I love this forum, thank you all so much for your responses! wizardnm-Thanks for posting those pics and clarifying your cab construction. You know, I'm not sure how to answer your question if my guy is trying to "get out of" applying the melamine as his shop. He indicated he'd priced having someone else apply it and when he got the price, it put the material way ahead price wise of the other choices. johnnyl53 and cheri127, your posts are really putting my mind at ease RE: particleboard. I know the majority of cabinets are probably constructed with particle board, but it still helps to know that others have chosen them and that they'd held up well. I saw a sample of the vinyl covered plywood and didn't like how the edges could already be separated from the plywood core. By contrast the melamine covered particleboard was adhered perfectly and seemed like it would clean up nicely. I also had a chat with the cabinet guy about my various concerns... RE: formaldehyde outgassing, he emphasized the the exposed edges of the materials are when the materials outgas the most (i.e. at the shop during fabrication) and he felt that those edges are then contained pretty well with edgebanding and/or the solid wood door faceframes. (I guess similar to if you have asbestos or lead paint; it's ok/safe to seal them in with paint, but cutting into them/creating dust is the hazardous part.) RE: particleboard vs plywood, he feels both have sufficient strength/longevity in terms of resisting shelf sagging etc, but that plywood had the upper hand as far as impact resistance. (e.g. you throw a baseball and it would dent the particle board more easily than plywood.) Given that these are combined with the solid wood faceframes, I'm not sure whether that is even an issue I need to worry about. At this point (unless I get some more feedback here otherwise) I'm inclined to go with the formaldehyde free melamine coated particle board. He's estimating it might be $100-150 dollars for the formaldehyde free materials, which is worth my peace of mind about that issue. I know the melamine will clean up well/be more easy care than the vinyl or painted surfaces. And by choosing the melamine particleboard I won't have to worry about whatever aftermarket adhesive chemicals would be used to bond the melamine to a plywood core. Thank you all again!

If you want low cost rental property cabinets that are KCMA certified, look at Aristokraft. Ikea will work too. I just don't think they've bothered with American certification programs since they aren't US based. They also have "legs" that sit the cabinets above the floor, which if you have water issues, means that only the plastic legs get wet, not the cabinets. But, if you've had repeated slab leaks in this home, it's time for a complete pipe replacement. Run the new pipes through the attic and insulate them. That's what a LOT of homes in this area have had to do because of pin hole leaks in copper. Copper in concrete wears away much faster than it does in the open air of a crawlspace. Most homes in this are have repiped with CPVC and washed their hands of the copper entirely because the jack up in prices made the CPVC about 1/4" the price in materials along. Not to mention the easier labor.

Something I left off of my last post to another thread similar to this one only asking about Kraftmaid. There are truly differences in the types of each. I would choose furniture grade board over Chinese plywood for instance. I have not checked yet to see if the all ply Mid C cabinets I'm looking at are chinese plywood. Likely they are cause the price is so low! Anyway we missed this at the home expo in March, but my sales guy told me they were there and had a goldfish bowl with both plywood and furniture board soaking for 2 weeks. They displayed it at the expo inviting everyone to try to break the furniture board, and no one could do it. The plywood was a total mess. It just depends. Whatever you get make sure it's the best quailty and I would think you'll be fine. I noticed for instance that the KM furn board was thicker and appeared to be better quality than the Mid C furniture board.

My Mom has the original builder's kitchen in her condo and it's a minimum of 20 years old. Melamine over 5\8 (might even be 1\2 inch) particleboard. Hinges are going but they have not come loose from the cabinets or doors (which are also melamine - maybe over MDF but I doubt it). I've attached a link to the ANSI ratings for particleboard so you can look at the properties of the various types. Usually Commercial or Industrial grade is used in quality cabinet construction (either M-S or M-2). Ask the cabinet maker or manufacturer what they are using. Of course the method of assembly is as important, staples, plastic corners, full valances, tongue and groove, doweled and glued, full backs or thinner hardbacks with hanging rails, cross valance between gables behind the toe kick, just legs, wood face frames - some of these are preferable to others. Are your edges at least colour matched to the door? I can't say for veneers but what is the veneer being mounted on? 3\4 MDF would be my guess if they are solid. This good a number of high end companies now offer their painted finishes on solid MDF doors - no cracking like on 5 piece mortise and tenon doors. That's what I picked up I'm sure some of the KD's no more for sure. Here is a link that might be useful: ANSI guidelines for particleboard standards