The trim and cabinets are a very cheap grade of particleboard (sawdust and glue, actually) with a plastic coating that serves as a finish. In some places, the bond has failed, and the surface coating is peeling away from the doors and trim. I’m curious if the builder foisted this garbage on hapless buyers, or if this was installed later by someone who valued economy over quality.
I’ll probably never know for sure.
There was a hideous cabinet in the center of the kitchen (visible in the foreground here) that I christened “the abortion.” It was impractical, poorly designed, and stunningly ugly. Camille simply could not stop bringing people into the kitchen to show them this hideous sideshow freak!
It turned out to be an assemblage of three odd-sized cabinets and panels held together with a minimum of staples, and secured to the floor with three drywall screws. Imagine my astonishment when I pulled off part of a cabinet to find that a piece of ordinary cardboard was used as shim material! In workmanship, a new low!
It has become a point of intense curiosity to guess and discover what the nadir will be. Bubblegum and paperclips? Papier-mâché? Salt and flour? Enquiring minds want to know!
At last the abortion and the soffit are gone and stashed neatly in the back of my truck for an unceremonious run to the dump, which is an appropriate dénouement, methinks. The kitchen now looks cavernous, and in retrospect, it is clear how that miserable cabinet dominated the room.
