The temperature and humidity fluctuations in the home are the leading cause of cracks in the door panel and style and rail connections of wood doors that emerge in your kitchen cabinets. Wood is a natural, living material that will expand and contract with the changes in humidity and temperature of your house over the course of the years. However, even the best cabinetry may swell in the moist West Coast humid months because wood readily absorbs the extra moisture in the air due to the higher relative humidity. When winter arrives, the humidity lowers, causing the wood to compress, particularly in the sub zero temperatures. With the expansion and contraction of the wood, lacquer can crack over time due to the wood's continual movement. These flaws manifest as tiny openings or thin fractures in the cabinet's doors, joints, or corners. That being said, if you manage the kitchen's humidity properly, problems with these micro crack are less likely to appear. On the other hand, if you wish to prevent cracks, you will need to maintain a constant humidity level of between 40 and 50 percent.
If these tiny cracks are going to make you crazy, you can opt for the stability of MDF. MDF is a great option that wont crack. Once painted, one cannot tell the difference between wood and MDF.
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