Any of these woods will be fine unless the legs are to be of toothpick-like proportions. 180 pounds may seem heavy to you, but it's virtually nothing compared to the bearing capacity of a typical table leg.

Jon1270, Thank you for the information. I didn't want to spend extra money on more expensive types of wood if I didn't have to especially since I will be painting it.

I would be more concerned with denting and gouging of a softer wood from incidental contact with chairs and shoes.

At this link http://www.fpl.fs.fed.us/documnts/fplgtr/fplgtr113/ch04.pdf is a table of compressive strength.

Here is a link that might be useful: http://www.tablelegs.com/

kmealy makes a good point about surface wear. It's also worth mentioning that, while some of these woods would be more expensive if you were buying cabinets for a whole kitchen, the price differences would probably be insignificant for just a couple of legs.

Just for kicks, I checked some of the legs at that site I referenced. For a couple of samples, pine was just over $80, and oak and maple were $110 and 120 each. So you are looking at only a $40-60 savings.

I frequently see pine furniture (including a piece this morning) and tell people if they want pine, they are going to get dents. Not maybe, definitely.

-Thanks eveyone for your insightful information!! I will definitely look into investing a small amount of money for material that will hold up and look nicer over the test of time.

Why not use maple---to match the cabinets?

-Handymac, I may use maple legs. I'm going to price the ones that our cabinet manufacturer carries and see how their price compares to buying a set of maple legs and painting them to match our cabinets.