I think I forgot to post something about this earlier...

I started working on a replacement kitchen for my own home last summer. I actually started making the cabinets and did some framing last July & August (a year ago) but work was so busy, and after hours shop time almost non-existant, I had to put it off and just do a bit here and there.

A few months ago I made a push to get this done. I had everything pretty much done except for the doors and finishing panels (we have an Island - which I turned into a peninsula that needed the backs of the cabinets finished).

With summer work being too busy to lose too much more time, I opted to make all my doors, drawer fronts and panels from 3/4" MDF, and just run a 90 degree V bit around to simulate a RP door.

SImple, but the sample I did for my wife passed the test.

Here are the finished cabinets - I opted for inset doors in a face framed cabinet for a classic style that wont get "old" so to speak. Our home is far from modern, and the Benjamin Moore "cloud white" I got the post cat lacquer mixed to should offer a very good service life over the years. I used a high solids white primer on the MDF which seals the edges and routered portions quickly.

I told my wife back in 2007 (when we just got married) I wanted to do the kitchen. We had a low end white melamine/white thermoformed door kitchen the previous owners put in. It was really low end - tape peeling, doors delaminating, etc. No pull outs. It only took me 7 years to get to it, but after living with the new kitchen for almost two months now its great.

Good thing Im not a shoe maker. Or my son would be running around bare foot...

I ended up spending 1/2 day to cut out all the panels, do the files in Aspire and V groove everything on the Buddy. Saved me about 3 days over going with a 5 pc door. And I used 2 full 5x10 sheets of mdf (my cost under $100) VS 3X that for a hard maple door, which is what I typically use for paint grade.