Lowe’s looks to have come out with a new Kobalt adjustable height workbench, featuring 2 drawers, the option of leveling feet or casters, and a wood work top.
It has a 300 lb weight capacity, and the model I saw has a 48″ x 24″ worktop.
The Kobalt workbench looks fairly decent. They advertises that it’s “Perfect for use in your garage, workshop, home office, or craft room, accommodating various work environments.”
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It can support far less than many fixed-leg workbenches, but the height adjustment is convenient if not essential.
At $279, it seems reasonably average priced.
And here’s the Husky at Home Depot in a slightly larger size at the same $279 price.
Husky has these workbenches in multiple sizes (lengths of 46″, 52″ as shown, 62″, and 72″), in 2 colors (white, black), and they also have options without drawers. Kobalt’s only looks to be available with a 48″ length in white.
Comparing the Kobalt 48″ workbench to the Husky 52″ from Home Depot, the two look extremely similar if not identical.
I’m going to presume that the same OEM company pitched and sold to Lowe’s the same design that they’ve been selling to Home Depot.
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I’ve assembled 2 of the Husky workbenches – 1 test sample that I gave away and then 1 that I purchased – and have been pleased with every step. Hopefully ordering from Lowe’s offers a similar experience.
It is strange, however, for there to not be any differences aside from size and the name badge. Or is it? Should this type of duplication be expected in the modern tool world? Where’s the originality?
Hon Cho
We have one from HD used as a standing desk. Works well. Pain to put together.
PW
Ha! Exactly same! I bought a one-drawer model to use as a sit-stand desk. For my body size, computer setup, and the space I have, it works perfectly. It’s been perfectly robust enough for that role over a couple of years.
I had mine shipped to home, and it did arrive with some slight damage to the work top. I called Home Depot and negotiated a discount that I thought was fair. But I did think it was poorly packaged for shipment, given it’s size and weight.
Jared
I think it would be most interesting if those two tables weren’t from the same OEM.
Assuming they are, I suppose this is just an outcome of how the manufacturer’s contract was written with Home Depot. Likely they weren’t allowed to sell the same models to Home Depot’s biggest competitor – and they got around that by selling a different model of the same thing.
I don’t know that that is all that weird. Lots of tool manufacturers supply various brands and you see re-labelled products from various brands. This one is just a bit more visually obvious.
Josh
One of these has been on my list for years now. They hardly ever pop up used so that must be a good sign.
This might be the year I give in and buy new.
Bonnie
I’m not sure why we’d expect anything different. A desk (or workbench) is a desk is a desk. Legs, tops, and drawers like this have been pretty well standardized for a long time now. Aside from sit-stand becoming popular I can’t think of any reason to reinvent the desk/workbench wheel nor any company that has done so since at least WW2 (and well before). Even in the faddish world of Woodworking most benches are just minor variations on designs from hundreds or thousands of years ago.
White-label products aren’t new to the “modern tool world”. Neither Husky nor Kobalt are first-party manufacturers as far as I know, and just like the heyday of Sears Craftsman you can probably find any tool they brand from another maker somewhere.
Stuart
It’s not bad, but not good either.
When the same product launches under various brands, that does nothing for innovation and doesn’t drive the industry forward. Competition is good. This isn’t true competition.
Bonnie
I get that, and agree in a lot of realms… But what innovation is there for a solid worksurface and drawer? Every “innovation” I’ve seen is just a gimmick.
There are some very nice (and very expensive) general purpose workbenches out there from Lista, Benchpro, Proline, etc. But at the end of the day they’re all still a worktop on metal legs with either one or two side drawers at your lap and one or more cabinets on the side. Not fundamentally different to what’s on offer here except in price point. Unless you’re looking for some really specialized surfaces like a ball-transfer bench or something.
