mdf will give you that ultra smooth, almost plastic look when painted.

I prefer real wood painted or stained. When painted, i especially like woods that have raised grain . It's just an old school preference that i've always liked over smooth mdf which i personally would never use. Just my opinion.

mdf is definetly easier to paint and will match up to your doors /trims/ basebaoards if they are mdf/painted.

Our beautiful custom kitchen in our current house has high gloss painted MDF cabinets and we have had nothing but problems. The paint has bubbled, peeled, cracked and chipped. Everyone we have talked to refuses to repaint them and the cabinet maker is too busy to remake them. Since these were truly custom made and custom cut cabinets we have no recourse. We can't order new doors because no one makes them in exactly the right size. We even tried to move around some doors and drawers to put the more stressed ones in lower traffic areas, but NO! A 15 inch door from one cabinet didn't come close to matching the 15 inch space in another. For this reason alone we have vowed we will never use custom cabinets again nor will we use MDF. This next house we are building will have semi-custom cabinetry all the way! I want to be able to call up the company and order a replacement if the need should ever arise.

JMO, but I think cab. doors is not the best place for mdf. I personally think mdf is ok for crown molding and base boards in dry areas and thats about it.