Europa-Remodeling Kitchens & Bath in Katy & Houston Texas

Quality

PREMIUM QUALITY

QUALITY MANAGEMENT
Quality objectives at nobilia are defined company-wide. Quality management is preventively and consistently in place covering the entire process chain. From the preliminary supplier, to the final installation of the kitchen in your home. With this holistic approach nobilia has maintained their position as quality leader in the industry over many years. The guidelines for quality and environmental management are deep-seated in the company philosophy and the corporate culture at nobilia. For production this means: mistakes in production must be prevented, defective products are not to leave the factories at all. All quality assurance measures and quality tests at nobilia pervade all departments in the company and serve to prevent, analyze and correct mistakes.

SERVICE LIFE AT LEAST 15 YEARS
Customer suggestions and requests as well as practical experience and the results of our own studies are an ongoing and essential part of the development process. All the materials we use are tested for a minimum operating life of 15 years.

DAILY KITCHEN ROUTINES UNDERGO ENDURANCE TESTING
Our robot is an all-round talent. He can be programmed so that his functions and movements correspond to the real work actions in a kitchen. Such as: opening and shutting the swivel flap doors, folding flap doors, drawer pull-outs, and hinged doors. 15 years of daily kitchen use are thus simulated in fast motion under realistic conditions.

The laboratory equipment is unique for a furniture manufacturer: nobilia can and does perform all their own compulsory tests meeting DIN standards and DGM (German furniture quality seal) requirements are possible and are performed by nobilia itself.

75 KG BEARING LOAD PER WALL UNIT
The wall suspension and wall unit construction are designed to hold 75 kg. This is far more than conventional tableware weighs: An 18 piece coffee set made of porcelain, for instance, has an average weight of roughly 5 kg.
Put another way, we are talking about the weight of a coffee set that would serve 90 people.

PANTRY UNIT

60,000 – 80,000 load changes depending on load
This equates to approx. 11 to 15 times the amount of opening and closing performed in a day.

CAROUSEL CORNER UNIT

60,000 load cycles
This equates to approx. 11 times the amount of opening and closing performed in a day.

IN GREAT DEMAND…
We test hinged doors, pull-outs and larder units – in short, all moving components, in continuous operation for a total life-span of more than 15 years and – for us indispensable – and always with full capacity. In the process, we put stress and strain on our furniture in the QC laboratory, at times, up to three times longer than required by the DIN standards.

CONDENSATION WATER CONSTANT CLIMATIC TEST
Components (e.g. painted attachment parts, metallic components) are kept in a water bath at a constant test room temperature of 40°C.

The constant humidity
(100% relative humidity) created in the test chamber serves for testing the resistance of components to climatic influences / humidity.

SURFACE TESTS

SALT SPRAY TEST
Metallic components such as handles are exposed to extremely aggressive corrosion through salt spray.
The objective: even after this test the components cannot show any signs of corrosion.

ABRASION TEST HANDLES
A cowhide strip loaded with ball bearings is moved over the handle surface in the testing device.
This test simulates the abrasive wear on a handle over a period of 15 years.

CLIMATIC TEST
The climatic test incorporates extreme changes in temperature and humidity over multiple cycles in accordance with the respective DIN standards.

COLD CHECK
The paint-bonding properties are tested with extreme temperature fluctuations: first, at – 20° C Siberian cold for 16 hours and then at the extreme heat of 50° C for 8 hours.

ARTIFICIALLY ACCELERATED AGEING
In addition to the climate test, the climatic exposure test cabinet can also be used to simulate the ageing process. Just like in a time machine, we simulate changing climatic forces and allow the new components to age artificially. Here, 15 years pass in just 270 hours. The objective: high resistance even under extreme conditions.

STORAGE UNDER CLIMATIC STRESS
During the climate test we simulate various climatic influences. For instance, the conditions of a container transport over sea, installation of the kitchen in a tropical climate as well as long-term simulations and accelerated ageing tests.
All furniture components are subjected to various climatic tests.

CLIMATE TEST | COLD CHECK

WATER AND STEAM RESISTANCE

WE GET YOU ALL STEAMED UP!
Moisture, heat, cold! In the daily life of the kitchen, the individual components must withstand all these external influences.

With the steam test evaluation, for instance, we test the impermeability and resistance of carcase and front component edges to water vapour.

TURN ON THE WATER!
Water is the worst enemy of kitchen furniture. A well-made carcase, worktop and front must be able to withstand daily wear over a long period of time. We test for the resistance and impermeability of edged materials with submersion in a water bath.

