I’m in the process of building a tool and gear cabinet, with the frame mostly done. Drawer slides are in, and plywood is on the way and expected to arrive next week.
I designed and redesigned the frame numerous times, but cannot quite answer one very important question: how large should the drawers be?
Advertisement
This project is a sort of trial and error one, with planning for a larger tool cabinet and mobile workbench to follow based on its success.
The cabinet will have 2 drawer banks. The main dimensions are 24″ wide for one, and 18″ wide for the other. Drawer depth will be 15″, the frame is 18″ deep to accommodate a maybe 20″ top. The drawers will be inset.
So 24″ wide x 15″ deep, and 18″ wide by 15″ deep. These are the constants so far, with drawer height being up in the air right now. Initially, I’m planning for a total of 14 drawers, but might not be able to fit them all in.
I’m working with a 30″ height, there are some losses per drawer due to undermount slide heights.
Obviously, the size of the drawers depends on what I intend to put into the drawers, which I haven’t quite decided on yet.
I’m thinking that the first bank can have mainly 3-inch drawers, but am currently rethinking that. I don’t think I’m going to be able to fit 8 drawers into 30″. At least not 8 drawers of usable height.
Advertisement
Maybe I’ll experiment with some shallow drawers, and if they work out my DIY tool cabinet will have a lot of them. That cabinet is going to have a much higher working height than the 36″ (plus worktop plus leveling feet) that this first one will have.
One of the main reasons for going with a narrowish cabinet is because I need dense storage and a narrow countertop will work just fine. Plus I can customize it perfectly. Once the 24″ and 18″ drawer banks are done, I can work out an add-on section of 18″ to 24″, or even larger, without too much trouble. And after that, maybe a corner unit to take advantage of often under-utilized space.
Back to the point.
For hand tools, 2″ drawers work really well. I’m just not sure it’s going to be space efficient in my current project.
3″ drawers are great for bulkier tools, such as mechanics tools, socket rails, and things like that. Hammers and other bulky tools work better in these deeper drawers.
4″ drawers work well for misc. catch-all kind of stuff, as vague as that sounds.
6″ drawers work better for power tools, bulky items, and a lot of general storage needs. But in an under-workbench cabinet or where high storage density is desired, they can result in a lot of wasted space.
If you built a tool or shop cabinet with drawers, what would be the size of the drawers?
In terms of width and depth, 24″ and 18″ are somewhat variable, but I’ve stuck with 15″ size because I want the cabinet to hug the wall of a room. That’ll give me a bit of extra floor space.
I’ve been thinking of narrowing the depth to 16″, instead of 18″, and the 15″ drawer slides will still fit, but I’d be more worried about stability and topple-potential. I could also decrease the overhang so that the eventual worktop is maybe just 19″ instead of 20″, or maybe work with zero overhang for 18″ depth.
Hmm… with inset cabinets, a zero-overhang worktop might not be so bad. I’ll have to experiment.
In a perfect world, I would go with 30″ drawer width and 24″ drawer depth. Or maybe even 36″ width! But realistically, this would require drawer reinforcement to prevent sagging, and probably stabilizers to prevent racking.
Dan
It sounds like you need to first figure out what you want to store in this cabinet. I’m sure there’s some uncertainty to that, but it’s a good starting point. If you can asses that you need four shallow 2-3″ drawers, one 4″, and one 6″ for the tools you definitely want to store there, then figuring out what else to add is much easier. For example, based on my hypothetical drawer requirements, I would add several more shallow drawers (another four, even?) because you already know you have a lot of need of them.
Stuart
Everything, just EVERYTHING.
Wrenches, screwdrivers, boxes of fasteners, a camera, light bulbs, just everything.
I plan on building mock-up drawers out of 1/2″ foamcore boards, and once I have things kind of where I like, I’ll move to plywood.
And if I need to change a few drawers in the future, it won’t be a big deal.
Dan
Oh, I figured that was the case, but wouldn’t it be easier if that wasn’t true? lol. Focus on narrowing it down and make this cabinet serve a more specific purpose.
As for boxes of fasteners, here’s my solution: http://lumberjocks.com/projects/232882
Stuart
An organizer cabinet is also in the works. =) Maybe the expansion will have a door-enclosed rack. Right now the focus is on drawers.
Hang Fire
“Obviously, the size of the drawers depends on what I intend to put into the drawers, which I haven’t quite decided on yet.”
In that case, design pairs of shallow drawers that can be replaced by a deep drawer.
Since your initial version will have both, you can try a deep drawer in one of the double shallow drawer slides. Extra shallow drawers can store easily behind or alongside the cabinet, extra deep drawers can be broken down and the bottoms re-used for shallow drawers.
Mike
I like this idea. Future flexibility is probably better than a perfect plan for what you want today. Not only will the tools being stored change (both in quantity and size) but your organization will as well. I’ve never once found the perfect balance between compactness of storage and ease of accessibility so my tool organizers get changed every few years or so. The ability to change out the drawers themselves would add even more flexibility to what I can do.
