Mommies Magazine

These cabinet locks are, in a word, amazing. I have these installed on all of our bathroom and kitchen cabinets in our house. The installation directions are horrible, but I developed a workaround for them. First, I installed the hasp on the cabinet frame. Then I used the enclosed template to determine where to drill the magnet hole in the cabinet door. After that main hole was drilled, I put the lock assembly in place and used the actual assembly holes to mark where to drill the four smaller holes to anchor it in place. Worked like a charm each time. The first set of doors took me over an hour to install. At the end I was installing a set in 15 minutes, with the bulk of that time spent in changing the drill bits.

LESSONS LEARNED:

1 - Use the correct size drill bits. Don't even think of using the wrong size bit. This is one case where size does matter.
2 - Use a cordless screwdriver. Yes, all screwdrivers are cordless but by this I mean a battery operated screwdriver or drill. Believe me, you'll regret it when your wrists feel like they are going to fall off - and you only have 9 more cabinets to go!
3 - Use the drill bit depth guide on the larger of the two bits - it's a must unless you have an uncle in the cabinet business. For the smaller bit, I measured it against the thickness of the door, and made positively certain that the bit would not go through the door by accident.
4 - If you are buying multiple sets of the locks, keep the spare screws, etc, in a plastic bag - you may need them.
5 - Have one magnetic key for each room, no exceptions. We even have two keys for our master bathroom, one for my husband's sink cabinets and one for mine.
6 - Insist that everyone acclimate to the cabinet locks. Not locking a cabinet really defeats the purpose now, doesn't it?

Although the installation instructions are atrocious and quite intimidating, these are bar none the best cabinet locks that I have found. Don't let the cost scare you away.

My only complaint is that they are more expensive than other locking devices -- but they work well and are worth the extra expense.

Tot-luks are a big topic of conversation at my house. When guest see us using the key it always springs up great conversation about the product.

I completely disagree with the "impossible to install" reviewer - they could not have been more self-explanatory! (Send those that are hanging in your garage to us - we'll use them!) We did need to use a drill, but they are far stronger than any others (especially the stick-on ones) that we tried.

You do need to have a set spot that the "key" goes after each use, or you will be frustrated and out of luck if the key is misplaced. All family members needing access to the locked cabinets must religiously return the key to its place - and the locks work like a charm!