Lubuntu (as is Xubuntu) is a community distro, so the model can work for
Kubuntu. I am not bothered by the decision. I like one less Canonical
finger in the pie. I feel sorry for Jonathan Riddell, though. It was his
life's blood and he did great work.

The interesting thing is that one does not have to switch to Mint or
re-install. You just add the Mint repositories to an existing Ubuntu based
distro. It works in reverse, too. You can install Mint and install Xubuntu
if you want.