Drawer face fell off cabinet. How common is it?

[therethere]

So fairly simple question. We've got what appears to be builders or Home Depot cheapo grade cabinets in our rental. I know the cabinets are at least 6 years old, though likely much older based on the condition. Recently the drawer face came off one of the drawers. It completely fractured the MDF on the sides and front portion (that the face is attached to). The drawer definitely came off with regular use. I imagine since its a drawer, liquid over time from the countertops likely weakened the MDF and eventually with enough use the drawer front split. If it makes any difference most of the cabinets do not have the sticky rubber dampers on the inside, which also would have attributed to increased wear.

Here's the problem. We rent. The owner thinks this is negligence rather than normal wear and tear. But what ammo do I have other than my world versus his? We are also working through a management company so I can't physically show or explain what happened.

How common is this problem? Is there any data or articles to support that this is common and can happen at certain number of years or anything like that?

[Ocinfo]

It happens. Cheap, low quality stuff breaks otherwise it wouldn't be cheap. I had a cabinet door literally split in half on me recently. Nothing beyond typical use but was 10 years old and mid to low quality. Assuming you've been a good tenant, any landlord that that blames you is likely to nickel and dime you on the security deposit...


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[therethere]

I don't think its out of the ordinary but I want to prove it to my landlord since they are graciously offering to "split" the cost of fixing it.  I think they are questioning it based on other maintenance that they could perceive as "damage" (a broken shower shelf) that they also want us to pay for. The house is very old and most of the remodeling seems to be from the 90's. At the very least if they want me to pay I'm going to propose it be prorated based on typical depreciation numbers for rentals.

Now that I think about it I once looked it up and the dishwasher is from 1991 or 1995. So it is safe to assume that the cabinets are at least 20+ years old. I think its perfectly reasonable that a piece of MDF/particle board used daily, in a semi-wet environment, would fail. Just sucks that I'm going to have to fix it myself or pay these people. That's why I rent so I don't have to deal with this crap.

[paddedhat]

Tell your landlord to fuck off. Grab a small bottle of carpenters glue and a ratchet strap at Lowes. Slather it all over the MDF, clamp the thing back together and let it dry. Anybody who thinks that cheezy MDF cabinets will last for thirty years in a rental, without falling apart,  is a crack head.  The entire cabinet was probably less than $100 when new, has exceeded it service life, and is valueless,as in zero. A thirty year old particle board kitchen in a rental is worth nothing, minus the cost of bashing it apart and hauling it away, so less than nothing.  Exactly how much does this shitbag think his precious drawer is worth?

 BTW, if you shop for cabinets, you have to really hit bottom and dig, to find drawers built of particle board. I have installed some bottom of the barrel kitchens, and the cheapest of them had drawers with thin plywood sides, glued and stapled together, and a hardboard bottom that slide in a rabbited groove, and  hot glued in place.