Garage cabinets?

[Innovate1]

I need to go through the whats on your walls thread - lots of good ideas but it's LONG... Looking for some cabinets, both floor and upper wall, combination of drawers and shelf/door configuration. Priced at one closet/storage installation place and it was $3000 for about 8' of cabinets installed, gasp! I need that in about 3 places - no way that's going to happen for $9000.

Need some work counters. Most will be fairly light work - no sledge hammers, welding or anything terribly rough but something that will hold up to some light metal work. Maybe a replaceable work surface?

Some of the "organizer" type units use particle board tops - definately not good. One said the top was melamine - not sure if that's just the top coating. Formica like kitchen counters would probably hold up fairly well most places. I will have a more sturdy workbench for more serious work.

I have 14' ceiling so may put some hooks or shelves up high for seldom used stuff. And hang the ladders as high as possible on the walls or maybe some sort of ceiling hanger with rope and pulleys.

Main issue right now is the cabinets and counters for those areas.

 

[ace10]

I've been slowly adding pieces from Pucel.

Made to order. In the USA (Cleveland). Pricing that isn't eye-watering. They will do quotes for custom sizes, within reason.

I'm waiting on a couple of small custom wall cabs to fit between the overhead doors, a large shop desk and a beast of a freestanding cabinet in 12 gauge (1 ton per shelf)

Finish quality probably won't win any awards but that's not a high priority.

The last order was all wall cabinets. 48X14X27 were under $300 per plus freight.

Haven't shopped any base cabs. I think most of that stuff is meant to be freestanding.

 

[Cryptic1911]

ace10, I googled around a bit and found a supplier that sells that brand, and those 48" cabs are in the 350 range there with their markup or whatever. base cabs are like 800-1k+ so those are probably out lol. Too bad because they look damn nice. Just a bit pricey when you want to cover a wall

 

[ez-duzit]

A neighbor, a couple blocks away, was having a yard sale, following a remodel. And I bought all his old upper kitchen cabinets (14 doors worth) for ~$100. These were already painted white with the doors hung. Most of them went along 1 wall of my shop; the rest on the wall in my storage room.

 

[ace10]

ace10, I googled around a bit and found a supplier that sells that brand, and those 48" cabs are in the 350 range there with their markup or whatever. base cabs are like 800-1k+ so those are probably out lol. Too bad because they look damn nice. Just a bit pricey when you want to cover a wall

I've been ordering through these guys

https://www.metalcabinetstore.com/

As i understand it, Pucel is the middle tier product. Stronghold is premium. And there are a couple of lower ones.

My invoice shows $286 for the 48" cabs. Which, IMO is a reasonable way to eat up a lot of wall space. Base cabs are a whole different, beast, but I'm trying to keep stuff up off the floor. The large desk is one of only a few exceptions.

Just offering my experience. And trying to push a bit of the America first mentality.

 

[48windsor]

another good source would be sites like Craigslist,Offerup.Look under free heading .I see them often . In good condition too.

 

[turbodave]

I see cabinets come up pretty frequently and go cheaply in local online auctions.

Here's an auction in your area with a few in it.
https://bid.bclauction.com/cgi-bin/mmlist.cgi?bcl12/category/ALL

 

[u2slow]

A neighbor, a couple blocks away, was having a yard sale, following a remodel. And I bought all his old upper kitchen cabinets (14 doors worth) for ~$100.

I did the same. Best way to get cabinets.

I caution the against filling one's shop with them... they aren't good for everything. I built out a whole wall with 2x4" & plywood shelving for bulkier and heavier items, and have a few units of the 48x18x72" costco shelving,

EDIT: I use the lower level of my rolling scaffolding as a large table for light work. The old bathroom vanities ended up in my shop for a while as benches. Full height table saws (working or not; hopefully with wheels) make reasonable benches too. Plywood cuts, or chunks of old countertop for a work surface you don't care about damaging.

 

[Jack Olsen]

Cheapest, by far, is to make your own storage and work benches. (At least, if you want anything that remotely robust.)

