My own kitchen is furniture board, i.e. Particle, Brookahven from when I worked for another dealer. 8 years without a problem. When I was working there I did a remodel on an existing BH kitchen that was over 20 yrs old and all of the cabinets were fine. I don't carry that brand nowadays myself.

Go with what makes you feel better and don't second guess yourself.

You might give your KD the opportunity to come up with something that makes you more comfortable.

Jakuval- thank you for the response- is there a reason why you guys don't carry BH now?

CEFreeman- you are always so spot on- you give the advice I'm normally able to give others (and myself) but am not able to do with this remodel. Thank you!

Secondhalf-I no longer work there, they still handle it. I'm on my own now and it isn't available to me.

15 years and no cracks but sometimes I think everything was better made even just a few years ago whether it was plywood or MDF or anything else!

Do you think that the crack you saw was because the installers took a short cut and didn't drill a pilot hole before screwing the cab to the wall? Really, that's the only reason I can come up with off the top of my head. Our last cabinets had mdf shelves which had no issues for 43 years. When we removed them, there was some crumbling, but not bad for old cabinets.

There are valid arguments to be made on both sides of the plywood vs mdf issue and neither preference is the "right" answer. As far as your KD goes, well, that's business. If you go the other direction you should probably tell her that the crack in the display cabinet undermined your confidence in her product. You might then have to listen to firm denials of the importance of the crack, but so be it. This is a lot of your hard earned money and you should get the product that

MDF is an old designation for a grade of particle board. A lot of people who have been dealing with wood products for a long time use it as a pseudonym for saying particle board - so forgive me for assuming that's what you mean.

There is a type of stuff called mdf - short for medium density fiberboard which is sometimes - though rarely - used for cabinet bodies. It's usually just doors and drawer fronts.

Particle board always has a coating on top - it might be veneer, hard laminate like formica, low density laminate like melamine or even vinyl. It can have different coatings on different faces - one side can be painted and one side can be melamine. Or it can have two different colors or melamine or a "print" of wood grain under melamine... MDF can have the same finishes.

It can be scratched like any other finish but its not really likely to have an actual crack. The reason is that neither has directional grain to crack along. I've seen particle board damaged in a lot of ways and it would appear shattered, not cracked. Or have chunks missing.

An appearance of "cracked" might indicate the cabinet pulling apart tho. It might not be too meaningful -> if it's on a display rack and not completely installed with other cabinets and screwed into a real wall, it would be subject to stresses that wouldn't exist if it was installed in the same way it would be in your kitchen.

I'm not trying to talk you into or out of either cabinet place - just sort of saying what the kd is telling you could possibly be true. I find kitchen displays (all of them) really scary. Unless they are brand new, they all look bad to me - stuff that doesn't work, bad alignments, handles falling off - heck doors falling off and broken shelves, puddles of hot glue, appliances not attached, brackets missing. Once, no lie, a freakin' rat trap inside of a store display.

If you don't feel confident about judging, ask for a couple of references from jobs completed over a year ago with the same cabinets. Call them.

If I could get plywood for the same or even cheaper than MDF (your post sounds like the amish cabs might be cheaper), I would do it in a second. Your kitchen doesn't belong to your KD and she should be doing what you need to be happy. It's your money and your home. Go for the better quality!