Screwless Switch Recommendations

[Spinny]

Have been looking for screwless retractive light switches and grid switches - in a brushed steel finish.

 

Any recommendations ?

At the moment I have found some by Saxby - although only seem to have a limited range of engraved grid switches for appliances.

 

I notice some by Varilight but seem to have rather mixed reviews.

 

Anyone know whether all grid switch modules will fit into all brands of grid cover plates - are they interchangeable ? That is buy say a varilight switch and mount it in a Saxby screwless cover plate ?

 

(Looked at SOHO but the cover plate has no edges and not keen on seeing the bracket when viewed edge on, plus very expensive)

(Looked at BG Nexus but don't like the white plastic edges)

Edited Sunday at 11:03 by Spinny

[JohnMo]

Sounds like an overthink it Sunday.

[-rick-]

Have a look at Scolmore click. Not sure it does what you want but there is a lot of interchangability there. Swapping a switch module you like into different faceplates.

 

Not used them. Just looked at them to see if their range solved the retractive switch issue and it looked like they might (with compromises). Screwless adds a extra level of difficulty. 3-way retractive (on-off-on) is rare enough as it is.

[Russell griffiths]

 

Buy good quality switches with interchangeable modules. 
unless your place is costing north of a couple of million to build then just have faceplates with screws in them. 
it’s just another problem you don’t need, and after a month you won’t look at the switch ever again. 

 

12 switches in the photo, click mode by scholmore 

would they look better without the screws ??

[ProDave]

Another +1 for Click Mode.  Good quality, well built, versatile, reliable and cheap.  What is not to like.

[jack]

On 29/03/2026 at 12:28, -rick- said:

Have a look at Scolmore click. Not sure it does what you want but there is a lot of interchangability there. Swapping a switch module you like into different faceplates.

 

Not used them. Just looked at them to see if their range solved the retractive switch issue and it looked like they might (with compromises). Screwless adds a extra level of difficulty. 3-way retractive (on-off-on) is rare enough as it is.

 

I have Scolmore Click (Definity, from memory) retractive switches throughout my house. Admittedly things might have moved on in the 11+ years since I installed mine, but they are loud and very heavily sprung. It's difficult to double-click them, especially if you're (say) turning off a light late at night and don't want to wake anyone up. I'd definitely be buying a sample of whatever I was thinking of using.

 

On 29/03/2026 at 12:01, Spinny said:

Have been looking for screwless retractive light switches and grid switches - in a brushed steel finish.

 

Obviously it's a matter of personal taste, but I wouldn't buy screwless metal faceplates again. On white/light walls, they draw a lot of attention. They also mark fairly easily and I think metal cover plates can look/feel cheaper than good quality plastic.

If I were doing it again it'd be white plastic all the way, focusing on how the switches feel in use.  

[SimonD]

36 minutes ago, jack said:

 

I have Scolmore Click (Definity, from memory) retractive switches throughout my house. Admittedly things might have moved on in the 11+ years since I installed mine, but they are loud and very heavily sprung. It's difficult to double-click them, especially if you're (say) turning off a light late and night and don't want to wake anyone up. I'd definitely be buying a sample of whatever I was thinking of buying.

 

 

Obviously it's a matter of personal taste, but I wouldn't buy screwless metal faceplates again. On white/light walls, they draw a lot of attention. They also mark fairly easily and I think metal cover plates can look/feel cheaper than good quality plastic.

If I were doing it again it'd be white plastic all the way, focusing on how the switches feel in use.  

 

Plus 1 to the Click Definity range - lots of options. We have the Metal white variant which is coated metal and looks better than plastic but not the stand out that brushed stainless for example. Brushed metal gets a bit messy when you have boys growing up in the house and sticky fingers are applied allover them.

 

The Varilight we bought initially were pretty awful - cheap plastic screwless cover. And their V-com dimmers never programme correctly on LED strip lighting, even though they were recommended by the led lighting manufacturer!

[Gone West]

We used Schneider Lisse fittings in our new build and wanted to use them in our current house but unfortunately they are not exported to the UK any longer. We chose Hager Sollysta as an alternative. As @jack says buy samples before deciding.

[Spinny]

On 29/03/2026 at 13:28, -rick- said:

3-way retractive (on-off-on) is rare enough as it is.

Wondering why you would need that, if you mean a retractive that you can press both up and down.