I bought up some used industrial cabinets and used butcher block from different sources (even Ikea) and fixed cheap/damaged models up to make it all work. The total for all the benches and cabinets was $1,500. That's a lot better than anything from a closet place.

 

[Kaizen]

I started with used kitchen cabinets and quickly found they are not conducive to my stuff. Building these that hang in the wall and ledge. Maybe 400 for the ply and 150 for slides. Need some skills and tablesaw but doable for beginner. Just need to learn 1/4 1/4 1/4 method for drawers. Made with shelf pins so I can change easy. All drawers so far. Hold an unbelievable amount of stuff.







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[jake28]

https://www.thisiscarpentry.com/2014/09/19/the-quarter-quarter-quarter-drawer-system/

Info on quarter - quarter - quarter system.

I can wax poetic on building shop cabinets for a while.

Whether or not you have the tools, do you want to spend your time building a bunch of large wooden boxes. If yes, build. If no, buy.

Wall board system:
I’ve found that for items I’m going to be grabbing often, I’m better served by wall boards and open shelves than I am cabinets. Cabinets are for hiding things. Shelves are for showing. Hooks are for easy grabbing and stowing.
Look at your walls and your stuff, and decide where and how much stuff you need ready access to.

Jake

 

[Colin Len]

My biggest recommendation would be to figure out what exactly you need first before diving in. And when I say "what you need" I mean you should have a understanding of the types of things you need to store and how you want them stored.

I found some vintage, metal cabinets on CL for a good deal a few years back and jumped on them. I utilized all of them as best I could in my space. Now, I'm realizing that I have way too much of the wrong type of storage (many cabinets are empty) while also having too little of the right type of storage (I have additional types of storage in other areas and stuff just strewn about). My garage is small so this inefficient use of space makes a huge difference.

I'm currently working on a plan to remove everything from the garage and start from scratch. Which includes making a list of all the stuff I need to store and trying to figure out how much of each type of storage I need. I also went through Jack Olsen's 12-Gauge garage website, page by page as it helped me see how he compartmentalized all the storage and workspaces in his garage. I'm trying to use that same concept of compartmentalization in redesigning my layout.

 

[67carl]

How fancy do you want it? Keep checking Craigslist. I found used kitchen cabinets on Craigslist for very cheap (think about $500 for what's in the pic plus same amount not seen). I plan on painting them at some point. I bought unfinished oak hardwood flooring and a cheap floor gun from Harbor Freight.

 

[Innovate1]

I started with used kitchen cabinets and quickly found they are not conducive to my stuff. Building these that hang in the wall and ledge. Maybe 400 for the ply and 150 for slides. Need some skills and tablesaw but doable for beginner. Just need to learn 1/4 1/4 1/4 method for drawers. Made with shelf pins so I can change easy. All drawers so far. Hold an unbelievable amount of stuff.

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What are you doing for fronts? That all looks doable although making getting something already built would be quicker and have higher SAF.

 

[Innovate1]

My biggest recommendation would be to figure out what exactly you need first before diving in. And when I say "what you need" I mean you should have a understanding of the types of things you need to store and how you want them stored.

I found some vintage, metal cabinets on CL for a good deal a few years back and jumped on them. I utilized all of them as best I could in my space. Now, I'm realizing that I have way too much of the wrong type of storage (many cabinets are empty) while also having too little of the right type of storage (I have additional types of storage in other areas and stuff just strewn about). My garage is small so this inefficient use of space makes a huge difference.

I'm currently working on a plan to remove everything from the garage and start from scratch. Which includes making a list of all the stuff I need to store and trying to figure out how much of each type of storage I need. I also went through Jack Olsen's 12-Gauge garage website, page by page as it helped me see how he compartmentalized all the storage and workspaces in his garage. I'm trying to use that same concept of compartmentalization in redesigning my layout.

Can you elaborate on the what didn't work? Like needed drawers instead of shelves? I get the general idea but it seems like a mix of drawers and cabinets with shelves would cover most things.

 

[nadogail]

In one of my garages you will find the kitchen cabinets that came from our kitchen remodel. The re modeler moved and hung them all for a couple of hundred.

