It won’t surprise you that over here at The Sussex Home Stylist we have a thing about furniture. Whether it’s wardrobes, book shelves, bedside tables or clever storage, buying furniture for your home is a big decision as it takes a healthy chunk out of your budget and needs to last for a long time. We’re big fans of getting it right the first time and investing in good furniture when budget allows.

For our client’s homes, our room designs often include a mix of furniture including new ready made furniture, older antique furniture, flat pack pieces as well as custom made joinery. But when do we use joinery? And is it worth the investment?

Who better to ask than Dave & Craig, two very talented Joiners and Furniture Designers based in Steyning, West Sussex, who we work with at The Sussex Home Stylist. We asked them to give us the low down on joinery and tell us why it’s different from the other options. Let’s start from the very beginning…

I need new furniture, where do I go?

There are basically four options when it comes to adding cabinets in your home. There’s the DIY furniture - the likes of IKEA that you build yourself. This is the most affordable option. It’s cheap (sometimes...) and cheerful, but made from low quality materials, fixings and joinery. We totally accept it has its place though, we have some Ikea in our homes.

Then there’s shop bought furniture that’s been designed and made already. This is great if you have a lot of space to play with or manage to find something exactly the right size and design, but this often doesn’t happen and so compromises have to be made.

Another option is furniture that is made by a carpenter who works with wood all the time in various different ways. A general carpenter can be thought of as the middle ground. They still make made to measure cupboards and wardrobes, but would usually make a timber frame to hang doors from. They’d use existing walls as the interior of cupboards and wardrobes. This can be a good option, but the interiors of this type of furniture can be less desirable, and afford less options within, usually limited to shelves and hanging rails mounted to the walls.

Finally there’s furniture made by a bespoke cabinet maker. Someone who specialises in making furniture day in and day out. As bespoke cabinet makers, we would always make solid, made to measure cabinets, or carcasses, to form a wardrobe, cupboard, or other form of cabinetry. Doors can then be fitted to the fronts of the carcasses, or left open if they are made from a material with a smarter finish, such as a real wood or bespoke paint colour. These carcasses are then usually fully fitted to a room, with scribed fillers to fill any gaps between the cabinetry and the existing walls to make them truly built-in.

So do I need a joiner, a carpenter or a cabinet maker?

This is where the confusion often starts as each company will offer something quite different depending on their skill set. A joiner will use traditional non mechanical joints for fixing wood but it’s a very broad term, joiners can also make roofs for houses for example. A carpenter will usually work with roofs, doors and general wooden structures. So it’s worth being clear on exactly what you want so you can tick these things off when you start looking around.

We consider ourselves to be cabinet makers, but we’re slightly more than that as we also spray and completely finish the work ourselves. We make all our bespoke furniture using traditional non mechanical joints as well as general fixings in our workshop in Sussex and then build the furniture into the space on site.

So are you guys like Sharps or Hammonds?

No, those guys basically make fitted flat pack furniture. They make their built-in furniture from standard sized panels and use custom made fillers either side. They don’t make proper cabinetry, they use the back wall as a side and they only have a selection of finishes and colours. Plus the materials we use are of a much higher quality. In our opinion, those guys charge a lot of money for what they do, the choices are limited and the quality isn’t always that great.

So aside from budget, what are the main differences between flat pack or bought furniture and custom made joinery?

We believe there’s a place for all types of furniture in a home and we know that Hannah incorporates all types in her home designs for the Sussex Home Stylist. But joinery can really make a difference to a space. Here are our top ten differences we think you should be considering:

Made to measure.

Probably the most obvious reason; mass produced flat pack furniture suppliers can only stock limited dimensions. A joiner can make a cabinet to any given size. This means that you can build in storage to those odd shaped corners and spaces and maximise your space or use space that other furniture otherwise wouldn’t allow.

2. Design options

As many options as Ikea offer, their selection will always have a limit, whereas a bespoke joiner is only limited by the space in your home

3. Customer input

Our process starts with a site visit survey to understand the client’s requirements, preferences and tastes. It’s then a back and forth process with the customer to get the design perfect. The customer is involved every step of the way.

4. Material quality

Mass produced furniture is designed on a tight budget. With less budget restraints, bespoke furniture materials are usually of a much higher standard. Some of the projects we’ve worked on with Hannah use good quality materials but are designed to make them affordable, while still offering a high end look. Doing this offers far superior quality than anything flat packed.

5. Hardware quality

Budget restraints mean Ikea has to use a lower grade of hardware. Most joiners will only use the best hardware available to guarantee the quality of their work. We use hinges, drawer runners, etc that are a much higher quality. The smoothness of a drawer sliding shut or door closing is due to better hardware. We also have some great suppliers that we recommend for our customers to choose handles, knobs or pulls.

6. Build quality

As a professional craftsman, a joiner will pride themselves on the quality of their work, meaning the build quality and joinery will be to a very high standard, solidly made, and built to last.

7. Finish choice

Bespoke furniture can be finished in pretty much any finish or colour of the customers' choosing, from wood finishes and hand painted finishes, to high quality sprayed matt or gloss finishes. We’re currently working with Hannah on a library design for one of her projects that uses a real wood veneer so it looks and feels like real solid wood but is more affordable. We can also colour match furniture to any of the big paint suppliers, or to wall paper or artwork. You can get some amazing colours.

8. Added extras

A professional joiner won't stop at just cabinets. We can offer anything from self opening and closing drawers and doors, fully integrated LED lighting, and smart phone controlled media walls. This is the stage that can elevate the design and make a real difference.

9. Professional guarantee

As a customer you will always have consumer rights, but once you have that flat-pack furniture home you're basically on your own. A joiner will be there to support you from day one, but also after installation has been completed. As Joiners, our professional standards and integrity are important to us. If something isn't quite right, we will always return to make it perfect.

built in cabinetry — Built in window seat with a sea view!

10. One of a kind

Flat packed furniture is understandably very popular, but with popularity comes repetition. With bespoke made fitted furniture, you know you have an original installation that no one else will have in their home. Made perfectly to fit your home, exactly as you want it.

So there you have it. We’ve used custom made joinery in most of our projects from our snug project in Steyning and our Living room in Angmering to our family lounge in Upper Beeding and our Steyning bedroom upgrade.

We love working with Dave and Craig to make our home designs really personal. If you have any questions please just drop your questions in the comments below and we’ll come right back to you. Or if you have any projects coming up, big or small that you’d like to chat to us about, please do get in touch we’d love to hear from you.

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10 Reasons Why Built In Joinery Is Better Than Bought Furniture