF core, 10 years old that need replacing. What ever materials you choose, choose a local quality product. Painted wood is my personal and professional choice even though I live in an arid climate. I can live with a paint crack on a joint but not everyone can. You have to decide if a perfect finish or the natural characteristics of wood is what you prefer.

The chamfered door styles work beautifully with painted wood and 5 piece MDF doors because any movement in the seams is hidden by the angles recess.

If the MDF door is made with a CNC as one piece -no problem: there will not be any movement. The MDF doors that fall apart are manufactured as five piece doors. Both have their pluses and negatives. At the end of the day MDF will swell when exposed to water and cannot be successfully repaired: the door must be replaced. We are seeing that old MDF cabinetry also turns to powder at the end of its lifespan. It just snaps like a cookie.

Manufacturers also use MDF core panels that do not shrink on painted doors and some stained wood doors. This has helped to avoid that naked shadow line on wood doors in the dry winter months. The flat panel doors that are increasingly popular are MDF or MDF core with a veneer or wafer finish. They should not warp.

In a home that is lived in year round, you are less likely to see the movement of the cabinetry as it responds to humidity levels of daily life. The greatest movement we have seen is in vacation homes on water that are locked up for a season. A good kitchen and bath designer will steer you towards the right material choices for your conditions.

One thing to note is most companies add quiet close to doors and drawers. This should be on every painted door. Slamming a cabinet door or drawer puts a lot of stress on the joinery. I have seen people push showroom doors open and force the hinge past its range and this cracks the joinery also. This results in cracking on a painted finish especially showing up on the pale colours. Cabinetry should be treated with care as you would a piece of furniture. You can order full swing hinges should you want the door out of the way. A K&B designer will consider all these things.

Professionally and personally, the wood wins out more often: Wood is wood and the intrinsic and monetary value remains. Oak and maple wood can be less costly than MDF (and PVC) when the kitchen is designed and finished well. There are great MDF (and PVC) doors out there but they do require extra care in creating a kitchen that will look beautiful for the lifetime of cabinets. You can see a midsize MDF core kitchen that was designed for this purpose on my page. The diary of the current reno will follow...

One thing no one ever brings up is how well the hardware holds onto either. Hardware screws (handles, pulls, slides, hinges) don't hold as well in MDF as well as they do in solid wood. Even with specialized fasteners. If the hole gets opened up, it's a bigger fix with MDF than with wood. MDF is also subject to moisture problems more than solid wood.

As far as having a vested interest, I don't. I used to build kitchen cabinets, but don't any more. So I'm not trying to sell anything.

When I did build cabinets I never used MDF. For painted cabs, I would recommend soft maple.

There's good advice here about MDF. Don't waste money on MDF kitchen cabinets. When it gets wet, it's about as durable as cardboard.

Al Fortunato: I would be interested in learning your take on manufactured "baked on" white paint vs. a soft maple wood painted by a qualified, experienced refinisher...which in your opinion is better for long term? I totally respect your furniture maker experience and interested in hearing your thoughts....old school / new school.

@whocareswhoiam; There are good and bad "baked on" finishes, just as there are good and bad "non-baked" finishes. Heat curing (baked) as well as light curing (uv) are just processes used to speed up the finishing process in a factory to increase production. There are "air cured" finishes that are better than "baked". It all depends on the finish. "Air cured" finishes cure by either evaporation of the solvents, or chemical reactions, or both. Don't worry about how it cures but how good the end product is.

Application process is also very important. The finisher needs to understand the finish he/she is using to get the best performance out of it. A house painter is not a finisher. House paint is paint, not finish.

I use conversion varnishes for items that are going to get daily use. On the other hand, I'm finishing up a restoration (not refinish) of a antique Wooten Desk right now using shellac. It all depends.

We will only use MDF for a painted door. If a client insists on painted solid wood,i walk away. I have taken an MDF door that has been primed and lacquered and put it in a buck of water for several hours with no ill effects. If an adult or child drops a pot or rides a trycyle into the door, they will scratch the finish,but that will happen with a soild wood door as well. We make our shakers out of one piece of MDF with no pin nails and they are edge banded all around. My own kitchen is a raised panel MDF with a paint and glaze and still looks perfect after 12 years here in florida.

Here's another idea for you to consider: powder coated mdf cabinet doors. This finish is extremely durable, won't yellow, can be made in almost any color you choose, and abrasion tests have shown that it's more durable than paint. It's very water resistant (a cabinet maker put his client's powder coated doors in the back of his pick up truck and forgot them through 3 days of rain, sleet and snow. When he finally remembered them, he was quite relieved that they looked as good as new. He went and installed them in his customer's kitchen.) Europeans have used them quite extensively for years, but Integra Doors in Greer, SC is the only company I know here in the USA that is doing custom powder coated kitchen cabinet doors.

Moisture resistant MDF! Stable and water resistant.