In the industry there is no such animal as "furniture board". Typically it is used by retailers because it sounds better than MDF. MDF (Medium density fiberboard) and Particle board has gotten a bad name. Most people think of PB as the low density board they see at the home centers used for underlayment. Good quality PB, Industrial grade, means that one cubic foot of it is 45 lbs or more in weight. Commercial PB is typically about 42 lbs density. Both are good products for the right application. Most commerical grade cabinets are made from Industrial PB or MDF. MDF is similar to PB but is made from smaller particles, is denser and thus weights more, typically over 50 lbs density. MDF is very stable, will absorb less water than PB and is often used with veneers. Its smooth dense face does not "telegraph" through the thin veneers that are used today. Many veneers on plywood will over time, telegraph the grain of the plywood.

I would not be disturbed about using a product with good quality PB or MDF, they offer a good value for the $$ spent.

So "furniture board" is referring to either particle board or MDF, then, correct?

Below is what my cabinet manufacturer says they offer.

--------
Door fronts in contemporary styles are typically flat-panel doors in a wide range of laminate, veneer, exotic veneer or MDF lacquers. Transitional and traditional doors are offered in wood - solid maple, cherry, oak or walnut - with a choice of many different stains, glazes and patina finishes. Traditional MDF doors are finished in either solid colours or with paint-and-glaze hand-dragged finishes.

Cabinets are manufactured using 19mm (3/4") high quality thermally-fused melamine furniture board in a choice of white, grey or black finish or 19mm (3/4") veneered maple plywood.
------

So does this mean the interiors are NOT mdf, rather particle board? They seem to say you can have mdf for the doors, but they do not refer to the interiors/cabinet box as mdf.

Thanks!

That's right, they are NOT MDF. Very few manufactured cabinets use MDF, though sales people who don't know better will sometimes refer to furniture board as MDF. Until you look at it and know what you are looking at assume when a salesperson says the cabinet is MDF that it is in fact furniture board. (As tom indicates MDF is common in doors)

The term furniture board, long grain furniture board, when used by a cabinet mfg means a specific type of particle board, typically 45 lb density. As tom indicates there are lots of types of this stuff- engineered wood (plywood is an engineered wood BTW) and they are just fine.

My own kitchen, mid to upper end, is frameless boxes using furniture board. Mine is going on 10 yrs old, I've redone some as much as 28 yrs by the same mfg and the cabinets were sound as the day they were installed.

There are a number of hi-end frameless brands that still have the good sense to offer it, though increasingly some have responded to misguided consumer blowback and switched to plywood on frameless cabinets.

My own kitchen, mid to upper end, is frameless boxes using furniture board. Mine is going on 10 yrs old, I've redone some as much as 28 yrs

This describes the kitchen we did in our previous home circa 1985. Those cabinets were by WoodMode. When we remodeled in 2006, they were in perfect, albeit no longer in style, condition.

Bowing down to LiveWireOak! Very well said and something I've been trying to educate my clients since I began my career in kitchen design in 1983!

I once had one of my friend's father in my showroom. His ktichen was going to be very high end....and it was. When we had our first visit, he said, "I went to a couple of designers a few weeks ago, but I want nothing to do with them....they tried to talk me out of getting all wood construction (ie. plywood construction). He was a very imposing man! He looked at me and said, "What do YOU think??" I just smiled nicely and said, "Mr. X? I agree with them. However, it's your kitchen and if you want plywood construction, I'll give it to you." There was no point in further debate....this man was going to have plywood!

LWO, I plan on saving this post, so I can email it to my clients. Thanks so much.....this will save me a lot of time and aggravation! :-)

thank you. this is an old thread but I learned something. I was keen on only having plywood boxes before reading this but now I will look into the furniture board.

I was at a dealer the other day pricing out Brookhaven cabinets and dealer actually took a piece of furniture board and plywood and put them in water. In the two hours I was there the furniture board actually looked better than the plywood. FB was pretty much intact, plywood looked like the strands were separating a little and it felt like it lost some of its tensile strength. That erased any doubt I had about going with furniture board

Some furniture board (partical board) can be made so that it can survive a month or more of submersion in water. A couple of German manuf. use this type.

cp - it's not quite as simple as choosing furn board over plywood or wood or mdf. You really need to look at the specifications of a particular board. Some plywood will fair better in that water test than furniture board and some won't . Just depends on the specification and the comparison subject.

MDF is good for doors because it's very stable and takes paint well.

What is the quality of the particle board and MDF that Ikea uses?

Towards the lower end of the spectrum. They also use cardboard sandwich core for many panels so they are extremely light.

This is reflected in the price.

I do not see a big difference between the plywood and 'furniture board' construction. With our sensitivity to the formaldahide release, I cannot stay in the house with any MDF installation and am forced to spend the extra money for the plywood (I realize it still has some formaldahide with a slower release) but I am able to breathe

I agonized about this in my first kitchen remodel and went with plywood with wood doors. In my recent remodel I went Furniture Board/MDF with veneer.

dmitchell45 - Ikea's MDF doesn't contain any formaldehyde. Some plywood does, especially Chinese plywood.