When I was trying to decide which planner I would use this year, the Kikki-K line was definitely in the running. When I saw the minty green medium Time Planner, I was all grabby hands. So, I ordered it. Of course, traveling from Australia during the holidays meant it took a bit longer to receive. So, in the meantime, I’ve really become attached to my Filofax Original in dark aqua. But I thought I’d unbox the Kikki-K in mint and give it a test drive anyway.
The cover closes with a wide, color-coordinated elastic that runs vertically down the book à la Moleskine. Its a thick dense elastic that seems like it should stand up to several years of wear.
Can I wax poetic about the color first? It is a perfect match for an assortment of pens I own which absolutely warms my heart. The Sharbo-X is a perfect color match, as is the Pentel i+ multi-pen. For that reason alone, I should love this planner.
The Kikki-k web site claims that the Time Planners are leather but compared to the Filofax Original, it doesn’t feel like leather. There is a heavy texture on the exterior and the cover has a stiffener board sandwiched in between the two pieces of leather making it feel less like leather and more like PU. But Kikki-k says its leather, so I’ll trust them but it doesn’t feel to me as much like leather and the thicker covers means it will take a little effort to train the covers to lay flat. The way that the binder is assembled also makes the cover feel puffy which could be a good thing but does not appeal to me.
Inside the front cover is a secretary pocket as well as an assortment of slot pockets. (Please disregard the white around the rings, it is the paper protector including in shipping). Kikki-K included some cards in the pockets with notes for best practices in opening and closing the rings and inspirational messages. The overall design of the paper products is really good. ITs all clean, simple and nicely designed. The paper goods have a classic yet modern look. Another reason why I should love this planner.
The planner includes a full set of refills that feature a page for personal information, the full year as week on two pages plus a monthly calendar on two pages, a section for addresses, birthdays & anniversaries, shops & restaurants, to-do, and expenses. Each of the glossy navy blue tabs are labelled and each sections has clean, simple sheets as well. The tabs are cardstock and the filler pages are a lightweight paper. I did not do any pen tests but I suspect that anything more than a gel or ballpoint pen will probably have some bleed or show through.
There is also a removeable, translucent plastic “this week” bookmark. Again, really nicely designed. Its simple but it looks good.
On the week on two pages, Saturday and Sunday share the bottom slot and Sunday is highlighted in red. The individual slots for days have light grey dotted lines to keep your writing aligned.
The rings are gold which some people love and others don’t but more importantly for a planner, the rings align perfectly. There is no gapping,unlike when my Filofax arrived, so the paper can be flipped back and forth with no catching or snagging on a misaligned or gapping ring. The rings open and close with a firm click.
And the Kikki-K rings are a 0.5cm wider than the Filofax original. The Filofax rings are 2cm wide and the Kikki-K are 2.5cm. The Kikki-K rings are also slightly oval rather than perfectly round.
There is an elastic look on the right hand side of the binder to hold a pen. Its the same dense elastic used to close the cover. I put the Pentel i+ 3 multi-pen in the loop which is of average thickness for a pen and there was some wiggle room. This pen loop seems like it would be most useful with a 4-color multi-pen like the Uni Style Fit. The Sharbo-X was a little too narrow and unless I caught the clip on the elastic, I would worry that it would fall out. And for most people, a right-side pen loop is perfect but I am so spoiled by the left-side pen loop on the Filofax Original that the loop on the right is annoying to me.
The back cover has one horizontal slot across the top to hold a notepad and one is included in the binder.
My last test was to see if all the stuff that I’m currently carrying in my FIlofax Original would fit into the Kikki-K Medium. It all fit and it looked good contrasted with the minty green.
I did notice that if I did not loop the elastic around the binder when it was filled with real life stuff, it flapped. Now, this might lessen over time as its used but since this is only my third experience with a planner binder, I found it kind of annoying.
Overall, its super pretty. The fact that the planner ships with a full set of inserts makes this a great starter kit for anyone who wants to get into planners. That said, and it breaks my minty green heart to say it, this planner is not for me.
