mdf or melamine - entertainment built in

[shadyoc]

hi Guys, I am looking at some custom tv built ins.  There are so many different vendors out there with different prices.  I contacted a few and some use MDF for the interior while others use melamine.  My understanding is that melamine is used for kitchen and garage cabinet interiors and desks and can be painted.  MDF, they told me costs more, because it is more sturdy.  I am not completely sure I understand the differences between the two.  My garage cabinets were melamine I believe.  Never used MDF before.

You can also have birchwood inside, instead of melamine or mdf and it costs more.  But I am not sure if that is worth the few hundred dollars more, since no one looks on the inside anyways.

Outside I have been quoted maple doors or poplar doors. 

 

[gaogi]

By inside, I assume you mean the body of the cabinet, or what the cabinet makers refer to as the carcass?  I would go for at least MDF if you're going to put something heavy on the cabinet like a receiver/amp.  Melamine is basically particle board with a veneer.  MDF is also basically particle board, but uses much finer particles, pretty much wood dust, so it's much denser and is commonly used in making subwoofer boxes.  There's no real reason to go birch unless you have money to burn or want the built in to last for a few hundred years.

 

[lovingit]

We did our garage cabinets thru Cabinets Plus. They used melamine. Did we get the bad stuff and should have asked for mdf material?

 

[shadyoc]

By inside, I assume you mean the body of the cabinet, or what the cabinet makers refer to as the carcass?  I would go for at least MDF if you're going to put something heavy on the cabinet like a receiver/amp.  Melamine is basically particle board with a veneer.  MDF is also basically particle board, but uses much finer particles, pretty much wood dust, so it's much denser and is commonly used in making subwoofer boxes.  There's no real reason to go birch unless you have money to burn or want the built in to last for a few hundred years.

Yes it is the body of the cabinet. Everything but the raised panels. I believe the doors are the only thing that is wood. But would a 65 inch lcd tv with an extended mount hold on mdf or whatever they use for the back?

 

[SubSolar]

I vote for no-built in, just a clean look. A built-in will also limit you in the future when you want a bigger TV. Here's my current setup:

 

[aquabliss]

I actually think a built in looks cleaner because you can  hide all your components and wires out of site and just a clean sleek TV either mounted on the built in or mounted on the wall above the built in... but, to each his own.