BonPacific
This is a great idea, especially if using a modular system like Stuart is, since I believe all the parts are re-usable.
rhyino
Take your total usable height for the drawers and divide it into equally sized “drawer units”. Your absolute shallowest usable drawer height will be considered 1 drawer unit. Similar in thought to a 1RU for a electronics rack.
That way you can change up the drawer layout as your workflow evolves. My most used tools are placed in a drawer height that is the easiest to retrieve. If you are sitting at your workbench, the drawer height and location for your primary tools should be retrieved without having to move your chair.
There is a youtube video that interviews Adam Savage from Mythbusters about his workshop layout. While some of his workflow does not coincide with my needs, it was an interesting vid.
Hang Fire
Of course, you could do triple/quadruple depth drawers and not just double. At some point unused slides could get expensive, unless they are easy to remove and reuse.
I enjoy Adam Savage’s organizational journey, at one phase he went from putting everything in drawers to getting it back out again and putting tools on wheelie caddies. He gets carried away into all-or-nothing endeavors (everything in drawers, get rid of all drawers).
The issue with drawers is that not everything is visible, and the human mind can only remember where so many things are. There are better ways of dealing with this than getting rid of all drawers. For one thing, you can label drawers. You can organize sets of drawers by type. You can have some clear-fronted drawers. You can use open shelves in concert with drawers.
I like tool carts and caddies, but have no desire to use them for permanent storage. I find them more useful if I put the day’s tools on them at the start, change tools as needed, and lock them all away (into labeled drawers) at the end of the project.
Ultimately, what he does is not what I do. He builds large intricate mechanisms from scratch. I repair vehicles, plumbing, and make small to medium sized woodworking projects. He has huge amounts of money to make organizational mistakes with, I have enough to do well-considered efforts on occasion.
Nathan
I was also going to say depends on the overall purpose. MOst tool tolleys are general purpose and use thus the different sized drawers.
if making your own – and it’s for a specific need – maybe you need bigger – more similar drawers.
If a “all woodworking” setup I could see doing 2 sizes. One deep say router, jig saw, plate joiner and other tool sized. maybe have 2 of those or 3. to keep the tools, tool bases etc in there. Then another size for your accessories. Shallower – but more of them. ONe is the blade drawer. Holds the other circular blades, maybe your dado set, and then a divider with your jig saw blades . . . One is the bit drawer – has the router bits lined up – maybe even drill bits. etc.
maybe you need 3 or 4 overall drawer sizes – but I bet 2 will suffice. Question will the drawers come out with relative ease? IE so you could say pull out the bit accessory drawer – and cart it over to your work bench and set it to the side so as to keep them all in a home? There are times I’ve like to do that with my automotive rolling trolley so I could say pull out my 1/4 drive drawer and put it on top of my work bench and not go back and forth.
schill
One thing I’d consider, although it’s not exactly a requirement for drawer-based storage, is to have one of the columns of drawers be in an opening that is 19 inches wide. That’s the width (more or less) that’s required to put in rack rails and use standard rack-mounted shelves, power strips, etc. That could be useful in the future if you want to put something else in the cabinet.
Of course, probably the only reason I’m thinking about that now is because I am moving stuff from one rack-mounted situation to another (power, electronics, etc. and not storage).
Stuart
I considered making an electronics rack, and might have one in the future. But right now I’ve got boxes of stuff with no place to go, so drawers are the higher priority. But that’s a good idea, thanks!
Tom
I have 2.5 inch drawers for my wrenches and screwdrivers. They fit perfect, even when standing most of the wrenches on end using a wire spring.
I think that you need more depth though for pliers if you want to stand them on edge. So I would think not only about the tools, but how you will organize them to use the space most efficiently.
Nathan
what’s the size of the t-stax, festool and other boxes?
Maybe aim toward their standards of depth? I know there are different flavors but there’s what basicly 3 depths with the same length/width
maybe aim around those- if the range between them all is say 15.5, 11.7, and 6.9 inches maybe go for a 7, 12, and 16 inch drawer depth standard.
then worst case you’d always be able to fit those various boxes if you ever had to.
BikerDad
24″ isn’t wide enough, not if you’re going to be putting mechanic’s tools in there. The challenge will be with torque wrenches, breaker bars, prybars and such. (And wheel dishing tools, but unless you’re building spoked wheels, that’s probably not a consideration….) I’m sure there are some other longer tools that I don’t have or haven’t considered putting into my roller cab that you will be putting into yours that you should take into account.
I have a Kobalt (USA made) 26″ wide roller cab, and some of my mechanic’s tools listed above are jammed in there catty-corner (3d catty at that), which is a terrible waste of space. Yes, I could take them out of their cases, but these are torque wrenches, not club a zombie upside the head wrenches.
As far as height goes, yeah, it comes down to what you’re going to be storing, and whether or not you’re willing to layer IN the drawers.
