I was in the high end cabinet business for 20 years. I have seen solid wood doors grow as much as 1/4" with high humidity. The reason most cabinet doors are made as raised panels is that the largest portion of solid wood is the panel-which will grow the most. There is a recess inside the four frame members which allows the wood center panel to grow without splitting the door apart. I have seen some flat solid wood doors, but they are a problem waiting to happen if there are humidity swings. The factory that I represented was considered one of the finest in the country. They offered plywood construction and MDF construction. Most people opted for the plywood. The funny thing is that the owner of the company felt that MDF made a better cabinet. The wood veneer lied on the MDF smoother and the MDF was more stable than the plywood. That being said, there are different grades of plywood and MDF, so keep that in mind. Solid wood cabinet boxes are a huge mistake unless the sides are raised panel.

I seem to have gotten confused on the Shenandoah construction thicknesses. For one, sides are 1/2". So disregard whatever I noted if you're considering this line. Funny, I'm looking over these nearly 40 year old junkers that are still standing. They were even uninstalled and shuffled around 30 years ago. The cheap wood grained laminate doors had been replaced. The sides and back seem to be a 1/4" particle board type product. Some of it also looks like luan but is painted and might be particle board. One shelf is loose and I can see the particles on the box side. Particle board 3/4" shelves chipping along the edge but strong. It seems to be solid 3/4" framing for the faces and hanging rail. They are still standing and doing their job! The side panel on the sink base has popped out and it's really bad construction otherwise. The boxes were painted and doors replaced so they don't look as bad as all that. The painted raised panel replacement doors have held up well for nearly 30 years. They look to be solid wood. The only real damage to the finish is on the raised panel edge of the two drawer fronts under the counter. They've lost finish and are chippy because the counter's drip edge doesn't project out far enough. I'm very surprised to see that situation on a lot of store display installations. The cabinets are just about even with the 25" counter edge. That's bad news for finishes. I'll be getting 26" counters for a good drip edge to protect the finish below. Right, the finish will probably not last 30 years and I'll have to deal with repainting whatever I get. I doubt the stains these days hold up that long either. A lot of them look layered and baked on like the paints to me. But hopefully the cabinets themselves will be decently built and still holding together well. I don't know why that would change unless someone was hanging on the doors or overloading areas with very heavy items, as livewire mentioned. The older builder type homes from 40-50 years or so ago seem to get there. They can just look dated at this point. Maybe they all do this but Shenandoah is calling their mdf type cabinets 'engineered wood' which I think is misleading since it makes it sound like standard construction is plywood.

I worked as an engineer for a company who built about 250 high end cabinets at that facility per day. Most of the cabinets that came from that line were plywood sides, either 1/2" or 3/4". I became rather biased about it, and looking back, it was probably unjustified. To me, the important parts of cabinet construction are the face frame, the joints, and the back either being decent thickness or having nailers for strength were they are joined and also attached to the wall. This is just my opinion, but even though the plywood makes a very solid nice cabinet....Once it is installed, and forever more, no one will know the difference. The plywood does make for a bit more attractive interior, but probably not enough difference to speak of. Maybe in instances where a finshed interior is important, then plywood, or actually wood vanier sides are required. Of course you can vaneer partical board too, and then you still can't tell the difference once installed. I still have a bias toward plywood ends, but it probably isn't a logical one. More cabinets are made with furniture board sides than plywood, and there really aren't problems with them.

My father was a ceramic tile contractor. I also have lots of family and friends in the Houston area. To me, there are two separate and distinct issues: (1) whether to use tile or wood; and (2) whether to use wood look tile if you go the tile route. A single flooring choice in the public areas of an open concept works well. Having a separate type of flooring for the kitchen is also common. In the Sunbelt, cold tile floors is not a big issue. More of an issue is being on your feet a lot. My choice preferences would be: (1) wood floor throughout; (2) stone look porcelain tile throughout; or (3) stone look porcelain in the kitchen and wood all other public areas on that level. Wood look tiles IMO paint you into a design corner. It’s IMO a fad. Beyond that, wood look tile seldom works with other flooring choices. It never looks real because of short lengths. It does not transition well with real wood or stone look tile. So if used, pretty much need to use throughout. It can greatly impact kitchen cabinet colors. If you tire of it, it is a pain to remove. Wood floor can be refinished.