Tool Chest Drawer Count? Min or Max?

[BryanPendleton]

On the market for a tool chest to replace my 20-year Craftsman, which I have out grown. My tool box primarily is for auto repair and I do not store my power tools in it short of cordless drill and impact.

I am shopping the ~42"-~46" wide rolling chests, but my concern is you don't know what you don't know and I don't know what impact total drawer count can play. I like to look at the extremes, and if you have two tool chests, both with 25,000ci of storage space, but one is 2 drawers and the other is 40 drawers, you probably are not going to be happy with either solution. Somewhere is the middle is probably good, but what are your experiences and lessons-learned with regard to drawer count?

 

[Bessy]

It comes down to personal preference. Like you, I don't store power tools in my main box, so in many ways I would say I prefer square inch count over cubic inch count. I like to keep my stuff laying flat or nearly flat, such that I am able to see a tool and pick it up without having to dig or search too much for what I'm looking for (curse you, Adam Savage and your "first order retrievability"!)

I bought the VRB-4211 bottom box from SPG International (Canadian made), 42" wide, 18" deep with 11 drawers. My biggest issue with this box is I would have liked a few more 1" drawers. I find them handy for things like screwdrivers and wrenches mostly. Pliers go on racks in a 4" deep drawer as do sockets/rats with extensions in small drawer organizer trays separated by drive size.

The only drawers that I have that involve any real digging are my "specialty" (occasional use stuff like piston ring compressor, ring pliers, tester tools, etc) and the narrow/deep drawer in the bottom right that has gloves/rags/flashlight/fishtape/other odds and ends. These two drawers I don't mind having to look for something because I'm not in them all the time.

Hope this helps some.

B.

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[crewchief888]

i prefer more drawers.

always been that way..

thats why (for the most part) newer toolboxes dont "appeal" to me, not nearly enough shallow (height wise) drawers, and some seem to be missing a large deep drawer...

 

[LXCam]

You need to figure that out based upon your tools. I'll say that you need at least a 4" deep drawer for sockets and 3" deep drawers for wrenches if you are using wrench racks and are larger than 1" in sizes. After that it is totally dependent upon how you decide to sort and store with what you got.

Right now for my mechanical hand tools I have a total of 29 drawers and would give my left nut to have 2 3" drawers in place of my three 42" wide, 2" deep drawers so I could sort my pliers in racks. When I decided to build my set up I looked long and hard at lay out and still made only a couple mis-judgements.

 

[Mr_B]

Yeh I too tend prefer more shallow drawers within sensible reason.
To many deep drawers tend waste space or end in stacking stuff 2 or 3 deep .
I never stored sockets upright in deep drawer, is the craze these days with the long deep socketry drawer .

 

[MikeF2316]

I hate piling tools on other tools, so I like lots of thin drawers. You need 3" drawers for large wrenches if you're going to use wrench racks. 4" is enough for 99% of sockets if you stand them up, but you may prefer 5" for that.

 

[Mikeske]

I actually prefer the sockets in a upright manner due to fact that the sockets are easily seen and accounted for. I was in the aviation world and everything had to be accounted for at all times. So sockets upright and at attention in its own place is what I like.

It would be nice if you go in to your CP and put your location down if you are in the United States I look at a Harbor Freight toolboxes. The US General 44" is probably the best bang for the buck I have seen. I liked the 44" so well I bought 2 of them and 2 side boxes and a locker fr all my tools.

After 44 years between aviation and being a vehicle mechanic I have a lot of tools and they were all over the place. Now they are in one location.

 

[stikman56]

Couple of deep drawers, one for sockets to stand straight up on their holders so I can quickly ID them and one for air tools/cordless tools, then bunch of shallow for the rest is what I like.

 

[ThrifyGarage]

My 26" tool box fits all my tools well. If I were to do it over again I would likely go for a lower box 44" to 56" in size and build it into a workbench 2' off the ground. I dislike the bottom and top drawers.

 

[BryanPendleton]

I hate piling tools on other tools, so I like lots of thin drawers. You need 3" drawers for large wrenches if you're going to use wrench racks. 4" is enough for 99% of sockets if you stand them up, but you may prefer 5" for that.

And that is why it is time for an upgrade for me. My 26" chest is just drawers with piled up tools

 

[sk farmer]

i think as a base any any 40 plus cabinet is ok as long as it has something in the line of 12-15 drawers with at least one wide drawer and one deep drawer.

that said i find most cabinets to be a huge waste of space for storing things like screwdrivers, picks, scrapers, punches, chisels and other relatively flat things. they just don't need drawers 2-3 inches deep and 30 or 40 inches wide.

pliers, wrenches and socket can be stored in racks upright to save space and be organised. those things work pretty well in base cabinets.

it is just tough to beat an old fashioned 6 drawer chest or machinist chest for storing smaller things with their smaller drawers