From the attached link: Raised Panel - Solid Even though the panel is called solid, it is not usually made of a single piece of wood. Wood expands and contracts with changes in humidity, and this can cause the door to split and crack. To counteract the problems of natural movement in a solid wood center panel, the panel is usually constructed using several pieces of solid stock lumber glued together. The wood strips used to construct the panel may not all match in graining and color. As in the case of the slab door, the door's strength comes from the manner in which the pieces of solid wood are reversed as they are glued. The panel is then cut on all four sides, so the center is higher than the edges. The face of the panel is usually flush with the front surface of the stiles and rails, with the edges forming a tongue which fits a corresponding groove cut into the door frame. The groove is slightly larger than the panel's edge to allow the panel to float in the frame. This simply means that the panel has room to expand and contract during humidity changes, reducing the risk of the panel cracking or splitting. I gather from the Woodmode site that this is how they construct raised panel doors as they describe their raised panel doors as being constructed from solid wood. How big an issue the movement of the centre panel in a flat panel door will be probably depends on geography (I have seen some dramatic examples here that am sure would not be acceptable to many folks while I tend to think the hairline cracking I have seen is part of the charm and patina of age of painted cabinetry. In terms of Woodmode they do kiln dry all their wood which may in part explain why they have not have felt they would get better performance from an MDF centre panel that some companies are opting for. I also think it is a market issue a lot of Consumer's in the US have a real aversion to composite wood products regardless of the possible benefits (this does not really carry over to Europe or Canada). Cabico and many other Quebec companies offer 100% MDF doors for paint finishes (same opaque finishes are usually available on maple at Cabico). Lots of their MDF door styles are raised panel. Here is a link that might be useful: Explanation of door styles

The entire cabinet is rarely made of solid wood. Solid wood expands and contracts with the moisture in the air and tends to pull apart at the joins over time. Cabinet doors are often solid wood, although a solid wood frame with an mdf raised panel in the middle is also common. The raised panel in the middle isn't glued or nailed to the frame, it floats free in the frame so expansion and contraction in this large piece doesn't pull anything apart. Boxes are generally either plywood or a high grade of mdf, also called "furniture board." I suspect that "hdf" is also "furniture board." You will get many arguments on whether plywood is superior to high grade mdf or is no better; that is a different question and not one I consider overly important. If you are choosing a face frame cabinet style, the frame is usually solid wood and the panels can be either solid wood or plywood/mdf. Frameless cabinets ("Euro-style") are usually plywood or mdf. For painting, an mdf door provides you with a surface without any graining, so the paint goes on smoothly. Different woods give different looks: oak shows a lot of grain under the paint and maple shows hardly any. It's a look, that's all. Paint on wood doesn't generally crack, so I don't know what that's about. I have to warn you that I wasn't familiar with the term "hdf," so I looked it up. Most sites that refer to it are from alibaba.com, which is a Chinese super-site that sells one of everything made in the world, or other companies featuring Chinese products. Not necessarily a high recommendation. Last Feb. the question of cabinet materials came up in the thread below. At the time I looked up exactly how the different materials are made. You might take a look. Here is a link that might be useful: Cabinet materials

thank you guys..actually i realized that the granite we liked is not Bianco Antico but a very similar granite called Delicatus. I love it! But no matter how many searches I do online, I dont see it paired with antique brown cabinets. I have seen it with almost every other stained cabinet there is but not the stain we are choosing. DH does not want to go darker or lighter on the cabinet stain and thinks Delicatus will go just fine. Our designer is trying to push a more golden granite on us and thinks that I should stick to all warm tones...although she is the expert I somehow feel that Delicatus just might work. It has so many colors in it that I think it will compliment the brown cabinets pretty nicely. But then is the question of the flooring..Dark brown cabinets, Delicatus granite, and nutmeg stained oak floors scraped lightly. Do you think there are too many different colors going on there?

MDF - Medium Density Fiberboard Medium density fiberboard, or MDF, is a composite wood product similar to particleboard. It's made out of wood waste fibers glued together with resin, heat, and pressure. MDF is appropriate for many applications, from cabinetry to moulding, because it is smooth, uniform, and won't warp. MDF has many advantages over plank wood, particleboard, or high density fiberboard. It's very smooth because the wood fibers used in its manufacture are uniform and fine. This makes it have low "tear out," which means that when sawed, the end has a smooth cut instead of a jagged edge. This also means that a coat of primer and a couple of coats of paint take well, leaving an attractive, finished surface unlike other composite wood products. MDF also has a mild reaction to moisture, meaning it won't warp or swell in high-humidity applications like a bathroom cabinet. here are some old links http://www.thathomesite.com/forums/load/wood/msg0422465719842.html?7 http://www.thathomesite.com/forums/load/kitchbath/msg052132034578.html?16 http://ths.gardenweb.com/forums/load/kitchbath/msg11121915306.html