Cabinet furniture finishes

What finishing issues face cabinet manufacturers, designers, specifiers and buyers?

Designers and manufacturers of furniture put considerable effort into the appearance of the product through the introduction of fashionable materials, colours and textures in the surfaces that customers see and touch. These surfaces include the tops of cabinets and tables, doors, drawer fronts, worktops and the trim on fitted kitchens. Appearance, or aesthetics, is a key selling point.

Durability of furniture finishes

In addition to attractiveness, the durability of the finish on cabinet furniture, kitchen units and worktops should also be a major selling point for manufacturers and retailers to emphasise. The wise designer or manufacturer therefore insists on evidence of testing to known standards of performance. This will give them the assurance they need that customer complaints and expensive returns will be at a minimum.

Key issues for consumers include a variety of topics which manufacturers and buyers should be aware of, such as the following:

Performance of finishes under normal conditions. The expectation is for good resistance to scratching, knocking, sunlight, alcohol, coloured and aggressive foodstuffs (such as cooking oils, turmeric or blackcurrant juice), chemicals, solvents (for example nail varnish and nail varnish remover), and both dry and wet heat. See table 1 for a full list.

Table 1: Customer expectations for the performance of finishes and test methods (excluding kitchen worktops)
Property	Test method
Resistance to marking by liquids: Butyl acetate Toilet spirits Potable spirits Tea Coffee Disinfectant (phenol) Disinfectant (chloro) Paraffin oil Blackcurrant juice Ammonia solution Acetic acid (4.4 per cent solution) Olive oil	EN 12720:2009+A1:2013
Resistance to oils and fats: Oils Fats	BS 3962-5:1980
Resistance to mechanical damage: Scrape, surface penetration Scrape, penetration to substrate Impact Crosscut, surface penetration	BS 3962-6:1980
Resistance to wet heat: 55°C 70°C 85°C	EN 12721:2009+A1:2013
Resistance to dry heat: 85°C 100°C 120°C 140°C 160°C	EN 12722:2009+A1:2013

Worktop joints that allow the ingress of moisture – this may be an installation problem but the risk can be reduced by selecting a moisture-resistant grade of particle board substrate.

Swelling of worktops at the back edge where moisture is either picked up from walls with a high moisture content (as in fresh plaster work) or where spillages have seeped between the wall to
worktop joints.

Mechanical damage and marking of worktops due to low abrasion resistance.

Swelling, discolouration or failure of the finish on high level doors due to poor resistance to steam and high humidity from such items as hobs, kettles, microwave ovens and toasters.

Edge tapes on kitchen units or doors that either shrink or become detached due to failure of the adhesive – often attributed to poor heat resistance and a particular problem associated with units next to built-in ovens.

Fit for environment

SATRA can help designers, manufacturers, specifiers and buyers of all types of furniture to reduce the likelihood of expensive customer complaints, returns or call-outs. This is achieved through preventative measures suggested when materials, components, finishes and complete products are evaluated for ‘fitness for purpose’. This can only be done by consideration of the severity of the service conditions that might be experienced in the domestic (home) environment or in the contract application (for example military housing, let accommodation, council housing).

A range of physical and mechanical performance testing services is available in SATRA’s laboratories. This includes the evaluation and testing of finishes, worktops, solid wood doors and complete items of furniture. For material suppliers, designers, manufacturers and retailers this can result in the provision of test certificates which can be used as a way of demonstrating fitness for purpose.

Box 1 lists a few of the popular test methods.

Box 1: Test methods

EN 12720:2009+A1:2013 – 'Furniture. Assessment of surface resistance to cold liquids'

EN 12721:2009+A1:2013 – 'Furniture. Assessment of surface resistance to wet heat'

EN 12722:2009+A1:2013 – 'Furniture. Assessment of surface resistance to dry heat'

BS 3962-5:1980 – 'Methods of test for finishes for wooden furniture. Assessment of surface resistance to cold oils and fats'

BS 3962-6:1980 – 'Methods of test for finishes for wooden furniture. Assessment of resistance to mechanical damage'

BS 6222-3:2017 – 'Domestic kitchen equipment. Performance requirements for durability of surface finish and adhesion of surfacing and edging materials'

---