Jacob Edmond
I would go with the deeper for drawers that you aren’t absolutely sure about. 6″ drawers could store a lot of bigger stuff, and if you change your mind, you can always add interior trays to split them into 3″ and 3″.
Here is a good example:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XRhD5ec2LjM
Jerry
For hand wrenches, I prefer shallow drawers, and would rather spread them out over 2-3 drawers than having wrenches ‘buried’ in a pile. Ditto socket rails, much easier to find and use if only one layer deep. Pliers, and so e jammers, I like a deeper drawer, maybe 3 or 4 inches, and use a small wire dish rack to stand them up on their side. Makes them easier to grab and is more space efficient, IMO. The rest I guess depends on what you have, but as a rule I’d rather have more smaller drawers than fewer big ones, less clutter in each drawer, and less weight per drawer. That said, anything with its own box or bag, except my cordless drill and impact driver sits in its box on a shelf, freeing up my tool boxes for smaller tools and tools I grab often.
Toolfreak
Agree with this. The point of storing tools in a drawered cabinet is ease of access. If you have shallow drawers, with one layer of tools in each drawer, you can just open the drawer, grab what you need, and get on with the job. Deeper drawers have a way of getting filled up with stuff, which makes them disorganized, and so you are sifting through the tools to find what you need rather than being able to grab and go.
The only time I’d bother with deeper drawers if you store the tools in such a way that deeper drawers are needed, like if you use socket racks that stand the sockets upright rather than on their side, or if you are storing bulkier tools in the bottom drawers, like circular saws and the like.
As mentioned, weight is an important consideration as well. They do make drawer slides that will handle ~100lbs or so per drawer, but if you weigh a socket or wrench set, you can get up to and way past that 100lb limit real quick. A deeper drawer filled with tools is almost always overloading the slides and a mechanical failure waiting to happen. You can always double up the slides for more capacity, but it’s still not a good idea to have too much weight in any one drawer of a toolbox, except maybe the deepest bottom drawer.
Emma
So not to derail the topic but I was searching around recently for a good tool cabinet. Was pretty discouraged by the high prices and the lack of quality you get for it. Then I stumbled across a tip in some random forum of getting a industrial parts cabinet instead. These are very expensive new (but not when compaired to snapon) but the resale on them is much better than tool cabinets.
I ended up with a Lyon cabinet that has 11 3″ deep drawers that are 25″x25″ each. Each drawer also holds 400 lbs. The whole unit is 59″ high and must weigh close to 600 lbs empty. It cost me $900 on ebay and is in great condition. This thing is a beast and will last forever. Vidmar is another brand you can search for.
Marvin McConoughey
My recent tool cabinet build has many narrow drawers–16-20 inches of shallow interior height. There is one bottom drawer about 50″ long, 8″ interior depth, and 24″ deep. It holds fluorescent light tubes and resolves a long standing storage problem. Four drawers above are each about 24″ wide and similar interior depth and height dimensions. These hold a random assortment of drills, jigsaws, belt and orbital sanders, circular portable saws, and a Milwaukee Sawzall. Nothing is organized, but all is findable. The total storage capability is very useful.
RKA
Generally I like shallow drawers (2-3″ tops) and prefer things to be laid out for easy pickins. But, I don’t like similar tools spread out across multiple drawers, otherwise it’s eeny meeny miny moe when I look for something. So I use a slightly deeper drawer for sockets, pliers and things like that where I can store them vertically and keep them in a single drawer. That drawer can be 4″-5″. Anything deeper than that and I tend to pile things in there making it hard to find. So unless there is a specific item you know needs to be in a deep sliding drawer, consider shelving, cabinets or something else where you can organize better. And if you think you won’t pile things into the deeper drawer and you’ll be disciplined about keeping them organized…look around at the horizontal surfaces in your shop! Some people are disciplined and some…need a little help. 🙂
I do agree about keeping it modular. You can drill out mounting holes for the slides all the way up and down the cabinets. Stick with drawers that can be swapped out and replaced easily. Ex: 2, 4, and 6. You can pull out a 6 and replace with 4+2 or (3) 2’s. Obviously you need to account for the drawer clearance and specific slides you’re using, but you get the idea. This isn’t completely custom but it gives you so much flexibility as you acquire and get rid of tools and since you’ve pre-drilled for the slides, it’s easy to build a new drawer, relocate the slide and swap it in.
So with all that said, I would start with the tools you want to accommodate right now, decide whether they need a S, M or L drawer based on how you want to store them and sort out your drawer dimensions for each size. See if it works out on paper. If that plan leaves you needing 8 small drawers and 2 medium, but your cabinet dimensions only allow for 8 small drawers…time to build 2 cabinets! 🙂
John Sullivan
Stuart, a build thread is necessary on this project. I realize that it doesn’t fit neatly with the blog format of your site (as compared to forums) but still– pics or it didn’t happen! Let’s see this work-in-progress and it will keep us coming back for updates.
Good luck with the build, by the way.