My workshop has Home Depot Mill's Pride cabinets, they have been good.

 

[Colin Len]

Can you elaborate on the what didn't work? Like needed drawers instead of shelves? I get the general idea but it seems like a mix of drawers and cabinets with shelves would cover most things.

I'm sure they'd be great for some people but just aren't working for me. Here are a few items worth noting:

• In general, they are too small. Thus, I'm limited to what can be stored in them. I would prefer larger storage areas where I could store both large and small items.
• Piggybacking off that one... too many doors. I'd rather have a large storage piece with 1-2 doors where I can open one large cabinet and have access to everything vs having to open door after door looking for stuff.
• More piggybacking... since the cabinets are small I can't store all of one type of item in a single cabinet. Instead stuff needs to be spread out over multiple cabinets.
• I've realized I basically don't want any lower cabinets and instead only want drawers. Lower cabinets with fixed shelves mean you need to crouch down to get access. It can be hard to reach stuff at the back of the bottom shelf of a lower cabinet or things simply get lost and forgotten about back there. I was actually lucky and most of my lowers are not like that and they're actually drawers or have pull out shelves. So this isn't bad for me but if I had normal kitchen cabinets I know I'd hate that aspect of it.

Overall, in my situation, they just aren't efficient enough and with a 19'x17' shop that you also store a car in efficiency is extremely important. I've currently been mulling over ideas for a complete overhaul of my layout. In terms of storage here's where I've gotten in my thought process:

• Lower storage should be drawers or pull out shelves whenever possible. Tool boxes and file cabinets are great solutions here. I don't want any deep, lower cabinets where I have to crouch down or reach deep into.
• I want to have some high up, general shelving that can store large things (I plan to use large rubbermaid totes to help organize but could also just put large items up there). I'm thinking about a 16-20" shelf right around top plate height. This would be for stuff I don't access often since I'd need a ladder to get up there.
• Floating, shallow, full height cabinets with sliding doors and adjustable height shelves. Outswing cabinet doors take up a lot of space so I want sliding doors. Deep cabinets are nice but most of the time you don't use the full depth so I'd rather go shallow and have more room for my car. Raising them off the ground by 10-18" could allow for some extra floor space to store other things like jack stands, hydraulic jack, ramps, quickjack, wood/metal stock...etc I'm looking for these cabinets to be at least 36" wide and 12-16" deep.
• Possibly some ceiling mounted storage for the same purpose as my other high up storage shelf.

 

[19Vert64]

...............

 

[Innovate1]

Thanks Colin! Really helps understand the issues. One thing I have here is an 8" high foundation above the floor with a 2" wide "lip". It prevents the cabinets from going tight against the wall. My options seem to be either put them on long legs so they are above the foundation or put blocking behind them and use a slightly wider (deeper) top surface. If the cabinets are 24" deep (I have plenty of width in my space) then finding a top that is wider may be difficult. I don't have much in the way of jacks and such I need to put under them.

 

[ez-duzit]

...It prevents the cabinets from going tight against the wall...

Simply notch the cabinets to clear the protrusion.

 

[Colin Len]

Thanks Colin! Really helps understand the issues. One thing I have here is an 8" high foundation above the floor with a 2" wide "lip". It prevents the cabinets from going tight against the wall. My options seem to be either put them on long legs so they are above the foundation or put blocking behind them and use a slightly wider (deeper) top surface. If the cabinets are 24" deep (I have plenty of width in my space) then finding a top that is wider may be difficult. I don't have much in the way of jacks and such I need to put under them.

I have a similar situation in my garage with a 2x6 sill plate but 2x4 wall framing. When I installed mine I spaced the cabinets out from the wall. The cabinets but right up against the sill plate and I added a 2x4 ledger on the wall right at the top of the cabinets and screwed them to that. So they're solid up against the sill plate and the ledger rather than the wall itself. I didn't mind this solution at all as it added 1.5" to the depth of my workbench top.

But, as the OP above mentioned you could possibly notch the cabinets. And as you mentioned you could raise them up and then have a taller height bench top. Seems that gives you 3 options to weigh and then see what fits your needs best.

