Kitchen- Solid Wood or MDF?

Rosy Posy

We're in the process of extending our kitchen and I met with the joiner today. They were quite keen on building the cabinets out of MDF and the interiors out of something that I can't remember the name of but had a plastic-y finish. My feeling and preference is for solid wood as I don't see the point in upgrading the kitchen with an inferior quality material that may not stand the test of time. Also we have small children who tend to bump and knock things and I was under the impression that if the MDF gets chipped you will see the cruddy looking reconstituted 'wood' underneath. However I know that the price difference is significant.

I wonder if anyone on here with a bit more technical and practical knowledge might be able to advise me on the pros and cons and whether solid wood is worth the extra cost (we are still waiting on a quote for both).

Thanks in advance

recipio

the kitchen Pro's will be along here soon but a solid wood kitchen is :
1. Very expensive.
2 Has to be well built allowing for seasonal movement and warping ( your average kitchen fitter may have no experience of this. )
3 Not very easy to clean and will have dark interiors.
There is nothing wrong with solid wood tops but I'd decide on an overall theme and ask your fitter to design it. Don't worry about edges as they can be protected with solid wood strips and remember most people want to change their kitchen after fifteen years !.

nudger

Rosy Posy wrote: »

We're in the process of extending our kitchen and I met with the joiner today. They were quite keen on building the cabinets out of MDF and the interiors out of something that I can't remember the name of but had a plastic-y finish. My feeling and preference is for solid wood as I don't see the point in upgrading the kitchen with an inferior quality material that may not stand the test of time. Also we have small children who tend to bump and knock things and I was under the impression that if the MDF gets chipped you will see the cruddy looking reconstituted 'wood' underneath. However I know that the price difference is significant.

I wonder if anyone on here with a bit more technical and practical knowledge might be able to advise me on the pros and cons and whether solid wood is worth the extra cost (we are still waiting on a quote for both).

Thanks in advance

Maybe Formica?

Hard wearing but will chip over time.

We have our kitchen in about 8 years now and it's MDF nothing wrong with it but that's not the problem she would just like something new.:rolleyes:

Rosy Posy

recipio wrote: »

most people want to change their kitchen after fifteen years !.

Thing is I do NOT enjoy renovating. Atm we're designing our dream kitchen that I hope will last a lifetime. With solid wood if we fancy a change we can paint it or sand and varnish it, with MDF we'd just have to replace it?

Rosy Posy

nudger wrote: »

Maybe Formica?

It wasn't Formica, I thought it sounded a bit like melamine but it wasn't a word I had heard before. Going to the workshop tomorrow to see what they've got.

monkeynuz

Carcasses are probably chipboard not MDF

The term might have been vinyl? or could have been melamine?

Reader1937

If you are thinking of a solid wood kitchen - have standalone units made in a decent style. Money well spent if you can sell them again or bring them on a move. Fitted are usually only fit for rip out and skip if changing. Nothing wrong with chipboard boxes.

Rosy Posy

monkeynuz wrote: »

Carcasses are probably chipboard not MDF

The term might have been vinyl? or could have been melamine?

Wasn't either of these either. It was a weird word that I'd never heard of before and I asked them what it was and they said it was a bit like the desk of the decorator woman, which was like a standard office desk. All will be revealed tomorrow!

recipio

Rosy Posy wrote: »

Thing is I do NOT enjoy renovating. Atm we're designing our dream kitchen that I hope will last a lifetime. With solid wood if we fancy a change we can paint it or sand and varnish it, with MDF we'd just have to replace it?

Well......personally I'd build a solid kitchen if I had a lovely wood like yew, elm or walnut etc. Reader1937 is spot on suggesting nice stand alone units -the so called unfitted kitchen.They look great but I don't think painting them in 15 years is an option - they could possibly be sold on if needed.
The standard carcass material is now veneered MDF which is freely available in ash,oak,maple and walnut.Vulnerable edges are reinforced with solid wood.I hate to see acres of white melamine in kitchen units now - a little dated at this stage.
The big advance in the last ten years is in hardware technology. Soft closing drawer runners are a boon - a lot of the high end German/Italian designs are based on drawers in the base units. Lastly don't forget to design in your lighting plan - LED units run cool and cost buttons to run.
Keep us informed !

One shot on kill

Ok rosy how's things.

Where are you based.

Your kitchen carcass is more that likely melamine whether its chip board with melamine are its mdf with melamine which is a little bit easyer to work with.

I doubt its vennered mdf unless you plan on spending a decent budget as it can be fairly expensive.

My first question would be what type of kitchen are you looking for is it a standard kitchen setup or is it an in frame kitchen. Solid doors would be better but sometimes budget just doesn't go that far.

I personally can make either an mdf or a solid door. But the mdf is a fine door once its made from the right mdf material.

monkeynuz

I can't say I have heard of mdf carcasses.

Rosy Posy

We are in New Zealand, I'm not sure if they use different materials here?

My preference was for an unfitted kitchen anyhow. The electrician put me on to the LED strip lighting which is being worked into the cabinetry. He said the word 'rebate' about a million times which just made me think of taxes .

We are having an aga set into an island but it needs an insulating wall- now the kitchen designer had it as a brick wall but the builder's knocked it together from wood and is going to gib it. I wanted the brick finish and was wondering if anyone knew anything about using brick veneer? I was looking at this http://www.muros.co.nz/product_detail.php?id=143.

recipio

Rosy Posy wrote: »

We are in New Zealand, I'm not sure if they use different materials here?