Jerry
The 2 work benches aren’t the same at all maybe the paint and surface but that’s about it, I’ll admit from the untrained eye they do look a like, I can see there from 2 different manufacturers. The issue isn’t about Lowe’s or homedepot it’s the manufacturers, they see a competitor come out with a product that seems to sell really good and they come out with something very similar. Every company does it from car’s to homes even food manufacturers come out with similar things that there competitors have. Buy what you want and don’t worry about what other places might be selling.
Hon Cho
Huh, how is it not “true competition”? Both chains sell many identical products, both commodities and store labeled items that are functionally identical if not actually identical from the same manufacturers. Home Depot and Lowes compete on lots of facets other than the actual product being sold. They compete on location, store layout, cleanliness or lack thereof, competency or incompetency of staff, their websites and much more.
Stuart
I’m talking about these particular Husky and Kobalt products, not Home Depot and Lowe’s in a broader sense.
Many products are functionally identical but distinct. There’s very little distinction between the two workbench designs.
Amatts
Wow not so long ago you would have to build your own appears to be a good value
Michael Tarpinian
I did not need one when I saw it at HD. But what first came to mind was that it would make a great work from home desk.
Matt
The bad thing is that you can get an adjustable standing/sitting office desk that looks and functions and has the same weight limit as these but for about $100 less!
Hon Cho
but not nearly as sturdy.
eddiesky
Would be nice feature if the option to use screwgun to lower/raise top? I mean, ok its a crank but how is it fastened?
Also, how low? how high? do these go? Nothing on the Lowes page other than depth and width. 42″ max height but how lowe? (get it? Lowe? Because Lowe’s page doesn’t indicate it. Shows 42″ H … .
Ok, Home Depot shows “from 26″ to 42” high. I would buy from HD just because it doesn’t lack info. 😛
Wish it had other color. Could make a nice outfeed table for my planer or saw.
Matt
The hand crank uses a 10mm hex/allen key to dive the mechanism. As an experiment I used a 10mm hex key socket with an adapter into an installation driver and was able to “motorise” the desk.
adam
I use one (from HD) for a work-from-home desk. The hand crank has a small rubber gasket that holds it into a 10mm socket. I bought a 10mm hex bit socket with 1/4” hex drive adapter and use a small driver to raise/lower it.
Doresoom
It’s 10mm hex drive for the lifting mechanism.
Mike
The Husky video at HD is pretty helpful, it shows someone cranking the height adjustment, it shows how the crosspiece can be changed for standing or sitting, and other just valuable info to see in action. I’d definitely buy the Husky over the Kobalt just because they seem to want to help me make an informed decision.
frobo
I bought a bunch of these from HD a couple years ago, for use as desks. They worked out well, with only one problem. When the mechanism was lowered to conventional desk height, the drawers interfered with the person’s knees. Many of the guys removed the bottom drawer to provide more knee room.
Jared
I was wondering about that when I saw it. As a workbench, having a full-width drawer below the work surface seems handy. But I wondered if there was still room for your knees when working while seated. Thanks for sharing.
PW
HD has a one-drawer model that worked out for me in this regard, but YMMV based on your body dimensions.
Matt
This design reaches further than just Lowes and Home Depot. I live in New Zealand and purchased an un-branded one of these from Bunnings (a big-box hardware store in Australia and New Zealand). I paid 400 NZD (approx. 225 USD).
Robert Dailey
Both Lowe’s and HD offer price matching/beating by 10%. If they offer the exact same thing for the same price then they have to compete. If they offer slightly different things at the same price they don’t have to honor the stated “price matching”
Either way these are handy little workbenches no matter whose name is stuck on it
s
i don’t know if that the price matching applies to house-brand gear.
being that one is kobalt and one is husky, this is really going to be akin to trying to price-match a toyota corolla and a geo prism.
it most likely will depend on how friendly you are to the sales staff
Scott K
This looks like a really handy product. I’ve recently gotten in the habit of using Google’s image search if I like something that appears to be a white label product. I found that an identical product was sold by HD, Walmart, and Wayfair for significantly different prices and we saved quite a bit not going with the site we originally found it on.
