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Furniture safe buying guide

Updated: October 2026

You are about to put a passport, some cash or a small jewellery box in a cupboard, and the amazon.co.uk page shows 4.5 stars and a price under £100. A furniture safe buying guide has to separate that box from a certified cabinet before the stars look like a grade. The eight listings in our [furniture safe comparison](/hub/safes-and-secure-storage/furniture-safe) are uncertified steel boxes, from the QWORK at £29.98 to the AltiKeep at £119.98. None prints an EN 14450 line. Peter F., DIY & tools editor, wrote this on 17 October 2026 from those listings. There was no lab test. A qualifying purchase can earn us a commission at no extra cost to you.

You are about to put a passport, some cash or a small jewellery box in a cupboard, and the amazon.co.uk page shows 4.5 stars and a price under £100.

Our top picks

Brihard Brihard 4 L floor safe

Best overall

Brihard Brihard 4 L floor safe
9.2/10about £63.99
View offer
Yale Yale YSV/200/DB2

Best value

Yale Yale YSV/200/DB2
9.0/10about £30.43
View offer
QWORK QWORK mini key safe

Rank 3

QWORK QWORK mini key safe
9.0/10about £29.98
View offer
On this page
  1. 1.What a furniture safe is for
  2. 2.The order of the decision
  3. 3.What the prices in this set are buying
  4. 4.Sizes that contradict themselves

What a furniture safe is for

A furniture safe, in the way these listings use the words, is a light steel box you hide in a cupboard, a desk or under a floor, then bolt so it will not come away with a thief. It is meant to slow an opportunist already in the room. It is not an EN 14450 S1 or S2 cabinet, and it is not an EN 1143-1 Eurograde safe. De Raat UK’s indicative figures are about £2,000 cash and £20,000 valuables for S1, and about £4,000 and £40,000 for S2. Your insurer decides. The Favor family’s £1,000 cash and £10,000 valuables line is not an EN class. If the policy names a grade, leave the set. Who each model suits is on the best furniture safe page.

The order of the decision

Start with the job, not the brand. If the insurer has named a grade, stop. If the job is a few documents in a drawer, judge the box on fixing, lock recovery and internal size. Fixing comes before the lock. Burton’s guidelines treat the bolts as part of the purchase. The QWORK weighs 2.78 kg and the HomeSafe HV38K weighs 13 kg. Neither stays put because it feels heavy. How the bolt meets the floor is the fitting page. A key never needs a battery. A keypad fails when the cells are flat unless an override lives outside the box. That question is on key or electronic. The Yale is listed at 8.6 litres and reviewers use it for passports and a little cash. The HomeSafe claims 41 litres and is still too shallow for box files. Fire retardant on a title is not EN 15659.
Brihard Brihard 4 L floor safe

Testsieger

Brihard Brihard 4 L floor safe
9.2/10about £63.99
View offer

What the prices in this set are buying

Around £30 you get the QWORK at £29.98, a 3.5 litre key box, and the Yale YSV/200/DB2 at £30.43, an 8.6 litre keypad with two override keys. You are paying for a hide, not for S1. From £57.99 to £95.99 the band includes the Favor S3 E, the Brihard 4 litre, the HomeSafe, the Fdit and the Brihard A4. The A4 listing’s 4.6 from 291 reviews is the same block as the 4 litre ASIN. At £119.98 the AltiKeep is the 60 litre keypad. Reviews often say the bag or the bolts were missing. That price buys capacity.

Sizes that contradict themselves

Measure the space you have against the smaller figure until the parcel arrives. The QWORK title says 23 × 17 × 17 cm. The attribute table says 31 × 23 × 17 cm. A passport wallet can fit. A stack of A4 folders cannot. If you planned the smaller opening, the order can be wrong before you drill. The Yale chamber height is listed as 33 cm, taller than the 20 × 20 × 31 cm outside. Do not cut a desk hole from the taller figure. The Burg-Wächter title, a bullet and the table are three different cuboids, and the inside bullet is 198 × 308 × 140 mm. Use the largest outside number for the opening and the smallest inside number for the contents. The Brihard A4 title says 13.5 litres and the attribute table says 13 litres. Do not average them.

Common questions

What should I buy first: a brand or a grade?
Buy the grade your insurer has named, if it has named one. A brand in this set does not turn an uncertified listing into EN 14450. The Favor maker line of £1,000 cash and £10,000 valuables is not a grade. If no policy asks for one, choose by what you store and whether you can still open the box.
Is a furniture safe enough for jewellery?
It can hide a small jewellery box from a casual search. It is a poor place for pieces you could not replace. Indicative S1 cover already sits on a certified cabinet, and even that multiple is not automatic. Ask the insurer which grade it wants.
Why do the title and the size table disagree?
Because these amazon.co.uk pages keep more than one size line. The QWORK title and its table differ by several centimetres. The Burg-Wächter title, bullet and table are three cuboids. The Yale chamber height is listed taller than the outside. The Brihard A4 lines also disagree, and its reviews are copied from the 4 litre ASIN. Order only when the smaller outside size still fits.
Does £1,000 cash on a maker page mean the insurer will pay that?
No. A maker cash line, including the Favor family’s £1,000 cash and £10,000 valuables, is not an EN class and not a policy limit. London Safes separates those bands from S1 and S2. De Raat’s indicative cash figures are about £2,000 and £4,000, and Lock & Key notes that the insurer still decides. Phone with the model name.
Do I have to bolt a light safe down?
Yes, if the point is to stop someone carrying it out. The lightest box here is 2.78 kg and the heaviest is 13 kg. Both can leave under an arm. Burton’s guidelines still treat a fixing into solid furniture as part of the purchase.

Related pages

Furniture safe for documents

Furniture safe

Best furniture safe UK: passport, key or floor box

How to bolt down a furniture safe to the structure

Key lock safe or electronic safe: test the override

Sources

Public UK sources on safe grades, fixing and the Consumer Rights Act 2015. Listing prices and star counts are from the amazon.co.uk extracts dated 15 October 2026. Prices move.

  1. De Raat UK, insurance rating (retrieved 15 October 2026)
  2. London Safes, insurance ratings explained (retrieved 15 October 2026)
  3. Lock & Key, safe ratings and insurance (retrieved 15 October 2026)
  4. Sold Secure approved product catalogue 2025 (retrieved 15 October 2026)
  5. Burton Safes, safe fixing guidelines (retrieved 15 October 2026)
  6. Burg-Wächter UK, Favor freestanding home safe (retrieved 15 October 2026)
  7. BSI, BS EN 15659:2019 light fire storage units (retrieved 15 October 2026)
  8. Consumer Rights Act 2015, section 11 (retrieved 15 October 2026)