Small safe for small money?

The need for secu­rity and the desire to store valu­ables in a safe place at home is omni­pre­sent — but there is no uni­ver­sal solu­tion. The best option is ulti­m­ately the result of a very indi­vi­dual decis­ion, which is not easy to make. You have to weigh up the risk, the value of the items and the bud­get you want to invest in pro­tec­ting your valu­ables and prepare yours­elf for a situa­tion that may never arise. But if it does, you have to live with the con­se­quen­ces. Con­se­quen­ces that, in the best case sce­na­rio, you were alre­ady aware of when you deci­ded how you wan­ted to pro­tect your valu­ables.

Afforda­ble, handy, and uncom­pli­ca­ted – tha­t’s defi­ni­tely what it is: the fur­ni­ture safe. But what else can you expect from it, and where are you ove­resti­mat­ing its capa­bi­li­ties?

It’s con­side­red the smal­lest safe among all safes, and it’s also the one with the lowest bar­rier to purchase. Not only is it the most afforda­ble option, but it’s also the one that requi­res the least effort to purchase and install. There are num­e­rous online retail­ers that deli­ver directly to your home, and hard­ware stores always have a few models in their on-site inven­tory. So, theo­re­ti­cally, the mis­sion to safely store your valu­ables can be accom­plished within 2–3 hours. Theo­re­ti­cally. The only que­stion is: will it be suc­cessful? Because in addi­tion to the time and money you have to invest, there are seve­ral other aspects to con­sider. First and fore­most: secu­rity.

When purcha­sing a safe – no mat­ter how big or small – the very first thing you need to be clear about is what you expect from it. Do you want to store small valu­ables or pri­vate docu­ments, cash, heir­looms, or jewelry? Is it pri­ma­rily about kee­ping them hid­den from view, or should the safe pre­vent the valu­ables from being lost in the event of a burglary? What is the finan­cial and emo­tio­nal value of the items stored there? And what would the loss of them mean for you?

Only by cle­arly ans­we­ring such important que­sti­ons before purcha­sing a safe can a long-term, satis­fac­tory decis­ion be made. The fur­ni­ture safe, which seems to many peo­ple to be the most fami­liar and likeable solu­tion, is often not a sui­ta­ble choice despite this initial impulse. In terms of break-in secu­rity, it offers only mini­mal pro­tec­tion, which can be destroyed in a very short time with the right tools. But why do fur­ni­ture safes even exist?

If you only want to store replaceable items of lower value in a place that is pro­tec­ted against access or if it has been agreed with your insu­rance com­pany, a fur­ni­ture safe may be a sui­ta­ble solu­tion. Due to its low weight and small size, it can be easily inte­gra­ted and instal­led in other pie­ces of fur­ni­ture, such as wall cup­boards — hence its name. Howe­ver, if you need to store valu­ables in a safe place where they are relia­bly pro­tec­ted even in the event of a vio­lent attack, you should defi­ni­tely look into other models.

When buy­ing a safe, a distinc­tion must first be made bet­ween cer­ti­fied and non-cer­ti­fied models. Cer­ti­fied models have been suc­cessfully tested against forced entry attempts in accordance with the Euro­pean stan­dard EN 1143–1. Depen­ding on their resi­stance, safes are assi­gned to a dif­fe­rent resi­stance class. This ulti­m­ately descri­bes the strength of the burglary pro­tec­tion.

Not all safes are crea­ted equal: The cer­ti­fied safe (left) in resi­stance class 3 offers tested pro­tec­tion against vio­lent attacks, while the fur­ni­ture safe (right) only offers access pro­tec­tion and is the­r­e­fore only sui­ta­ble for sto­ring small valu­ables. 

These resi­stance levels, as they are also cal­led, range from level 1 to 10. The curr­ently hig­hest cer­ti­fied resi­stance level for a safe is class 7. Con­se­quently, a safe with resi­stance level 7 also allows for the hig­hest insura­ble value of the items stored within. Fur­ni­ture safes are gene­rally not cer­ti­fied accor­ding to EN1143‑1, and if they are, only at the lowest resi­stance levels.

Despite the importance of doing your own rese­arch before buy­ing a safe, you should also dis­cuss its purchase with your insu­rance com­pany in advance. As far as the insura­ble value con­tent is con­cer­ned, the insu­rance com­pany is basi­cally free in its risk assess­ment. It is also advi­sa­ble to con­sult the exper­tise and expe­ri­ence of spe­cia­lists in the safe depo­sit sec­tor and seek indi­vi­dual advice.

Ulti­m­ately, it is up to you to weigh up the recom­men­da­ti­ons and argu­ments and make a decis­ion that also takes into account the indi­vi­dual value that the items have for you per­so­nally and the fee­ling of secu­rity that a solu­tion gives you. Fur­ni­ture safes can be a sui­ta­ble option for smal­ler valu­ables – howe­ver, those loo­king for long-term and relia­ble secu­rity for hig­her values ​​should inquire about cer­ti­fied safes.