Outdoor cabinet quality: exactly what the test report covers
Every outdoor cabinet seller quotes a salt-spray number. Very few say what was in the chamber. Ours tested the coating, on flat panels, for 1500 hours — and that is what we will say, no more.
Because the difference matters when you are deciding how much to spend: a coating that survives 1500 hours tells you the finish will not chalk, blister or rust through. It tells you nothing about a hinge, a weld, or water sitting in a plinth. Those are engineered separately, and they are covered further down this page.
What it is made of
Four parts, four different jobs
An outdoor cabinet fails at exactly one of these four, and it is almost never the steel skin. It is the edge, the fixing, or the ground contact. So each part is specified on its own.
Coating only
Report STD-20240413-017SC1
Skin and core
A 0.45 mm stainless skin on both faces, bonded to an aluminium honeycomb core under heat and pressure. The cured panel is 18 mm on the carcass and 20 mm on doors and drawer faces — the extra 2 mm is the folded return that gives a door its shadow line instead of an exposed cut edge.
Honeycomb rather than solid board because it holds a 900 mm span flat without a mid-rail, weighs roughly half as much, and cannot swell. Solid composite board that takes on water at an unsealed cut is the single most common failure we are asked to quote replacements for.
Standard grade 304. 316 available as an upgrade — see FAQ below for when it is actually worth the money.
Carcass skin — 304 stainless, 0.45 mm
Carries the load and takes the weather. Both faces skinned, so the inside of a closed cabinet is stainless too, not a bare core.
Core — aluminium honeycomb
Flat over a 900 mm span without a mid-rail. Does not absorb water, does not delaminate, does not support mould.
Edges — folded and returned, never exposed
A cut core edge is where water gets in. Every panel closes on a folded stainless return, and door faces add a 20 mm face return for the shadow line.
Base — 2.5 inch castors, PVC or nylon
Keeps the cabinet body off standing water and lets you level a whole run. The plinth is not decorative — it is the reason the bottom panel survives ten winters.
Fixings — stainless throughout
Mild-steel screws into a stainless cabinet produce the rust you find two years later. All exposed fixings are stainless; hinge and runner systems come from the component supplier with their own standard.
The report
What was tested, in what, for how long
If a supplier cannot tell you the chamber, the standard and the sample, the number on their page is marketing. Here are ours, from a CNAS- and MA-accredited third party.
Artificial weathering — 1500 hours
GB/T 1865, xenon-arc, cycled light and moisture. Coated panels with no rust-through, blistering, cracking, chalking or measurable colour shift at the end of the run.
What it means: inside the test period the finish did not chalk, crack, blister or shift colour away from the sample you approve. We do not convert test hours into summers in service — no validated model turns accelerated hours into years outdoors, so we quote the hours and the conditions instead.
Neutral salt spray — 1500 hours
GB/T 1771, continuous neutral salt fog. Coated panels with no blistering, no undercutting at the scribe, no red rust at the end of the run.
What it means: coastal air will not eat through the finish on a flat panel in a normal service life.
Tested: the coating system, on prepared panels, by Standard Testing Group, report STD-20240413-017SC1, under CNAS and MA accreditation.
Not tested: an assembled cabinet as a unit, hinges, welds, or the counter. We do not have a number for those and will not invent one.
Full test report
Scanned original, all four pages, with the standard references and the accredited laboratory's stamp.
Steel grade
Every coil is read before it is cut
"304" is a claim until somebody measures it. Incoming coils are checked with a spectrometer on arrival and the reading is filed against the batch — so the steel in your cabinet is traceable to a number, not to a supplier's promise on a delivery note.
The same applies to the mill certificate. We can send both for the batch your order was cut from, on request, before you pay a deposit.
On the floor
Six stations, every module
A test report covers a panel. A cabinet is a folded box, a door, four holes and a moving part — so the box itself is checked before it is allowed to leave.
Steel in, grade read
Spectrometer on arrival, batch reading filed. No coil enters production without a reading on record.
Panel pressed and cured
Skin and honeycomb bonded under heat and pressure, then left to cure. Panels are cut after curing, not before.
Fold and weld
Edges folded rather than left open. Welds dressed back flush on visible faces — the joint should not read as a line on a finished door.
Grill cut-out and venting
Cut to the drawing approved for your grill model, fascia vented at the factory. This is the station that varies per order and the one that cannot be corrected on site.
Trial assembly of the whole order
Every order — not a sample — is assembled and checked as a run before packing: module alignment, door gaps, every grill opening, every joint. Problems get found in Foshan, not on your deck.
Pack
Corner-protected, strapped, counters crated separately. Packing list, install manual and commercial invoice travel with the shipment.
Why station five is the one that matters to you
A sample from the first run proves nothing about the cabinets that arrive at your house. Assembling the whole order is slower and costs us an afternoon — and it is why a damaged-on-arrival claim is rare enough that we can afford to re-ship parts before the insurance conversation starts. How a damage claim actually runs → Where the trial assembly sits in the order →
Paper
Certificates and what each one is for
Four certificates that a buyer, an architect or a customs broker may ask for. None of them is a product performance claim, and we will not dress them up as one. The originals are below, as issued.