I'm actually looking at going with a taller bench top as well. I want to ditch my lower cabinets in one spot in favor of lateral filing cabinets. These should be PERFECT for power tool storage. They come in 2 drawer and 3 drawer height. 2 Drawer is much shorter than a standard height counter so I'd need to shim the file cabinet up or find a way to utilize the gap between the cabinet and the bench top. Or, I could go with the 3 drawer height and put the bench top right on the cabinet. This would yield a 40-42" bench top height. Which I think will work pretty well and getting 50% more drawers is much more ideal than dealing with utilizing the gap space I'd have if I used a 2 drawer cabinet.

 

[Kaizen]

What are you doing for fronts? That all looks doable although making getting something already built would be quicker and have higher SAF.

Simple would be overlay faces so the sides stop the drawer. I’m going more complicated with some live edge stuff but same concept.
I do like the idea of routed finger pulls so there are not any hardware to catch my pockets on.
The cabinet instructions are on fine woodworking g or family handyman. Google garage cabinets.
I think it took me a day to get, breakdown, final dimention, and make the joints. Then another for the drawers. I did a few deep for routers and circular saws and the rest I think are 5” x 36” x26”deep. Love it.
I went this way For the cost savings and ability to make what I need.



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[Kaizen]

Simply notch the cabinets to clear the protrusion.

This is what I pictured above. Not only no wasted inches but supports cabinet.
I used thick ply so no legs needed even with 100s of pounds in each one.


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[Innovate1]

Simple would be overlay faces so the sides stop the drawer. I’m going more complicated with some live edge stuff but same concept.
I do like the idea of routed finger pulls so there are not any hardware to catch my pockets on.
The cabinet instructions are on fine woodworking g or family handyman. Google garage cabinets.
I think it took me a day to get, breakdown, final dimention, and make the joints. Then another for the drawers. I did a few deep for routers and circular saws and the rest I think are 5” x 36” x26”deep. Love it.
I went this way For the cost savings and ability to make what I need.



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On the fronts I was thinking overlay. Often the edges on such faces are edge routed for a more finished look. Easiest/cheapest would be plywood but routing the edge might be harder to get a good look. Just wondering about how to finish the edges without a ton of effort. Don't need anything elegant but was thinking something better than just a square cut would be good - maybe just rounded corners and a small radius around the edge.

 

[toyotadriver]

I’ve been buying Seville cabinets from Sams and online. Both wall cabinets and floor mounted. I like them. Pretty well made, good finish, and nice looking. Pretty reasonable prices too.

 

[Kaizen]

On the fronts I was thinking overlay. Often the edges on such faces are edge routed for a more finished look. Easiest/cheapest would be plywood but routing the edge might be harder to get a good look. Just wondering about how to finish the edges without a ton of effort. Don't need anything elegant but was thinking something better than just a square cut would be good - maybe just rounded corners and a small radius around the edge.

Really comes down to what you like. I’m going for seamless modern look.
You can face it with solid wood or glue hardwood strips that you can round over. That’s the time consuming stuff that can kill your drive.
If you do a rounded corner you will need a faceframe or you will see the carcass edge. Easy to do but again additional work


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[Innovate1]

I had kind of assumed a face frame but see that it isn't needed if the drawer fronts are sized to meet up and cover the sides of the frame.

 

[Kaizen]

One last tip that I tried on this project.
Use metric for measurements. Especially for fitting things into another space like drawers into the carcass. I find it much easier to just subtract whole numbers then mess with 32nds of an inch.
We Americans have a stigma against using it but in my eyes it’s just another tool in my arsenal. I still use imperial for framing.


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[ez-duzit]

...Use metric for measurements...

Once you learn the decimal equivalents of fractions it is easy to do the math in decimals.

 

[paredown]

I got dead lucky this summer. After missing out on some free and cheap kitchen cabinets on Facebook--I went for a bike ride and spotted a set being tossed. No bases, just uppers which is what I wanted. (I plan to build some bases with drawers like the ones in this thread.)

