Kitchen Cabinet Manufacturers Association

Earlier this month, the National Association of Manufacturers held its annual Manufacturing Day – a day created to address common misperceptions about manufacturing by giving manufacturers an opportunity to open their doors and show, in a coordinated effort, what manufacturing is — and what it isn’t.   The goal of Manufacturing Day was to address the growing skills gap – many manufacturers today face a skilled labor shortage as many baby boomers begin to retire. Republic National Industries of Texas On Monday, October 9 cabinet manufacturer and KCMA member Republic National Industries of Texas held an event for Manufacturing Day featuring four local public schools and one technical college in Marshall, Texas.   The event was attended by 122 students and 12 instructors and began with a discussion about career opportunities in the industry followed by a safety discussion about what to expect and watch for in the plant. Employees from each work area presented key infor...

Check out what’s been happening in the cabinet industry the last few weeks from the Kitchen Cabinet Manufacturers Association: Slower Growth Anticipated in Home Remodeling After several years of solid acceleration, annual growth in national home improvement and repair spending is expected to soften in 2019, according to the latest  Leading Indicator of Remodeling Activity  (LIRA) from the Joint Center for Housing Studies of Harvard University. Rising mortgage interest rates and flat home sales activity around much of the country are expected to impact otherwise strong growth in homeowner remodeling spending moving forward. Low for-sale inventories are presenting a headwind because home sales tend to spur investments in remodeling and repair both before a sale and in the years following. Overall, annual expenditures for residential improvements and repairs by homeowners is still expected to grow to over $350 billion nationally through the third quarter of 2019...

We blogged previously about why you should choose KCMA/ANSI A161.1 Quality Tested Cabinets (or why you should get your cabinets tested), now we want to show you.   If you ever wondered what exactly your cabinets went through to earn this seal – check out our video above and find out. Take it from thisoldhouse.com – KCMA-certified cabinets are functional, well-made and built to last. KCMA’s rigorous, in-laboratory compliance program measures the integrity of cabinets through five tests covering cabinet structure, door and drawer operation and the cabinetry finish: Cabinets go through a variety of weight tests to ensure they are safe, sturdy and durable for their future owners. Falling cans, china collections and even grabbing a hold of a cabinet door during a fall are no match for KCMA-certified cabinets Cabinet drawers are slide tested for 25,000 cycles. That’s 25 years’ worth of use in average family homes. KCMA-certified cabinetry will keep pace with...

The Kitchen Cabinet Manufacturers Association knows the cabinet industry, because we are the industry. Read on for updates on what's been happening in the world of cabinets: Trump Approves 10% Wood Tariffs As you may recall, back in July U.S. Trade Representative Robert Lighthizer released a proposed list of Chinese goods worth $200 billion that could be subject to a 10% tariff. The list included three tariff classifications that directly impact the cabinet industry. Classification codes include: HTS subheading 9403.40.90 -- the provision for kitchen cabinets HTS subheading 9403.60.80 – the provision for vanities HTS subheading 9403.90.70 – the provision for wooden parts of cabinets/vanities Earlier this week, President Trump announced that a 10 percent duty on the proposed list took effect on September 24, and the level of the additional tariff will increase to 25 percent on January 1, 2019, if there is not a resolution of the dis...