hey all,
I am looking at the cost of good solid cabinets for the garage and choking a bit. I am looking for ideas for floor standing cabinets 6ft tall or so and maybe 4 ft wide. They are about 400 a piece at Lowes and was thinking I could build them a bit cheaper. It would also give me a chance to add roll out shelves, etc.I would love to order some Listas, but they arent in the budget. Thoughts? Pics?
My workbench is a former lunch counter - with a double 3/4" plywood top - that I paid $5.00 for.
I have old metal kitchen cabinets hanging over it that I paid nothing for. I made the mistake of telling the guy what I was going to use them for, and he decided to keep the base cabinets for his own garage.
I have recently been scouring my local Craigslist for filing cabinets, and have scored well.
I have a number of two-drawers that are going under my benches, a half-dozen legal and letter-sized four-drawers that are being set up in various areas of my shop.
I picked up four lateral-drawer files - one two-drawer that will have casters attached and become a rollaway for a ten-drawer toolbox, one three-drawer with six rollout shelves, that was once a media storage cabinet, one standard four drawer and another with doors that flip up and drawers/shelves that slide out.
I paid a total of $50 for all the lateral cabinets, and less than $20 for each of the "standard" file cabinets - including a couple of freebies, one for a dollar and one for 50 cents.
I recently missed out on a couple of FREE blueprint files - aka "flat" or "map" files - by "this much."
I only buy the cabinets with roller drawers - no slides - so they will support loads a little better.
Interestingly, it seems that while people will buy the "standard" used file cabinet for home use, the used lateral files just sit there until they are almost given away.
I think it is because most businesses that use lateral files - such as a doctor's office - wants them to look good and match, leaving little market for used ones.
I outwaited one lateral file that started at $150, but I eventually bought for $20. She was moving and had to get rid of it.
Craigslist, yard sales, businesses that are closing, etc. are the places to look.
Oh yeah, I've also gotten a few nice drawer units by disassembling cheap/free small metal desks, and I've picked up a couple of lightweight kitchen carts from the "free" pile at yard sales.
Just let your imagination go!
