This is a test post, not a real blog entry.
If there was a moderately sized earthquake and your kitchen
cabinet doors swung open, what would happen next? Well, anything in those cabinets could (and
frequently does) fall out: breakable bottles of various things, dishes,
glasses, and even heavy appliances like blenders. Look in your cabinets and imagine the mess,
loss, and potentially even injuries suffered by small children and pets who
might get hit by them. Even if nobody is
hurt, if none of the humans are home but a dog or cat is there unattended,
there’s now a bunch of sharp or potentially toxic things all over the floor for
the pet to lick and eat before you get home.
Clearly, it’s better just to prevent the doors from opening in the first
place with quake-resistant latches.
The problem is that many people are lulled into optimism by
a variety of pinch-style latches, magnetic latches, etc., that can make the
cabinet door tough to open without some effort.
Some cabinet doors are harder to open than others; but you know that if
you pull hard enough on the outside, they will open. Guess what, that means that if the items
inside the cabinets are pushing hard enough on them, they will open. In some cases, the vibration itself can make
the doors swing open and then everything can fall out. Some people install the child safety latches
that allow the door to open an inch and you have to slide your fingers behind
it to move a lever before the door can be fully opened, but because this can be
really inconvenient, I have installed push latches on my cabinet doors. That is, the door can’t be opened by pulling
on it; you have to push first and the latch disengages, and then when you close
it, you push again and it re-engages.
While it’s theoretically possible that vibration in just the right
direction might make the door push itself and open, I think it’s unlikely.
