A two-year review process of current U.S. performance standards for kitchen cabinets and bath vanities concludes with an announcement from the Kitchen Cabinet Manufacturers Association (KCMA), Reston, Va., that the standards group ANSI approved code updates last month to ANSI/KCMA A161.1-2012.
Among the revisions, the static loading test for wall cabinets of more than 24 inches in height will increase from 500 pounds to 600 pounds. The changes also clarify that cabinet drawers and doors should align and close without excessive binding. Open-and-close cycle timing for doors and drawers is now standardized. The update also establishes lighting conditions for observing finish performance.
KCMA called on architects, builders, consumer and supplier organizations, federal employees and other related groups for input as a part of its five-year code review cycle. This is the seventh time the code has been modified to keep pace with industry improvements in technology, materials, and construction since being instated in 1965. The code was last updated in 2000.
“The procedures and requirements to satisfy the ANSI standard are demanding,” KCMA President Greg Stoner said in a release. He notes that companies whose systems are not up to spec must change their processes or materials in order to meet the new requirements.
More than 100 companies representing more than half of the U.S. market are KCMA-certified, earning the blue and white seal placed inside the sink base cabinet door. Certified products must meet general construction requirements, and pass five structural tests, two door operation tests, two drawer tests, and five finish tests. The standard is enforced in part by a national testing and certification program that includes unannounced plant selection of cabinets for testing in independent, third-party testing laboratories, according to KCMA.