ElectroAtletico
“Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery that mediocrity can pay to greatness.”
— Oscar Wilde
Bill
I’m 6’6″ tall, and got one of these from HD for my kitchen, so I’d have a countertop that’s height appropriate so I wouldn’t get a back ache when I’m doing meal prep; at its full height, I can work without hunching over. It’s easy to keep clean, and the draws make nice storage for spices and utensils.
Mike
I spent some time visiting in a hospital recently. If you remove the right vertical leg from this, it looks exactly like the table used with the hospital bed.
Oarman
I picked up one of the Husky 62″ ones on a BF deal. The drawers are really big (especially on the wider desks) and really shallow, not too sure what to do with them. If they weren’t such a low price add over the drawerless version it’d make more sense to get a small cabinet to put underneath. The desk itself is a heck of a lot sturdier than a regular office-grade adjustable desk.
The Husky logo isn’t very nice to look at (compared to, say, Gladiator’s more subtle branding) but the Kobalt one manages to be even more garish.
Nate B
I popped the Husky logo off immediately when it got home. Only 2 small pegs hold it on by pressure fit. Was going to fill the small holes, but I forgot about them lol.
John Fleisher
I bought one of these as a desk when I moved into my last house. Loved it so much I bought a second as a gun smithing/reloading bench. No issues at all.
Terry
It’s hard to beat the UltraHD adjustable height work tables by Seville Classics. I have three and couldn’t be happier. I have the 48″, 60″ and 72″ all in red with butcher block tops and I’m buying another 48″ this week. I think they’re on sale right now. The 72″ is at Sam’s.
J . Newell
Bet you’re right! I bought one of the HD tables at a closeout price and have been very happy with it.
Erik
I picked up the Home Depot version on a $50 off black Friday/Cyber whatever deal. I got it specifically as a mobile outfeed or support table that can adjust to the different heights of each of my saws (table, band, miter), really helpful so far in my small shop with everything on wheels.
Josephus
Looks similar to one I bought for use as a raised platform to make an outside cat house. The feet are the same, the upper part would be the variable depending on shelves or other additions.
Paid $60 for it, put it together pretty easily. Didn’t come with a worktop (at all) but cats are happy with plywood cut to fit. Raised up enough that there’s an upper deck and a lower one, one insulated and one not, both sheltered from rain.
If I had room in the garage I wouldn’t mind having one of these for human use. I’ll price watch them closer.
MattT
They should at least reinforce the Kobalt branding with a blue option.
Jim Felt
I purchased the 72” two drawer version from HD during the COVID era in a fit of curiosity. After unboxing it and assembly it’s kinda sadly served as a catch-all for several mid journey projects.
Seems modestly sturdy but it’s really closer to a wooden (not Steelcase) drafting table use than a “work” bench use.
I may gift it eventually?
Eric
Keep an eye out at your local HD for these. The tops scratch fairly easily and I’ve been able to buy two at a discount because of that. They make great outfeed tables and side tables for the miter saw. I only use one as a workstation to I framed in a bin to the bottom of the one I move the most for my offcuts and cordless shopvac. Makes keeping thing neat simpler.
Jay
They are identical except the name and the different sizes. My father in law got his first one from Homedepot already assembled last summer. This week he wanted another one for a particular area in the house but needed it smaller than the first one he got. We found it at Lowes of course at the smaller size he needed and it was branded differently of course BUT the Lowes one I had to put together myself. Pretty much the same price, with in a few dollars but Homedepot’s was already assembled and Lowes wasn’t. Lucky for me the assembly wasn’t hard at all, these are well built, not cheaply made at all. I would have liked to seen the Lowes brand a little cheaper since you have to assemble yourself. I’d bet a Buffalo nickel they are made by the same company and just branded based off the contract. Happens all over with batteries, filters etc. Nothing new.