Customer Reviews

Mommy's Helper Safe-Lok Cabinet Door and Drawer Lock with Disable Feature

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

My husband had no problem installing these quickly in our cabinets and drawers. We love the feature of them locking once opened so fingers don't get pinched. So far, our little one has not been able to pull anything out of the drawer even once it is opened (about 1 inch). They are easy to use with one hand for adults to access the drawers. We bought more for other parts of the house after installing this set!

What I like about this product is that if my daughter opens this drawer it gets locked with an opening of one inch open such that it won't open any more and won't close. I find it very important that the drawer can't close so on my daughter can't hurt her fingers. For an adult it is easy to open the drawer and when needed unlock it. I also liked the disabling option when the kitchen gets busy.

I was considering the magnetic lock as an alternative (KidCo 4-Lock Set). I decided on this one since I needed many locks and this one offers great value. I also did not want to need to worry about not loosing the magnetic key.

I reduced one star since, installation of this product is not easy. It requires screwing in difficult angles, especially in drawers. Yet, once installed it works great.

PROS

1. Easy to use

2. Locks so it can't close on child's fingers

3. Great value (price per lock)

4. Disable feature

CONS

1. Not easy to install

My husband installed them so I have no comments on that but I do know that I love these. I thought that they would have been annoying to live with but as it turns out, I've gotten used to having them (it took a few days). Most importantly, it keeps my 14 month old our of the cabinets and drawers. I have an aggressive little one so it always locks when pulled. They are such a great price (compared to most of the other options that I saw 5 months ago). I so i bought a bunch of them to put on every cabinet and drawer in the house. i don't regret buying it at all. They've made my life much easier and I don't have to keep telling my little one no every time a door handle is touched.

I have installed some of the original Mommy's Helper Safe-Lok and the new ones with the disable feature. Neither of them was particularly straightforward to install, but once you do one the others are a lot easier. I found both kinds of Safe-Lok to be much more effective than any of the four kinds of Safety First cabinet locks I tried (the Safety First ones broke if you pulled the cabinet too hard, as you might do if you forgot the lock was on). While the disable feature sounds great, they changed the design slightly and it's not as good as the original. The mounting bracket is much harder to install than the original, but more importantly, the reclosing protection feature doesn't work on these new ones (it works great on the original). You have the option of not using the disable feature and mounting the locking arm directly onto the cabinet without the outer mounting bracket, but the design of the locking arm was changed in a few subtle ways that still render the reclosing feature ineffective. I'd highly recommend getting the original Safe-Lok without the disable feature.

I installed these onto our cabinets myself. You just have to get it precise. A millimeter or two off and it won't work smoothly. And you know how annoying it is when you're busy in the kitchen and one darn cabinet doesn't open or close smoothly. Frustrating.

My kid yanks on the cabinets quite forcefully but so far, these latches haven't come loose.

Will buy more to install on our drawers as he's taken an interest to drawers now.

As with most locks, it is hard to get the pieces lined up just right when installing them. The worst thing about this product is that the catch that is supposed to prevent your child from opening the cabinet a crack and then reslamming his/her fingers in there doesn't work. The catch almost never catches. In fact the only time it catches is when an adult forgets about the cabinet lock and tries to open the cabinet with an adult's normal force. Then it catches. And it is difficult to unhitch. I could go on about the other design defects about this product, but I don't want to waste my time. I recommend buying one of the cabinet locks with a little joint and spring in there.

The 'no pinched fingers' design causes doors and drawers to be stuck in an open position wide enough for my 13 month old son to reach inside and pull stuff out, which was what I wanted to avoid in the first place! Also, the clip which attaches to the cupboard frame is brittle--he has broken several by throwing his weight on the drawer (he doesn't quite weigh 20 lbs yet). Having to constantly disengage these hooks to return doors and drawers to the closed position has become an aggrevation. The only thing I do like about this product is that the hooks are removable.

The product works well if you can get it installed. It's uncomfortable enough to install this type of thing. Nothing is worse than when you finally get it aligned correctly and you start putting the screws in and the screw breaks. I had 6 screws break within the first 5 latches I installed. I had to stop what I was doing, drive to Home Depot and buy different screws. They are that bad. Don't even start installing until you have replaced the screws.

I don't know if you have to super-mommy-senses to make heads or tails of this product, and I certainly don't have any. I was fully confused with this installation. The instructions were very inadequate, only a few words and rudamentary pictures on the back of the small packaging - Not to mention that the most of the instructions were covered in a sales sticker, thus rendering them completely useless.

I ended up with bits and peices that I simply could not figure out at all, and a very 'rigged' installation.

Boo. Hiss.