I find the one way retractive good enough for dimming = just hold down or press again to change direction.

I anticipate using smart scenes anyway 95% of the time controlled through a seperate smart switch/cube/remote/knock sensor/smart rule/dashboard/voice.

 

Starting to look at Click Definity. I notice they do some zigbee sockets which is interesting - anybody tried those ?

Currently using Samsung Smartthings but anticipate moving to Home Assistant in the end.

Edited 20 hours ago by Spinny

[-rick-]

Just now, Spinny said:

Wondering why you would need that, if you mean a retractive that you can press both up and down.

I find the one way retractive good enough for dimming = just hold down or press again to change direction.

I anticipate using smart scenes anyway 95% of the time controlled through a seperate smart switch/cube/remote/knock sensor/smart rule/dashboard/voice.

 

I agree you can do it with a single acting button but it's less flexible. Also, things like blinds could really do with 'up' and 'down'.

[Spinny]

Ah, I am going to skip wired wall switches for the blinds all together.

What motors are you using for the blinds ? 240V ? Somfy ?

I am waiting on what may be a hideous quote from a blind company. A lot of blind companies only seem to do the rechargeable ones - but I can't face having to recharge blinds.

[-rick-]

5 minutes ago, Spinny said:

What motors are you using for the blinds ? 240V ? Somfy ?

 

I am waiting on what may be a hideous quote from a blind company. A lot of blind companies only seem to do the rechargeable ones - but I can't face having to recharge blinds.

 

I've not currently got a build. Just researching things.

 

They all seem to use the same Chinese motors these days. Can maybe save a lot if you order the motors from Aliexpress and fit them to normal blinds (just need to make sure the blinds you get have the right type of tube. (Obviously check import costs, etc).

 

As someone who really wants to hardwire everything the current market is annoying. Either really high end/cost hard wire, or the battery/wireless ones. The wired but not super high end ones tend to lack other features. I believe that a number of the battery ones can be wired in to charge permenantly. So basically you can wire in USB chargers to them. Doesn't help with control though.

[Spinny]

39 minutes ago, -rick- said:

the current market is annoying

It certainly is, it is difficult to believe how slow and change resistant the market is.

You would think, for example, that by now there would be a multitude of lighting suppliers offering smart down lights. I could only find one supplier, now taken over by another company that then instantly cancelled their smart lights from the range. 

If you are going to produce downlights where you can switch the power and colour temperature - why on earth in 2026 would you not be making them smart.

And still, even now, idiot companies think people will buy their own branded hub to go along with 12 others. You sometimes wonder whether they actually do any research at all on where the market will be going.

 

 

[jack]

16 hours ago, SimonD said:

... when you have boys growing up in the house and sticky fingers are applied allover them.

 

Had boys growing up in our house and can confirm!

 

11 hours ago, Spinny said:

And still, even now, idiot companies think people will buy their own branded hub to go along with 12 others. You sometimes wonder whether they actually do any research at all on where the market will be going.

 

There's definitely a move towards compatibility with a smaller number of standards, like Matter and Home Assistant.

 

Admittedly it was ten years ago, and I'd certainly do a few things differently now, but I personally went for a centralised home automation system that meant I could use relatively dumb lights, with DMX control. You can also get DMX relays for very little money. That puts all the "smart" stuff (dimming, automated on/off times, different scenes depending on different times of day/year) in the central system.

 

The big risk, of course, is that if the central system breaks, everything breaks, but a spare raspberry pi and SD card don't cost much in the scheme of things.

 

Getting back to your point about branded systems, blinds are one of the worst areas for this. Typically you have to use their proprietary wireless system controller or a dumb relay. Of course, you could use a wireless relay (e.g., Shelly and the like) controlled via a home automation system, but it's a shame they're so insistent on using their own standards.

[joth]

The problem with all the consumer smart home stuff I know if is what happens when you come to sell the house? Does the new owner need to re-pair every individual lightbulb, blind and heating actuator into their own cloud account? (Or more often, multitude of accounts).

Not to mention what happens when the cloud provider gets bored and shuts it down.

 

Centralised systems are only marginally better for succession rights, but for the most part they offer some glimmer of hope. It still requires the seller to transfer ownership (e.g. hand over the admin password or project file) for a smooth transition. But at least I can point to examples of this working out.

 

...

Put another way - an "non-centralised" solution is worse than useless if it exchanges an in-house single point of failure for a cloud-based one.