Cabinets
Buy and sell cabinets in Guatemala.
Most store-bought wardrobes in Guatemala arrive flat-packed, many from Brazilian factories such as Moval, in MDF or MDP board that is assembled at home and has to come apart again for every move. That decides what a used one is worth more than its colour or its mirror does. Chests of drawers and dining-room sideboards follow the same logic, while resin cabinets for the patio or the outdoor washing sink, and steel filing cabinets out of offices, play by rules of their own. New or pre-owned, a good listing says whether the piece is still standing or already in pieces, and whether the bag of fittings survived.
Wardrobes, sideboards, resin cabinets and steel filing cabinets:
four kinds of cabinet with little in common beyond doors and a back. The freestanding wardrobe is counted by its doors, and a chest of drawers is usually bought to stand beside one of the beds. A dining-room sideboard keeps plates and tablecloths next to the dining tables, and a china cabinet adds glass doors on top. Plastic cabinets, moulded resin with a rattan or wood-grain finish, go where board cannot: a covered patio, the wall by the outdoor washing sink, a bathroom with no window. Grey steel filing cabinets come out of offices and end up beside desks at home or in the back room of a small business.
MDF or MDP in a flat-pack wardrobe:
the label matters more than the finish, because two wardrobes in the same wenge-effect melamine can be built from very different board. MDP is particle board, wood chips pressed together under a printed skin. It is lighter and cheaper, and its screw holes are the first thing to give. MDF is a finer, denser fibreboard that grips a screw better, which is why the larger six-door units are usually MDF or a mix of the two. Neither forgives water on an unsealed edge. Depth matters more than width: the shallow budget models leave adult hangers brushing the doors. In Quetzaltenango or Cobán, where houses stay cool and damp through the rainy months, a closed wardrobe pushed flat against an outside wall grows mould on its back panel and the clothes inside start to smell. Leave a gap behind it and favour vented doors or a raised base. That is also where a resin cabinet earns its place.
What a flat-pack wardrobe is worth once assembled:
less than most sellers hope, and the reason is the move rather than the age. New, a two- or three-door MDP wardrobe starts around Q900 to Q1,300, and big mirrored six-door MDF units run from about Q3,000 to Q6,000. A used one fetches a good deal less, because the buyer inherits a dismantle, carry and reassemble job that loosens every fitting, and because the same model is often still on the shop floor.
Hinges, back panels and drawer runners on a used cabinet:
are where flat-pack wears out. Open every door. A cup hinge that has pulled out of the board leaves the door hanging low, and a new screw in the same hole rarely holds. Look at the thin hardboard sheet on the back, which is what keeps the carcass square: if it is bowed, torn or missing nails, push a top corner and watch the whole wardrobe lean. Pull each drawer all the way out; metal ball-bearing runners outlast plastic rollers. For a steel filing cabinet, ask for the key, load a drawer and slide it, and check the feet for rust where the floor gets mopped. Resin cabinets that lived in the sun go brittle, and their clips snap the first time they are taken apart.
Listing a wardrobe, standing or in pieces:
decide first which way it leaves your house. Still assembled, the buyer needs height, width and depth to know it will clear the door. Taken down, photograph it standing first, number the panels with masking tape and bag every screw, cam and dowel with the instruction sheet if you still have it. Give the brand and the board, which is often printed on a label inside a door or on the back, and mention any swollen edge. For a filing cabinet, say whether the keys go with it. Whoever drives over from Villa Nueva or Escuintla to collect a dismantled wardrobe will want to count the panels before paying, so have them laid out with the bag of fittings on top.