Ah......... well, you certainly have a different choice of woods most of which we never see over here.
Basically you can build kitchen units out of any suitable material as long as its fit for purpose. The bulk of the cost of kitchen units goes on labour not the materials imho.

Rosy Posy

It was melteca they were talking about-http://www.melteca.co.nz/ it's a brand name of some kind of plasticky stuff. I'm not keen on it.

They gave options of solid timber boxes or a compromise of ply with a solid wood edging, combined with solid wood fronts.

Would ply be higher quality than MDF?

I get what you're saying about labour but that's a factor too- apparently MDF, melteca ply etc comes in finished sheets where as solid wood needs to be cut and shaped and finished so takes more labour.

One shot on kill

To be honest I would of said solid timber in the carcass is the ring hing to be because
1. You will prob triple the price of your kitchen.
2. It will crack twist and look grubby after a while unless they use a hard would. Which in Ireland would drive the price up again.

Ply would be a good carcass lipped in a solid piece. But to be honest I wouldn't say the mdf is any better or worse there all prity much the same once the kitchen is fitted. As with them all you don't want stuff spilling and water sitting on them.
It will damage them all.

It all depends on what your willing to spend. They will all do the job fine.

Just out of curiosity is he painting the mdf or is it covered in melteca aswell.

Rosy Posy

One shot on kill wrote: »

To be honest I would of said solid timber in the carcass is the ring hing to be because
1. You will prob triple the price of your kitchen.
2. It will crack twist and look grubby after a while unless they use a hard would. Which in Ireland would drive the price up again.

Ply would be a good carcass lipped in a solid piece. But to be honest I wouldn't say the mdf is any better or worse there all prity much the same once the kitchen is fitted. As with them all you don't want stuff spilling and water sitting on them.
It will damage them all.

It all depends on what your willing to spend. They will all do the job fine.

Just out of curiosity is he painting the mdf or is it covered in melteca aswell.

It was going to be painted with a distressed finish but he seemed really not keen on painting solid wood- he said we should just stain it. They had something called rhino board that was an option too. I was under the impression that whatever wood was used was going to be treated to be water resistant.

One of the things that attracts me to the wooden carcass is that part of our existing kitchen is the original wooden interior- it's made in a native hardwood and it's beautiful. Somewhere down the line the doors and drawers have been replaced with some kind of chipboard laminate which is vile and falling apart. We're going to reuse the original carcasses for that part of the kitchen and I was impressed by their solidity, longevity and aesthetic, and would like the rest of the kitchen to be of similar quality.

Cork24

Two things you need to ask your self

Will this kitchen see me out.

Can I afford this kitchen..

If yes to both of the questions then be my guest and by solid kitchen,

MDF would normally last around 15 years if you look after it, I have my kitchen 7 years I replaced the doors about a year ago from IKEA brought a new look to the kitchen,

My dad used to build solid wood kitchens, and I used to work for my cousins kitchen store while in school,

A good kitchen could cost the best part of 3 to 4k you be looking at around 7k for a solid oak kitchen with a Belfast sink, with a build in drainer,

Some places charge 400 euro for a 600 width press, you be looking at 700+ for a solid wood press for a 600 width one

I would recommend getting a MDF kitchen and go and see could you get solid doors made for them,

That's what I did with my bed room
wardrobes went to B&Q got MDF wood build the wardrobes and got my dad to fit solid doors onto it for me

And they are still looking good, what I find mainly is MDF doors don't last as long as the rest of the kitchen,

Edit:
Plus you have kids, solid wood mark very easy so i would be careful when picking,

One shot on kill

Ok so you now know or we now know what you want and why.

Ok the old kitchen cabinets are definitely solid wood. That's very rare to be the case in Ireland anyway. Normaly people say solid kitchen and carcass's and that not manly means its ply or block board covered in veneer. Which would all be great quality.

Let's face it is talking prices is no good to you. I'm share things are different in NZ. But forget about 3-4k. For a kitchen. At that money your buying theesser grade stuff. Taking into account your kitchen is of average size and not in a small apartment.

You might get a kitchen for 3-4 but you will more than Likely be fitting it yourself or getting someone to fit it for more money on top of your 3-4k.

Painting a solid wood kitchen wood be a shame. Because of its beauty and expense to get it there. If in two years you want to change the look then you can paint it but don't get solid and paint straight over.

But taking into account some solids are used for this purpose all the time aswell.
What type of wood are we talking about.

As for rhino board its a plywood ( quick google search ). Once its veneered it will look the same as your old hardwood kitchen and it will be laqeured and protected. But remember no matter what you use will have a certain protection against moisture and they will all have certain weakness's. But if your kitchen fills with enough water you have more to worry about.

To be honest the more this tread goes on and the more you say I tend to agree with your supplier. From where I am and what I'm hearing it sounds like he has an idea.

recipio

Some of the U.S. TV programmes ( mainly Norm Abraham ) have done nice 'custom built' kitchens. I'm always surprised at the amount of plywood they use ( no melamine anywhere ) but they have great features like floor to ceiling pantry units,fancy extractor units and dedicated fridge/freezer housings.
In practice there is an art to using solid wood in a kitchen - you need to mix it with compatable sheet material otherwise things can get too fussy.
I'd be inclined to work with your fitter - he has that indefinable asset -experience !