This kitchen builder is donating safe room lock mechanisms
Orchid Luxury Kitchens shifts manufacturing to help secure safe rooms
Orchid Luxury Kitchens, a Jerusalem company which designs and builds high-end kitchens, is demonstrating remarkable adaptability by shifting its production priorities to address an urgent security issue. The company’s CEO, Yosi Aizik, has repurposed its production equipment to manufacture locking mechanisms for safe rooms, addressing a pressing need in times of increased security concerns.
Safe rooms have historically played a vital role for residents in conflict-prone regions in Israel, offering a refuge in times of peril. However, the lack of effective locking mechanisms on the majority of safe room doors came to the forefront on October 7, during a harrowing attack by Hamas in southern Israel, resulting in the breach of civilians’ safe rooms by the assailants.
“Only people who had actually removed their door handles [from the inside] weren’t broken into,” Orchid employee Ricky remarked. Her employer took it upon himself to tackle this problem head-on, initiating the production of locking bars using the company’s equipment, originally intended for crafting kitchen furnishings.
The lock is a simple-yet-effective bar, which slips around the safe room’s interior door handle and prevents it from being forced open unless the lock
is removed from the inside.
“We initially made 100 because we thought not a lot of people would want them,” Ricky said. She acknowledged the unexpected surge in demand and noted that Orchid is actively working on ramping up production to meet
the growing needs.
While Orchid’s shift to this humanitarian initiative is laudable, it comes with its own set of challenges. Making reliable locking bars isn’t a cheap process. “It takes time and it costs money,” Ricky noted, “So it’s definitely a charitable act.”