How much internal bracing is too much?

[bmc0]

Gotta be careful with using solid wood for braces if the cabinet is a manufactured wood like ply/mdf. I've done that before and the braces just broke off inside from seasonal changes.

How were these braces designed? As long as there aren't extremely wide glue joints going across the grain, there should be no problem at all. Wood moves a fair amount across the grain (radial and tangential), but very little with the grain (longitudinal).

I would not expect any problem with what @stevef22 showed in post #15. I've used solid wood (pine) braces in several MDF/plywood cabinets without issue.

 

[Ktacos]

How were these braces designed? As long as there aren't extremely wide glue joints going across the grain, there should be no problem at all. Wood moves a fair amount across the grain (radial and tangential), but very little with the grain (longitudinal).

Just some 1x2" pieces of oak that were glued and screwed into the cabinet walls.

 

[bmc0]

Just some 1x2" pieces of oak that were glued and screwed into the cabinet walls.

Seems like it should have been OK. I guess all I can say is that I've had no such problem with my cabinets which have spent several years in a basement room with pretty large seasonal humidity swings.