Best Cabinet Materials Explained
Learn the differences between plywood, MDF, particleboard, and solid wood cabinets, and where each one belongs in a kitchen.
Plywood
Cross-laminated layers of thin veneer. It's the strongest common cabinet material by weight, holds screws well, and tolerates a leak under the sink far better than any board product. It's the right choice for cabinet boxes.
The downside is cost, and that the edges need banding or a face frame to look finished.
MDF
Wood fibre compressed with resin into a dense, completely uniform board. It has no grain and no voids, so it machines cleanly and takes paint beautifully — a painted MDF door stays flat and shows no seams.
It's heavy, and it swells permanently if water gets into an unsealed edge. Use it for painted doors and panels, not for a sink base.
Particleboard
Wood chips bonded with resin. It's the least expensive option and it's dimensionally stable, which is why almost all melamine-faced panels are built on it. Faced and edged properly it performs perfectly well in wall cabinets and dry base cabinets.
It holds screws poorly compared to plywood, and it's the least forgiving of a sustained leak.
Solid wood
Real lumber. It's the most beautiful and the most expensive, and it moves with seasonal humidity — which is exactly why it's used for door frames and face frames rather than for large flat panels.
The specification most kitchens should use
Plywood boxes, MDF or pre-finished panel doors, solid wood only where the grain is visible and the piece is narrow enough not to move. Spend the difference on the boxes; that's the part you can't change later.
