The raised panel MDF cabinets in my new home have a terrible finish. I've already consulted with a trusted builder/dear friend who said it is caused by the machine cuts on the raised panel not being properly prepped before painting. My builder, cabinet maker & painter (all great reputations, all who have worked together for decades) say the cabinet maker received a batch of "bad mdf" that is the problem, not the paint job.

The cabinets only received one coat of prime and one coat of paint. The flat areas of the cabinets look great. My current builder & painter say they always finish the cabinets in this way & this is the first time they have ever had this problem.

The builder, painter & cabinet maker have been trying to decide how to best handle the situation. They want to refinish the doors to see if the problem can be sloved. Originally, I too, thought this would fix the problem, believing the paint job to be the problem.

Now that the cabinet maker has said he got a "bad batch of mdf" I'm concerned that just refinishing the cabinets may be only a temporary fix. (I had a similar issue with my Pella casement windows & the wood rot from mishandling didn't set in until nearly 20 years later.)

******My question to the experts is this: Is there such a thing as a "bad batch of MDF" ? When I told the builder if it was bad MDF all the cabinets need to be replaced, he backed off really quicklys and said it wasn't really "bad" it just wasn't furniture grade. Having been told it WAS bad MDF, I'm concerned now that refinishing is just putting a bandaid on & 5 or even 10 years from now the cabinets will have to be replaced.

I have never figured out how to put pictures on this forum, but will try again. But for now, just need to know if furniture grade MDF was not used on my raised panel cabinets, will it be a problem.