MDF or Medium Density Fiberboard is no longer a negative cabinet door feature!
Medium Density Fiberboard (MDF) used to be substantially different in quality than High Density Fiberboard (HDF) cabinet doors. Today, the densities are now extremely similar. Furthermore, the denser material is actually harder than solid wood. Painted finishes are also less likely to dent or chip on these improved MDF/HDF doors than on solid wood doors. And yes . . . there’s more! There are also no expansion joints and the obvious seams that can ruin the look of painted finishes on solid wood door styles.
Main Line Kitchen Design tested the denting and chipping properties of doors made of birch, maple, and popular woods up against the new composite doors.
It’s one thing to say MDF has become durable. It’s another to prove it! The Main Line Kitchen Design team devoted one recent staff meeting to confirming that the MDF doors sustain less damage from a hammer and as well as wood on wood collisions. No designers were hurt in the testing 
.
Due to this change in the durability of MDF doors, Main Line Kitchen Design now recommends using denser MDF doors for most door styles with painted finishes. Particularly for simpler door styles like recessed panel doors, shaker, and skinny shaker door styles.
When these MDF doors became denser. they did become a little more expensive.
Unlike the MDF doors common years ago, the new MDF/HDF doors are no longer less expensive than real wood. However, they do look nicer, have a smoother painted finish, are more difficult to dent and chip, and because they are also heavier, they feel more substantial when doors open and close.
It is understandable that homeowners are confused with so many options. Plywood sides and solid wood face frames are still the best option for Cabinet boxes and face frames. Although, now exposed cabinet box sides with a painted finish are better looking and more durable with a 1/4″ HDF skin over 1/2″ thick plywood. The new development is that MDF has become nearly as durable as HDF so using an MDF skin over the plywood sides give homeowners the best of both materials.
Watch a video of our test on YouTube link below:
Read about other cabinet properties and what makes cabinetry better constructed in the blog below:
Main Line Kitchen Design wishes all our customers and followers Happy Holidays . . .
and
Bon Appetit!
Paul, Julie, Chris, Ed, Jeremy, Juliet and Mark
Main Line Kitchen Design
8 Replies to “MDF painted cabinet doors rate best!”
Jill
So…… have any of the cabinet manufacturers you rated switched to the MDF doors or do any of them already use the MDF for the doors?
pmcalary[ Post Author ]
Hi Jill.
Some of the inexpensive brands do doors in MDF and HDF and all of the expensive custom brands will offer MDF or HDF doors because they are custom and offer everything.
However most mid to upper priced semi-custom lines don’t offer MDF or HDF doors. This is for several reasons. First their painted doors will be on Maple and are the same doors they offer in Maple stains so that simplifies things. Also the HDF and MDF doors look best and make the most sense with door styles that would be be mitered were they wood. The seams on painted mitered doors would expand and have issues over time so routing these type, more ornate doors, makes sense. However, these more ornate doors are not so popular anymore. So many mid priced brands have eliminated those styles because they sold so few. The more ornate mitered doors are also more popular in stained wood finishes.
On recessed panel and shaker door styles the corners of the door frame look crisper when the doors are wood. Since these are the most popular styles – that’s another reason they are offered only in wood.
One thing to consider is that while the HGF and MDF doors weather dings and scratches as well as solid wood doors the hinge cup that attaches the door to the cabinet is not quite as durable in a particulate as in solid maple.
Finally it is wise to also consider that due to a lack of popularity the MDF and HGF doors are more likely to be discontinued and while any wood door can be reproduced later the machine that creates the MDF door might no longer be set for that exact style and so not be available. So if you had a calamity and needed a new door years later you might not be able to get an exact match.
For all those reasons we rarely sell HGF and MDF doors. If you really. really, hate seeing and seams between the stiles and the rails on a wood door that would be the best reason to get MDF or HGF doors. but as with all things you can not have your cake and eat it too.
Lea
Are these the same as melamine cabinets?
pmcalary[ Post Author ]
Hi Lea,
No melamine is a plastic. If you want the technical info READ THIS.
In the cabinet world it is used as a veneer. The same melamine type plastic can be used for other purposes like solid plastic silverware.
With cabinets it is like a laminate (for example Formica), However it is thinner and less hard. It can be put over plywood or particleboard. It is usually used for the surface of the sides, bottoms, shelves, and the backs of cabinets.
If you used melamine (a low pressure laminate) on cabinet doors it would be far les desirable than a high pressure laminate surface like Formica. It would also be less desirable then other coatings on doors like thermofoil.
The sides of the cabinets and the rest of the cabinet box are always best made out of plywood. For framed cabinets the fronts are solid wood for frameless cabinet the front edge of the cabinet box could be melamine along with the surface of the rest of the box.
MDF very dense and very different from the particleboard that the sides of cabinetry can be made of. It is used for the cabinet doors and not usually for the cabinet box.
Because MDF is so hard and can be sanded perfectly smooth it makes for a good surface to paint.
Lea
Thank for your response. A salesperson was trying to convince us to get melamine cabinets after my wife said she wanted low maintenance. But she couldn’t articulate the value, durability compared to wood.
pmcalary[ Post Author ]
Hi Lea,
A laminate, an expensive acrylic door, or a foil door like Timberlake’s Duraform surface would have the least maintenance. Traditional themofoil is also longer lasting then it once was and has no maintenance until it starts to delaminate after 20+ years. Painted wood and MDF doors will require professional touchups over the long run but look less artificial.
Richard Cullmer
Are VOCs a concern with MDF/HDF door panels?
pmcalary[ Post Author ]
Hi Richard,
Good question. Since all cabinetry sold in the United States since 2019 needs to comply with what used to California’s strict CARB2 levels for VOC’s, the answer is that the VOC levels would be considered low. Especially if the cabinet box is all plywood construction. MDF and HDF off gas less than the particleboard that the sides of many cabinet brands like IKEA are made of.
However since solid wood doesn’t off gas at all the VOC levels would be more than had the doors been all wood.
Since some people are hyper sensitive to any off gassing, people that are concerned should take the precautions that we discuss in the blog below:
https://www.mainlinekitchendesign.com/general/cabinet-off-gassing-carb2-compliance-vocs-greenguard-and-what-you-need-to-know-if-you-are-sensitive-to-fumes/