Employee Benefits - Summary of Assumptions Used to Determine Warrick Rolling Mill Pension and OPEB Obligations (Details) - Warrick	3 Months Ended
Mar. 31, 2021
Pension Plan
Defined Benefit Plan Disclosure [Line Items]
Discount rate	3.24%
Expected long-term return on plan assets	7.00%
Rate of compensation increase	2.50%
Other Postretirement Benefits Plan
Defined Benefit Plan Disclosure [Line Items]
Discount rate	2.97%
Trend rate (initial)	5.40%
Trend rate (ultimate)	4.00%
Years to reach ultimate trend	14 years

Defined benefit plan, years health care cost trend rate reaches ultimate trend tate.

No definition available.

Name:	kalu_DefinedBenefitPlanYearsHealthCareCostTrendRateReachesUltimateTrendRate
Namespace Prefix:	kalu_
Data Type:	xbrli:durationItemType
Balance Type:	na
Period Type:	duration

- Definition

Weighted average rate for present value of future retirement benefits cash flows, used to determine benefit obligation of defined benefit plan.

+ References

Reference 1: http://www.xbrl.org/2003/role/disclosureRef
-Publisher FASB
-Name Accounting Standards Codification
-Topic 715
-SubTopic 20
-Section 50
-Paragraph 1
-Subparagraph (k)(1)
-URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=123447040&loc=d3e1928-114920

+ Details

Name:	us-gaap_DefinedBenefitPlanAssumptionsUsedCalculatingBenefitObligationDiscountRate
Namespace Prefix:	us-gaap_
Data Type:	dtr-types:percentItemType
Balance Type:	na
Period Type:	instant

- Definition

Weighted average rate increase of compensation, used to determine benefit obligation of defined benefit plan. Plan includes, but is not limited to, pay-related defined benefit plan.

+ References

Reference 1: http://www.xbrl.org/2003/role/disclosureRef
-Publisher FASB
-Name Accounting Standards Codification
-Topic 715
-SubTopic 20
-Section 50
-Paragraph 1
-Subparagraph (k)(2)
-URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=123447040&loc=d3e1928-114920

+ Details

Name:	us-gaap_DefinedBenefitPlanAssumptionsUsedCalculatingBenefitObligationRateOfCompensationIncrease
Namespace Prefix:	us-gaap_
Data Type:	dtr-types:percentItemType
Balance Type:	na
Period Type:	instant

- Definition

Weighted-average interest crediting rate used to determine benefit obligation of defined benefit plan. Plan includes, but is not limited to, cash balance and other defined benefit plans with promised interest crediting rate.

+ References

Reference 1: http://www.xbrl.org/2003/role/disclosureRef
-Publisher FASB
-Name Accounting Standards Codification
-Topic 715
-SubTopic 20
-Section 50
-Paragraph 1
-Subparagraph (k)(4)
-URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=123447040&loc=d3e1928-114920

+ Details

Name:	us-gaap_DefinedBenefitPlanAssumptionsUsedCalculatingBenefitObligationWeightedAverageInterestCreditingRate
Namespace Prefix:	us-gaap_
Data Type:	dtr-types:percentItemType
Balance Type:	na
Period Type:	instant

- Definition

Line items represent financial concepts included in a table. These concepts are used to disclose reportable information associated with domain members defined in one or many axes to the table.

+ References

No definition available.

+ Details

Name:	us-gaap_DefinedBenefitPlanDisclosureLineItems
Namespace Prefix:	us-gaap_
Data Type:	xbrli:stringItemType
Balance Type:	na
Period Type:	duration

- Definition

Assumed rate, for next fiscal year, based on annual change in cost of health care cost benefits used to measure expected cost of benefits covered by defined benefit postretirement plan. Factors include, but are not limited to, estimate of health care inflation, change in health care utilization or delivery pattern, technological advances, and change in health status of participant. Excludes factors for change in composition of plan population by age and dependency status.

+ References

Reference 1: http://www.xbrl.org/2003/role/disclosureRef
-Publisher FASB
-Name Accounting Standards Codification
-Topic 715
-SubTopic 20
-Section 50
-Paragraph 1
-Subparagraph (l)
-URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=123447040&loc=d3e1928-114920

+ Details

Name:	us-gaap_DefinedBenefitPlanHealthCareCostTrendRateAssumedNextFiscalYear
Namespace Prefix:	us-gaap_
Data Type:	dtr-types:percentItemType
Balance Type:	na
Period Type:	instant

- Definition

Ultimate trend rate for health care cost for defined benefit postretirement plan.

+ References

Reference 1: http://www.xbrl.org/2003/role/disclosureRef
-Publisher FASB
-Name Accounting Standards Codification
-Topic 715
-SubTopic 20
-Section 50
-Paragraph 1
-Subparagraph (l)
-URI http://asc.fasb.org/extlink&oid=123447040&loc=d3e1928-114920

+ Details

Name:	us-gaap_DefinedBenefitPlanUltimateHealthCareCostTrendRate1
Namespace Prefix:	us-gaap_
Data Type:	dtr-types:percentItemType
Balance Type:	na
Period Type:	instant

- Details

Name:	us-gaap_RetirementPlanTypeAxis=us-gaap_PensionPlansDefinedBenefitMember
Namespace Prefix:
Data Type:	na
Balance Type:
Period Type:

- Details

Name:	us-gaap_RetirementPlanNameAxis=kalu_WarrickMember
Namespace Prefix:
Data Type:	na
Balance Type:
Period Type:

- Details

Name:	us-gaap_RetirementPlanTypeAxis=us-gaap_OtherPostretirementBenefitPlansDefinedBenefitMember
Namespace Prefix:
Data Type:	na
Balance Type:
Period Type: