Fully Assembled and Knock Down Furniture, which one is best for you?
“Fully Assembled” means furniture pcs are fully assembled during the manufacturing process.
Fully Assembled structure originates from traditional joinery furniture factories.This structure of Panel Furniture is made of panels fastened together using screws, nails and glue. Without exposed screws, the furniture cannot be disassembled and reassembled. If the furniture of medium to small sizes is Fully Assembled type built right there, they could be placed and used directly after being unpacked at home.
Factory who carries fully assembled furniture involves quite a lot manual work; every module is completed in the factory as much as possible, which even includes the installation of functional hardware accessories and light strips. Therefore solid structure and quality details of finished products are maintained by unrivalled craftsmanship. It shows dimensional accuracy, coordinate direction of grains. The joints between boards are tight and smooth. Manual edge banding achieves thin glue lines that are as fine and clean as PUR or laser edge banding.
Knock Down (KD) Furniture, also known as Ready-to-assemble (RTA) Furniture, indicates that the entire unit can be taken apart into pieces and reassembled.
"KD" is a great invention that brings efficient production to the factory. The mass production by CNC milling machines produces finished panels and to be stored and shipped flat so called "Flat Packed “which can simplify inventory and cost less impact on the environment. As KD furniture comes in pcs, if any pc of it breaks, you can get the one replaced. However, installing panels one by one into cabinets on site is much more time-consuming than installing Fully Assembled Furniture. Some companies would assemble panels to cabinet components in the factory before packaging and shipping, which can reduce the on-site installation process. Please noted that after KD furniture being transported, the structure may become less sturdy, which needs to be re-fixed on site. Since KD Furniture is very cost-effective, it has now been widely used. In many teaching articles, Panel Furniture has generally referred to furniture with detachable specification - KD one.
Connectors are the key to the KD structure and also affect the overall aesthetics of the furniture. For example, if using traditional 3-in-1 connectors ("IKEA" type - the one with the largest screw head) to install a cabinet with many open shelves,it will cause "riddled with holes", as shown in the photo below. So be careful when customizing your furniture. However, many people are unaware that there are many innovative connectors on the market as alternatives. Some screw heads are smaller, and some screw heads are not exposed.
Summary and Keys
Regardless of design factors, for Knock Down Furniture, the task to ensure a solid structure is mainly by on-site installation workmanship. For Fully Assembled Furniture, it is mastered by the factory. Custom-made furniture often involves on-site assembly and fitting on to the wall with glue, to make products perfectly delivered, skilled installation is crucial at the end of custom-made process.