Occasionally a member emails me for advice and this prompts a bit of a brain dump of relevant information. This is such an occasion!
Karl from Dynargh Woodworkshop was feeling bamboozled by so many options for hinges and drawer runners. I've been there! He wanted to know, if I started again would I still use mainly Blum, and would I still use Hart Wholesale as my main supplier.
Why Hart Wholesale?
I would continue to recommend Hart Wholesale - a specialist Blum and other furniture hardware stockist based in Essex. I chose them after fairly extensive research because:
They hold a large stock of Blum and Hafele products - the big two for me - and they can get hold of most others (including Sugatsune and Hettich). They can also supply from a wide range of handle manufacturers including Carlisle Brass and Armac Martin.
They also stock a large range of consumables like bin bags, adhesive, gloves etc, so they were the best 'one stop shop' I found. And the prices are good. I had been wasting too much time shopping around.
Every staff member is impressively knowledgable, often able to reel off the exact part code for an obscure hinge.
They post things out to me promptly.
I like the general ethos and values of the business and feel like I have got to know the proprietor Martin Hart.
They have a new and improved website under construction.
Having said that, there are other good suppliers that I could have looked into more thoroughly and I know others swear by. Isaac Lord and Daro are the 2 main ones that come to mind who I know also stock a wide range and have a good image. LDL too. I suppose I found them all a bit more corporate on first impressions whereas I quickly built a down-to earth relationship with Harts. That's important.
All of the above are 'Tier one' Blum stockists in terms of the volume they sell and the discounts they can therefore give. Other tier one stockists are HPP and ECF but their range is far more limited, mostly the standard hinges and runners. Martin tells me that Harts have specifically chosen to be the supplier and stockist of the more obscure hardware, and they are more than happy to deal with the small fitted furniture makers like us.
Why Blum?
Early on I tried all sorts of hinges and runners, and started to gather odds and ends of mismatched mounting jigs suitable to different brands, and various incompatible mounting plates etc. I started with Hafele, the Grass range. Which is perfectly good. Tried various others - Hettich, Salice, Titus, various cheap Chinese ones, including ones resold under brands such as Emuca. I was kind of exhausting myself experimenting with different hardware on each job or trying to discern between very marginal differences in suitability. Usually when I made a choice based on economy I was unhappy with the quality. I especially hate the soft close hinges which have a bounce back effect when they hit the start of the soft close. I just want the damn door to close!! That goes for all the Chinese ones but also the Titus ones I have used.
I soon realised it made most sense to choose a reliable and available system with a good range, and stick with it, even if it wasn't perfect in every way. Decision fatigue, clutter and distraction are all inefficiencies.
If you are asking my opinion on the highest quality hardware I would say Hettich. They have this 'silent system' concept - their soft close drawer runners and hinges are truly silent. I have fitted some of their top notch Sensys hinges next to the Blum hinges in my own bedroom, and the Blum ones have a faint crackle as the soft close works but the Hettich ones don't. I swear the Sensys hinge is the best hinge on the market. It has an almost magical ability to softly and smoothly dampen a door of any size with no adjustment.
So why did I standardise on Blum?
More widely available, stocked and easy to get hold of than Hettich, at least according to my initial research some years ago. This becomes particularly relevant when you need the occasional weird hinge quickly and you know you can use it with your stock of standard mounting plates.
Lifetime guarantee. Hettich may have the same but Blum sent me some customer cards advertising it. The card tells the customer to ring Blum direct if any issues. They are serious about the lifetime guarantee and will send out replacements, not quibbling whether it is the theoretical 'lifetime' of the furniture or customer's lifetime etc! I tested them on this - some ancient Blum hinges on my parents' 30 year old kitchen (the ones with the white plastic bosses) had failed, so I rang Blum up to see if they'd replace them, and they did! With a newer type. Peace of mind and confidence for my customers. The nicely printed cards look good together with the Freebird ornament and project summary card I leave with customers.
