WEST JORDAN — Christmas may not be so merry for 813 people at KraftMaid Cabinetry in West Jordan who were told Thursday that the company plans to shut down the manufacturing facility two days before the holiday.

Masco Retail Cabinet Group, manufacturer of KraftMaid cabinets, said in an e-mail Thursday to the Deseret News that the company is consolidating manufacturing operations and will idle operations at its West Jordan plant, beginning Dec. 23.

"The unprecedented decline in the new construction and remodeling markets has forced us to take this very difficult action," said Masco president Mike Newton. "Over the past several months, we have worked hard to reduce costs and avoid this action, but the economy has continued to decline."

He said the closure is solely driven by deteriorating market conditions and the requirement to balance production with current market demand. All employees will be offered outplacement services, he said.

KraftMaid, headquartered in Middlefield, Ohio, is a subsidiary of Masco Retail Cabinet Group, which has manufacturing plants located in Ohio and Pennsylvania. The company did not say if or when the West Jordan facility might resume operations.

The Utah facility opened in April 2006 and assembles custom and kitchen cabinets. The company said that current West Jordan customers would be served by other facilities.

The company in October 2004 had received a $2.25 million state incentive to build the West Jordan facility. Jason Perry, executive director of the Governor's Office of Economic Development, said that the company so far has received less than $14,000 of that incentive.

Clifford White, a GOED board member, said at a board meeting Thursday that the incentive was a good one.

"I'm really glad we did it," he said. "They built the facility, which is a wonderful facility. I'm sure somebody eventually will fill it, and people won't lose their jobs, even though they're mothballing it for now."

Board member Jerry Oldroyd said KraftMaid's decision to put the facility in Utah helped lead other companies, which did not receive state incentives, to locate in the state.

Perry said during the GOED board meeting that the state is working with Masco to help the KraftMaid employees find work. "The Department of Workforce Services has been called in to assist, and there also have been very generous concessions made by the company for them, and they will find other work," he said.

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Contributing: Brice Wallace

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E-mail: jlee@desnews.com