Grabbed on load that day--kept a watch out and more appeared a day or so later--grabbed a few more so I got about 10' of uppers--centered the short ones where I plan to add hanging or cleat storage, and managed to get a whole lot of the small light stuff put away.

I had to match doors with cabinets, and spend a few bucks to replace all of the hinge screws that they removed instead of unclipping the doors--but the price was definitely right!

 

[Lynden]

My woodshop storage is Craftsman, the red/black color which I bought at various times during sales at Sears. I have the workbench with two under-bench cabinets, three tall cabinets, two tall 48" wide shelf units and two small 3-drawer tool chests. I also have a small work area at the front of my garage which has a workbench with drawers I built and a small rolling tool chest.

Image from Internet

 

[t_brown]

Started working on this yesterday.

 

[Innovate1]

I have a lot of less than full sheets of 1/2" plywood from doing the inside of the shop. So I am thinking of making at least some of them. Any suggestions for good slides and hinges that won't break the bank?

Part of the idea was to have a wood workshop so why not start with some fairly simple cabinets...

 

[rayra]

Thanks Colin! Really helps understand the issues. One thing I have here is an 8" high foundation above the floor with a 2" wide "lip". It prevents the cabinets from going tight against the wall. My options seem to be either put them on long legs so they are above the foundation or put blocking behind them and use a slightly wider (deeper) top surface. If the cabinets are 24" deep (I have plenty of width in my space) then finding a top that is wider may be difficult. I don't have much in the way of jacks and such I need to put under them.

well, "Innovate", you notch the back bottom of your cabinets so they fit snug against the wall.

The answers are all in the big topic you chose not to look at.

 

[Kaizen]

I have a lot of less than full sheets of 1/2" plywood from doing the inside of the shop. So I am thinking of making at least some of them. Any suggestions for good slides and hinges that won't break the bank?

Part of the idea was to have a wood workshop so why not start with some fairly simple cabinets...

I got these. Like I said plenty strong holding a lot of weight.
I did wide cabinets to save on drawer slides cost. Think I used one sheet of 3/4 for each cabinet

10 Pack Berta Full Extension Ball Bearing Drawer Slides 22-Inch 100Lb Load Rating (10 Pairs) https://www.amazon.com/dp/B06Y3HQ2YK/?tag=atomicindus08-20


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[Innovate1]

well, "Innovate", you notch the back bottom of your cabinets so they fit snug against the wall.

The answers are all in the big topic you chose not to look at.

Notching is the obvious first thought and would be easy with shelf cabinets but for drawer cabinets it seems that would be a lot of work to shorten the lower drawer and/or tracks.

Not sure what you are referring to as the "big topic". There are no stickies in this section that I can see. The only mention of notching I see in this topic are after I asked the question.

 

[ez-duzit]

...it seems that would be a lot of work to shorten the lower drawer and/or tracks...

So simple to shorten the drawer and replace the track.

 

[theoldwizard1]

One said the top was melamine - not sure if that's just the top coating. Formica like kitchen counters would probably hold up fairly well most places.

Melamine is just the top layer, like Formica. Both are typically glued to particle board. Unless you have a heated garage or live in a very dry area (SW), particle board will absorb moisture out of the air and eventually swell popping off what ever is on top.

It might be acceptable for a counter top, but don't spend a lot of money and make sure you can replace it.

Garage cabinets. Metal for durability. Plastic.

 

[Innovate1]

Melamine is just the top layer, like Formica. Both are typically glued to particle board. Unless you have a heated garage or live in a very dry area (SW), particle board will absorb moisture out of the air and eventually swell popping off what ever is on top.

It might be acceptable for a counter top, but don't spend a lot of money and make sure you can replace it.

Garage cabinets. Metal for durability. Plastic.

Yep. I realized after I posted that I have put up some melamine shelves. Just a thin coating. Ok for shelves that are light duty. Not good for a work surface for even fairly light work in my opinion.

 

[Renegade1LI]

Trying to utilize all the space, the toe kick drawers worked out well, hold a lot stuff. Now I need to make all the doors & try to make them look finished. I have had good luck making utility cabinets & jigs with this high density form plywood, comes in 1/2 & 5/8 with a resin finish.