When I've considered switching from Blum, Martin Hart has persuaded me back. He could sell me any brand, but for example when I considered moving to the Sugatsune Olympia hinges he told me Sugatsune are subsidising the price to try and gain market share but the price may then go up. Also, the Olympia hinge range is limited, for example no euro-screw mounting plates last time I checked. Hettich is a bit more expensive, and less in stock for quick delivery. Also, as far as I know, there is not a non-soft close hinge to go with the Sensys .
But with Blum I get adequate soft close alternating the blumotion and non blumotion hinges on a door, which is an extra little cost saving.
Blum's testing and quality control is second to none. They are constantly testing and improving their products, with whole testing facilities dedicated to repeated testing of the products vs others on the market. I have an invitation to visit their UK centre with a camera but haven't got around to it yet.
Drawer Runners:
Having said all the above I have had a few issues with the Movento drawer runners.
They seem a bit fragile in places and easy to break for example if you don't line things up quite right when pushing your drawer box into place. I have heard Grass Dynapro are better, and could well believe that Hettich are better too. But others in the industry insist Blum are better. Dynapro would be a good choice for availability vie Hafele / Harts.
If you're up for experimenting I would recommend giving those a try. But to be honest I've made my choice of system, it's good enough and I'm going to just crack on and stick with Blum. I just need to be less heavy handed on the assembly!
There are much cheaper runner options out there that may be plenty good enough, for example the polish runners Derek Barrett recommended in our interview in his workshop (Unihopper: http://www.unihopperhardware.com/).
But I'd probably have to deal with a separate supplier, and couldn't use my Blum guarantee cards. I may reconsider things if and when we are turning over a higher volume of work and if I standardise runner lengths more.
I am not necessarily making the 'smartest' business decisions in terms of profit margins. But there comes a point when you just have to make a decision and get on with things.
Other hardware and final thoughts:
There are plenty of types of furniture hardware that Blum simply don't make, and I do still turn to other brands. For example:
For bifold doors I recommend Hettich's wingline system. https://web.hettich.com/en-uk/home.jsp (Hafele's closest options in this area are eyewateringly expensive for some reason!!)
For small lid stays and flap stays I use Sugatsune. And other things that are a bit special. https://www.sugatsune.co.uk/
For various general hardware I use Hafele. For example the Hebgo heavy duty cantilevered brackets I use for floating desks. https://www.hafele.co.uk/en/
For extra long heavy duty runners use GSF Slides: https://www.gsf-promounts.com/
All the above except the GSF slides are sourced through Hart (they may be able to get them, I haven't actually asked!).
A key piece of advice I would offer is that you do not need to be an expert on every type of hardware. Don't waste time trying to figure out every problem yourself, just have some trusted experts on hand who you can call or email plans to and they can advise on the hardware and specify the exact variation of that hardware to account for the weight of the doors or other variables. For example the Hettich Wingline system has maybe a dozen variations. There's really no point trying to figure it out yourself when there are experts in technical departments waiting for your call. The people I call on are as follows:
Hart wholesale: 01702 614044
Hafele Technical: 01788 542 020. There used to be an incredibly knowledgable technical expert there called Jim Eid who took all the calls but they now have a bigger team of 2 or 3.
Hettich: 0161 872 9552. Or rep Lee Clark 07500 780 739
Sugatsune rep Mike Harney: 07702 882670
GSF Slides: 01691 770303
(If you contact Hart or any other suppliers on my recommendation, please mention me, I don't have any sort of monetary agreement with them but it's helpful to know if my recommendation brings them new business.)
Do make sure you have the relevant technical brochures on hand to refer to, all of which can be sent for free on request.
One final thought - a lot of the subtle differences between hardware seem far more important to us as makers than they do to our customers, who are for the most part oblivious. If you pick a system which you have enough reason to be confident in (but that also makes things simple for you in terms of supply chain) this will be more than good enough for your customers. This is just worth bearing in mind.
OK, if I moved into very high end work, I might go the extra mile and use Hettich hinges and runners, but in general what I offer from Blum is more than good enough.
I hope this was helpful.
I've added below some videos from my channel that are relevant.