Kitchen Question: MCF vs HMR MDF & Hand Painted v Spray Painted

[kmini]

Hi All

I had great help from all the kitchen experts on here before, so I am going to appeal to your infinite knowledge again.

My brother makes and installs kitchens in Australia and he has a lot of experience with commercial office manufacture too. He tends to make more modern kitchens, however his advice was as follows re Kitchens:

• Materials: He uses High Moisture Resistant MDF for his carcasses.
• Materials: He said stay away from pine for the carcasses as prone to warping if moiture gets into it.
• Painting: He tends to have his kitchens vinyl wrapped (as they are modern looking) however as I want a painted style he said he would have it sprayed for an even and consistent appearance.

Most of the Kitchen Manufacturers I have asked use MCF in the UK. They also tend to spray finish their doors. We are not going for top end kitchen, just one that looks & feels well made & has a sturdy finish that will last.

What do you think, is MCF ok? Is spray painted rather than handpainted, ok?

Opinions welcomed!

Sprayed is far better than vinyl wrapped door. You will get a better even finish on the dooors and they will last.

Thanks kmdesign!

I had my handmade kitchen sprayed and I regret it as it chips and you can't touch it up.

What library said.

We have cheaper vinyl ones in the utility and they are harder wearing.

You can touch up a chip on a sprayed kitchen. vinyl wraps cant be mended.

KMDesign - My kitchen was sprayed painted in a workshop, then installed. It absolutely can't be touched up I have asked.

I have to say thats very strange. We supply kitchen and a large part of the range is lacquered doors which are lacquered on MDF. Our suppliers even provide a couple of bottles of touch up paint and we havent had any problems whatsoever with touchups. Is the MDF prepared with primeable and paintable paper base?

Km design - mine was lacquered paint too. Because the paint/lacquer is sprayed on in thin layers and built up (the lacquer is added precisely to make it very thin and suitable for spraying or a lovely finish), the chips when they happen are quite noticeable. My chips are on the frame surrounding my cutlery drawer. We have now had our kitchen repainted by hand (which involved an awful lot of prep to 'key' the lacquered surface - it was v v £). If I'd known I would ave had it hands intend first off.

My kitchen is a mixture of tulipwood, MDF and the drawer interiors are all oak, the fittings (pan racks, drawer closing mechanisms, runners, hinges etc) are all German.