Cabinet maker cuts hundreds of jobs in Ohio, Pennsylvania

MIDDLEFIELD, Ohio — KraftMaid Cabinetry Inc. has laid off several hundred workers at four locations in Ohio and Pennsylvania because of a slump in the housing market, the company said Friday.

Kathleen Volks, a spokeswoman for parent Masco Corp. in Taylor, Mich., was unable to confirm the number but said she wouldn't dispute the figure of 400 mentioned by employees affected by the announcement.

The layoffs will affect workers at two locations in Middlefield, in the heart of Amish country in northeast Ohio, another in nearby Orwell and one in Sayre, Pa., according to Volks, who had no breakdown on the number of workers affected at each location.

Volks said the layoffs were a response to a 12 percent slump in housing starts in 2006, with most of the decline coming in the final six months of the year. The company produces made-to-order cabinets.