Quality system
ISO 9001
The plant's quality management system, first certified in 2023 and renewed in August 2026. It says the process is documented and followed — not that a particular cabinet performs to a given number.
Environmental
ISO 14001
Environmental management system for the production of stainless steel components and cabinets. Held by Guangdong Zebra Intelligent Technology Co., Ltd — the manufacturing entity that produces these cabinets.
Health and safety
ISO 45001
Occupational health and safety system, same plant and same production scope. This is the one to ask for if you audit a supplier's labour conditions before a first order.
Product
China Green Product
Green product certification for metal furniture to GB/T 35607-2024. The certified unit is broader than kitchen cabinets — the attachment lists wardrobes, balcony and bathroom cabinets, islands, screens, tables and shelving. Unlike the three system certificates, this one involved sampling and testing the product itself. Relevant for tenders, schools and hospitality projects.
Guangdong Harmonious Certification
HXC (Beijing) Certification Center
HXC (Beijing) Certification Center
Ti Certification (Shanghai) · 2 pages
Separately, we hold an Alibaba verified-supplier audit — an independent on-site check of the plant, capacity and export documentation. There is no certificate to publish for it, but the report can be sent on request; it is most useful to a first-time buyer who cannot visit.
About CE marking
The cabinet is not a CE-marked product category, so there is no CE certificate for it and we do not claim one. Where a build includes electrical components — a fridge, sockets, an ignition — those units carry their own manufacturer certification, and the local installation must be done by a licensed electrician.
After delivery
Ten years on the structure. One on the doors.
We separate those two because they wear differently. The carcass is a folded stainless box held on castors — it should outlast the deck. A door is a moving part with a hinge and a skin that takes sun on both faces.
Natural wear and chemical damage — acid cleaners, pool chlorine splashed straight from the bottle — are excluded. Projects and commercial installations sit outside the residential schedule entirely.
Straight answers
The questions this page usually raises
Is the whole cabinet salt-spray tested for 1500 hours?
No, and we will not say so. The 1500-hour salt-spray and 1500-hour artificial weathering tests were run on the coating system, under report STD-20240413-017SC1. What that proves is that the finish survives — not that an assembled cabinet was tested as a unit.
304 or 316 stainless — which do I actually need?
304 is right for the great majority of homes, including coastal suburbs. 316 adds molybdenum and is worth it where the cabinet sits inside the salt-spray zone — roughly within a few hundred metres of surf — or beside a chlorinated pool. Material cost is roughly twice 304, so we only recommend it where the site genuinely calls for it.
What is inside the cabinet panels?
A 0.45 mm stainless skin on both faces bonded to an aluminium honeycomb core. The cured panel is 18 mm on the body and 20 mm on doors. Honeycomb keeps the panel flat over a 900 mm span without the weight of solid board, and it does not swell or delaminate when water gets behind a door.
Does the cabinet need CE marking?
The cabinet itself is not a CE-marked product category, so there is no certificate and we do not claim one. Where a build includes electrical components — a fridge, sockets, an ignition — those carry their own manufacturer certification, and the local installation must be done by a licensed electrician.
How do you know the steel grade is really 304?
Every incoming coil is checked with a spectrometer before it enters production, and the reading is filed against the batch. We can send the reading for the batch your order was cut from, together with the mill certificate, before you place a deposit.
What is covered after delivery?
Cabinet structure for ten years, doors for one year, worktops for one year, hardware to the supplier's standard. Natural wear and chemical damage are excluded. Projects and commercial installations are not covered by the residential schedule — they are warranted to the factory acceptance standard at handover instead. Full terms →
Next step
Ask for the report, or ask for a sample
We can send the full test report and the mill certificate for a batch before you commit to anything. For trade buyers there is a small sample cabinet available to inspect in person.
Page last updated · Reviewed by the BOGEQI technical team, Foshan Bogeqi Cabinetry Co., Ltd.
In order
The six stations every module passes
A module that fails any one of these does not go on a pallet. This is the order they run in.
Panel cutting
The 0.45 mm stainless skin is cut flat, before folding, so the fold line stays straight along the whole edge.
Edge folding
The skin is folded into a tray. This is what gives the module its edge without a separate trim piece.
Honeycomb bonding
Aluminium honeycomb is bonded between the two skins under pressure. 18 mm finished for a body, 20 mm for a door — the core is what stops the panel oil-canning.
Pre-assembly
Every order is set up in the workshop before packing, so a hinge or door alignment problem is found here rather than on site.
Hardware and castors
Hinges are 304 stainless, handles are L-profile or C-profile aluminium, and every module carries braked castors.
Crating
Modules are knocked down and crated on a pallet sized for third-party freight, with the corners protected.
Reference
The dimensions the tests were run against
A test report is only meaningful next to the build it was taken from. These are the sizes every module is made to.