WATER BATH TEST
According to nobilia testing guidelines, the components stay for two hours with the test edge submerged in a water bath. Changes to the component such as swelling damage or tears are not permitted even after this period of time.

RESISTANCE TO WATER VAPOUR

Components are subjected to a so-called vapour deposition tower five times in a row for 30 minutes each time. Swelling or detachment of the edge is not permitted.

We even test our furniture surfaces for this. Using a Xenon arc lamp in the laboratory we simulate the amount of UV irradiation that a kitchen would be subjected to over the years. This allows us to artificially age the surfaces. That way, we can accurately determine the degree of discolouration in the time elapsed and avoid such large deviations in the first place.

SUN TEST

EVERY KITCHEN FRONT MUST BE ABLE TO WITHSTAND 10 YEARS WORTH OF SUN ON THE ISLAND OF SYLT!

SUN TEST
The characteristics of the irradiated surface are compared with the characteristics of those surfaces which were covered.

A grey scale in accordance with DIN EN 20105 is used for the assessment.
The test procedure is described in DIN EN 15187.

COLOUR FIDELITY OF THE RANGE
In order to eliminate colour deviations from series production surfaces, we test our materials under different standard light types and compare these with specified colour standards (Metamerism Index).
In this process we evaluate the surfaces in daylight, artificial light and fluorescent light.

STANDARD LIGHT TEST
The reliable evaluation of colour and degree of gloss is very important, for instance, when one is dealing with reorders from other batches. The colour accuracy must be ensured and the degree of gloss
must always be the same.

STANDARD LIGHT TEST

DANGER, HOT!
How much heat can a worktop withstand? Anyone who has ever left a hot pot sitting on the worktop is familiar with this situation. For a while the worktop can withstand it, but at some point a burn ring forms. We test the limits of the materials resistance under extreme conditions in the laboratory.

HEAT TEST

HEAT TEST
WET AND DRY
We test the heat resistance of worktops in accordance with DIN 68930:

Heat resistance to dry heat up to 180°C
Heat resistance to moist heat up to 100°C

LOAD-BEARING WALL

STATIC LOAD
There are guidelines for virtually everything. Our entire lives are for the most part regulated by standards. Though at times this can be confusing, it is however, helpful when you are dealing with the sturdiness, longevity and safety of kitchen furniture. Exactly what kitchen furniture must withstand is specified in the respective DIN standards.
For maximum safety and in consideration of a long service life, nobilia’s self-imposed standards often far exceed what is required. In the laboratory we continually test the load bearing capacity of top and bottom shelves and loose shelves on the load-bearing wall.

FUNCTION TESTING AND CONTINUOUS OPERATION TESTING

DRAWER PULL-OUTS

60,000 – 80,000 load changes depending on load
This equates to approx. 11 to 15 times the amount of opening and closing performed in a day.

HINGED DOORS

60,000 – 80,000 load changes depending on load
This equates to approx. 15 times the amount of opening and closing performed in a day.

ROLL-UP FRONTS

60,000 load cycles
This equates to approx. 11 times the amount of opening and closing performed in a day.

THE LATEST FROM THE WITCHES’ KITCHEN
The kitchen is at the heart of life. And is thus expected to perform: it has
to hold up to aggressive substances like citric acid or highly staining liquids. In order to test surfaces for their ability to withstand daily wear we subject them to chemical testing and abrade them with rough and sharp objects, and even simulate long-term wear on the handles tens of thousands of times. Only then does the surface of a nobilia kitchen really show what it can withstand.

CHEMICAL RESISTANCE
During so-called agents testing, applied agents are left on the surface for a predetermined period of time, according to wear group.
For instance:
acetone 10 seconds, vinegar 1 hour, coffee 16 hours, olive oil 16 hours.

ABRASION TEST FURNITURE SURFACES
This test measures the abrasion resistance of the decorative surfaces. Continuous sanding with a defined applied weight and abrasive grit simulates wear of the surface.

SCRATCH TEST
A diamond point is pressed onto the rotating test specimen with increasing force. The scratches resulting on the test specimen are visually assessed with the viewing device.

Doors and pull-outs are subjected to at least 60,000 opening and closing cycles. This wear and tear basically fast-forwards the service life of at least 15 years of daily kitchen wear.

Numerous internationally recognized quality seals and certificates attest

to our high standards.