Cabinets and Drawers for storage?

[Dodgepu360]

Ok guys I want to hear your advice/opinions

I am buying a house that has a 20X30 shop out back and I want to build some cabinets and workbenches. I was thinking of having lots of built in drawers and cabinets to store my tools and stuff would work and look pretty good. The shop is kinda small so I want to make the most use the space as possible.
So:
What size drawers (width and height) should I have the most of?
I was thinking around 20-22 inches deep with full extension slides.
What is a good distance in between shelves (from the top of one to the bottom of the one above it)?
I was thinking 20-24 inches deep under the work surface and 12-16 inches deep above it.
Do you like to put stuff on shelves more or in drawers more?
I want to know which I should have more of.
Anything else you want to add?

Thanks

 

[boiler7904]

I'm in a similar position. I'm buying a house in August with a 20' x 22' garage (wishing it was much bigger). So I've started kicking around ideas about what I want to do as well.

The first thing that you need to do is look at what you're going to be storing. Different people with different stuff have different storage needs.

Most countertops are about 24" deep, so I think your under counter shelf depth is in the right ballpark. Above the work surface, 10" or 12" is the deepest that I would go for a simple reason. The deeper shelves get, the more stuff gets put in front of other stuff. If you can't see what's in back, you won't use what's in back. You end up with tons of extra half empty bottles and cans of all kinds of stuff. Stuff in front also gets knocked off reaching for stuff in the back. As far as the vertical height between shelves, make the shelves adjustable if possible. No matter how well you plan, you'll end up having to store something that is 1/4" taller than your shelf spacing. Don't fight it. It's inevitible.

Don't get me wrong, drawers have their place, but to me they tend to just catch a bunch of ****. My future father in law has about 16 24" wide x 24" deep x 6" tall drawers in his garage. Even if he tells me which drawer something is in, I have to hunt for the one item that i'm looking for. If you go with drawers, 20-22" on full extension slides seems like the right answer. Keep in mind that there are multiple levels of slide quality and weight capacity and select accordingly.

Two other things that I'll throw out: 1) You might want to include some cabinets both above and below your work surface. It make everything look less cluttered and the contents don't collect as much dust. Plus they can be locked if you have kids who want to get into chemicals. 2) The other thing is your wall height. The tops of most wall cabinets are only 7'-0" above the floor. If you have a 9' or 10' ceiling, why not add extra storage (cabinets or open shelves) above for less used items. These shelves/cabinets could deeper to accomodate bulky items. Depending on the building layout, you could probably wrap most of the perimeter of the building with high shelves / cabinets for storage of odds and ends.

This next item is the most important (jokingly): DO NOT LEAVE SHELVES OR CABINETS EMPTY if you are married or live with your significant other. She will fill the space and it will never be reclaimed for your use.

Hope all of this helps.

 

[maa139]

What Boiler said. I just reclaimed a few cabinets from a kitchen remodel and must say that having some of the smaller things (antiseize, caliper grease, bearing grease, etc) off of a shelf and out of site is very nice. Right now on my open shelves are things like antifreeze, ww fluid, and cases of oil. You need to have both kinds of storage, and the dimensions of drawers really depends on what's going in the drawers. I'd think that you might want to set it up similar to a rolling tool chest. Some deeper drawers, and some shallow drawers, but that's just me.

The one thing that I disagree with Boiler on is reclaiming empty space. All you need to do to get your space back is to smudge some grease or oil on something white that doesn't belong to you that's in your space. Once it's discovered your space will be all yours again...

Hey, wait a minute! What the hell is she doing in YOUR garage anyway????

 

[astroracer]

I just did a COMPLETE makeover on my shop this past winter. These are few things I did to improve my storage and organization.
1) I took down all of the shelves except for one stand-a-lone unit that is 11 1/4" deep x 4' w x 8' tall. My experience is stuff on shelves just collects dirt, dust and spiders.
2) Everything in my shop is on casters except for one bench. Casters allow you to move stuff for working AND cleaning...
3) I bought some inexpensive wall cabinets at Home Depot for $25 ea. Now, whatever was on shelves (and didn't get tossed while "purging the system") is in the cabinets.
4) Yard sales are your friend. I have found so many of my cabinets for cheap it is almost embarassing.
Here are some pics so you can see what I am talking about.
I paid $80.00 for this Base unit. It was dropped as they were unloading it at Lowes. Some casters and a top made a nice mobile work station.

I got two of these at a yard sale for $15 dollars each...

$25 dollar wall cabinet.

The open shelf unit.
It has dadoes cut every six inches for shelf adjustment. The pic was taken as I was starting to paint...

My shop as it is now...

Mark

 

[DIGGER_DAVE]

As time goes along, and you collect more "gems"; you will ALWAYS be looking for more storage space.

Places I use for shelves-
Over the man door,
Over the overhead door, (just make sure the overhead door doesn't hit them when they are LOADED!)
Over the tool box; - get the idea?

I don't have a single square foot of wall space that isn't a cupboard, a drawer or a shelf! (with some benches and a tool box - BIG - in between)

 

[Rickster]

I built my shelves to accomodate those Strerlite plastic bins. With the tops off and stored behind the bin I can pull the bin forward to check out the contents and then just slide them back.