Coolers in Exitway?

[Phil B]

The exit pathways in the sketch below run either side of a kitchen in a commercial restaurant and discharge to the exterior. Wouldn't adding beverage coolers on both sides of a portion of the exit way make that portion an extension of the Kitchen thus violating the prohibition of exiting thru a kitchen?

 

[walker.t]

Wouldn't adding beverage coolers on both sides of a portion of the exit way make that portion an extension of the Kitchen thus violating the prohibition of exiting thru a kitchen?

I would consider the area with the beverage coolers to be an extension of the kitchen and therefore egress through the space for other parts of the building would not be permitted per 1016.2 Point 5.

Maybe you can add a passage between the middle D room and the D room on the top-right which then leads to the top-right exit?

 

[steveray]

I probably wouldn’t go there, but Shirley egress width would be a issue with the doors open…

 

[Phil B]

I would consider the area with the beverage coolers to be an extension of the kitchen and therefore egress through the space for other parts of the building would not be permitted per 1016.2 Point 5.

Maybe you can add a passage between the middle D room and the D room on the top-right which then leads to the top-right exit?

I was trying to avoid reconfiguring the main exitway, but I agree that the coolers would 'extend' the kitchen classification. Thank you!

 

[Phil B]

I probably wouldn’t go there, but Shirley egress width would be a issue with the doors open…

That too on the doors open, Shirley or whomever, yuk yuk.

 

[ICE]

Shirley egress width would be a issue with the doors open

Prudence is on your side.

 

[steveray]

Prudence is on your side.

Certainly not Chastity....

 

[ICE]

You Rose to the challenge.

 

[steveray]

You Rose to the challenge.

You should see me Deb-ate

 

[ICE]

You should see me Deb-ate

Keep the Faith.
This thread has begun to Rush off course.

So let’s get back to the OP’s question before Jeff gets wind of this.
You know how he is about thread drift unless he did it himself.

 

[steveray]

So let’s get back to the OP’s question before Jeff gets wind of this.
You know how he is about thread drift unless he did it himself.

Maybe he will Sue...

 

[e hilton]

Wouldn’t coolers be food storage, or a pantry, not food preparation. Seems to me the reduction of width would be a bigger problem.

 

[ICE]

Maybe he will Sue...

He would Rue the day.

 

[TheCommish]

what is available for exiting on the left side of the drawing?

 

[steveray]

He would Rue the day.

Maybe not much after Dawn.

 

[steveray]

what is available for exiting on the left side of the drawing?

Good point...that door is really probably not required to be an exit....

 

[jar546]

So getting back on track, the consensus is that the coolers create a violation.

 

[Mr. Inspector]

The only definition for kitchen I can find besides the NEC is in the IRC:

[RB] KITCHEN. Kitchen shall mean an area used, or designated
to be used, for the preparation of food.

If the this is what they do in the in the exit pathway it would be a violation.

 

[Yankee Chronicler]

The only definition for kitchen I can find besides the NEC is in the IRC:

[RB] KITCHEN. Kitchen shall mean an area used, or designated
to be used, for the preparation of food.

If the this is what they do in the in the exit pathway it would be a violation.

On the other hand, the definitions in the IBC include the following:

[BE] CORRIDOR. An enclosed exit access component that
defines and provides a path of egress travel.

CORRIDOR, OPEN-ENDED. See “Open-ended
corridor.”

[BE] OPEN-ENDED CORRIDOR. An interior corridor
that is open on each end and connects to an exterior stairway
or ramp at each end with no intervening doors or separation
from the corridor.

In restaurant occupancies, we typically classify the actual food prep part of the kitchen as commercial kitchen, and the coolers as storage along with any storerooms there may be. Corridors are typically considered to be "not normally occupied areas," and in occupancies calculated on net floor area we don't assign an occupant load to them. Once to start using a corridor for storage, IMHO now it morphs into something other than just a corridor.