I’m designing wall cabinets for the shop, to hold power tools, hand tools, and the assorted stuff that lives in a shop.
I’m going to wall hang them. The walls in the shop are ten foot tall, so the cabinets are going to be quite a bit taller than normal uppers, at 48-inches.
I’m still trying to decide how deep to make them. The standard 12-inches that most uppers are seems too shallow. Does anyone have recommendations?
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Replies
That depends upon the depth of your base cabs. You need some room to hang your head over the counter.
In my laundry, because of the extra depth of the machines and shutoff access/pipe venting behind, my uppers there are 16". In my shop, the base cabs are the usual 24" deep, therefore my uppers are 12".
But you may wanna include some hidey hole in the framing.
Edited 5/17/2009 1:52 am by peteshlagor
I guess I should have given a few more details. No base cabinets. I have a couple of mobile workbenches / assembly tables that are 32X80-inches, that will dock on the wall below these cabinets. They have 24-inch deep cabinets built into the bases, that have drawers and sliding trays. These cabs will be for things like jigs, extra router bases, automotive tools I use every few years, the blow molded cases for tools.
Part of my shop is the same way. I've got a row of 12" uppers at the same height as those over the counters.
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These uppers have the top shelf connected between them with an opening. I can get 8' stock stored up inside them.
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That last corner cabinet hides the dust collector.
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Vented outside, thru the wall. Note I got an air line and the three sets of outlets under the uppers are each on a different circuit. I figger I'm gonna put a wooden workbench there.
How much stuff you willing to loose at the back of them?
I've got some deep wall cabinets that I store aerosol cans, paint, stain etc. You can't see what's in back without unloading the front rows. However they work nice for power tools.
When I had the ten foot barn shop, I made the upper shelfs deeper too. I don't remember for sure but I think they were 16".
I probably made the bench slightly larger. I think I used three 2x10s which totals about 28". I could climb a small ladder and walk down the entire workbench to access the upper shelves. I did not put doors on them. It made the area look cluttered but I could see where things were in an instant.
i'm not a big fan of deep cabinets. if they are deep enough to stack stuff in,the back stuff gets lost.
i can't think of any tool besides a chop saw that won't set in a 12" shelf with about 14" spacing on height.
i really prefer mine to be about 6-10" deep ,lots of shelves and open with no doors,lets me see what is there.
one big plus with 12" is you get more out of a sheet of ply than with 16" width.
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I have 1x12 shelves (11.5)in my shop, the last vestiges of the previous owner. I am going back with something around 16-18" when I get the time to mess with it. My tools in those plastic cases stick out beyond the shelf and other things just don't fit at all.
I think I would start with the size of a "milk box" as a minimum since they are handy organizers.
Edited 5/17/2009 11:57 am ET by gfretwell
Sometimes I regret the 16" deep shelves I have. Disregarding the piles on the saw bench, stuff gets lost in the depth of those shelves. I have better (but not much) storage in my van with a roll out shelving arrangement that only allows a one item depth.
Also, non-shop related items will find their way onto your carefully organized shelves and then you won't be able to find them, either.
I;m not sure you want cabinets; I am sure you don't want to use kitchen or bath cabinets, though!
"Deep" is bad, and enclosed is bad, in my opinion. Solid shelves are bad. Let me explain why.
The deeper the shelf, the harder it is to access stuff in back. IF you are sure you really want cabinets, replace the shelves with full-extension slides.
How deep? I find the depth should vary .... with a shelf less then 18" above the table best kept to no more than 4" deep. At 24" above the table, you can go to 6" deep; at 30" you can go to 8", and so on, with the maximum depth being 16", for the top shelf only, at about 78" from the floor.
Look at it this way: Stand in front of the bench, and extend your arm. It will likely just fall short of touching the wall. As you pivot your arm up, the arc describes the area where you can easily grab items. Stuff farther back will be hard to reach.
I like wire shelves because they let light through - reducing the chance of small stuff being lost in the shadows.
There are also different hanging systems out there. "Pegboard," "slatwall," "Smart Wall," and Akro-Mils bins all have their uses. Each system has a variety of shelves and baskets available.
I have several office storage units setting mobile base units. Two of them are the standard 16" deep shelved units and two are 24"storage units. I have used one of the 16" deep units to store most of the portable tool cases (kreg, trim nailers,detail sander, biscuit joiner, etc) and it great for that. The other 16" unit I store nails, screws, anchors, and such in. It is a PITA to find anything in that thing. All those fasteners are in clear palstic jars, but the one I need at any time is always in the back. One of the 24" deep cabinet also stores larger tool cases and the extra depth gets cluttered up with caulk tube, propane bottles, and anything else that will fit infront of the tool I need at any particular time.
The best thing about any of the units is the doors keep the dust out.
I think your wall units should be no deeper than the largest tool case (depth) that you will put in it. After that, you will load them up with other stuff that will always be in your way when you want to get something out. It is one of the correlaries to Murphy's Law, and maybe the law of entrophy. Every odered thing will soon tend to the maximum stae of disorder!
Just put doors on them, so you can see the chaos going on in there.
That is why I like things in some kind of tote (like a milk box) on the shelf.
You can pull it out and sort through it on the floor. If you are really organized each tote has everything you need for a particular task. I have never reached that level of sophistication but I do try to keep electrical stuff separate from plumbing stuff.
I scored a shallow drawer lateral file cabinet a few months ago. The drawers are just deep enough for medium size plastic jars or maybe a tool case to about the size of a DeWalt 18v cordless drill case. It will move from the garage to the shop building when I get some more of DW mosaic stuff out of my shop and into her studio. Then someting is going in the lateral file, either tolls or sorted fasteners. It has clear plastic label holders on each drawer and I intend to label each drawer for content. Might help the stuff find its' way back to the right place since I know it is moving around on me, when my back is turned.
I like the idea of pull out cases or trays.
Hi Jigs-n-fixtures,
the cabinets are going to be quite a bit taller than normal uppers, at 48-inches.
I'm still trying to decide how deep to make them. The standard 12-inches that most uppers are seems too shallow. Does anyone have recommendations?
I normally start the figures at 24" counter with 12" cabinets and add 1/2 of counter increase to cabinets and round up to an even number.
So.....my typical shop counters are 32" which is a 24 + 8"....now half of 8 is 4 added to the cabinets.....my typical shop cabinets are 16" deep
Pedro the Mule - No real reason for any of the numbers but they work great for me.
If you want to get more use out of the space, but not loose things at the back of the cabinets, you could make deep doors. I.e., use 12" cabinets, then say a 4" deep door to hold paints cans & small items like some pantry doors.