Finding Your Perfect Garage Cabinet

So you’re considering adding garage cabinets to your home, but you might be struggling to make your decision with all the different specs & different buzzwords involved.

Well, this post is written with the exact purpose to make your buying decision much easier, and it will show you the 5 step process you can do to choose your perfect garage cabinet for your home.

Step 1: Take Stock of What You Need to Store

The biggest mistake people make when buying garage cabinets or other garage storage solutions is “guesstimating” the amount of stuff they need.

As they say — fail to plan and you’ll plan to fail. This is true for life, but also true for garage cabinets (Yes, garage cabinets is serious stuff).

And taking stock of what you will store in your garage cabinets is important for two reasons:

• It will help you determine the approximate amount of garage cabinets you’ll need to effectively & neatly store your items

• It will help you estimate the types of garage cabinets you’ll need that can deal with the load capacity you need (How heavy are your items), which we will discuss more of later.

The truth is that most people either underestimate the space they need (which leads to their garage cabinets being messy), or they overestimate how much space they need (which leads you to spend way more money than you need on your garage cabinets).

And the worst thing that can happen when buying garage cabinets is buying the wrong garage cabinet that isn’t able to take on the heavy-duty items that you’re looking to store, which will cause the self to break/bend overtime.

And simply taking stock of your items that you want to place in your garage cabinet beforehand can help you prevent both of these common issues.

Step 2: Measure Your Space

There are two things you want to avoid when buying garage cabinets, and all these things can be avoided just by taking 10-15 minutes to measure your space.

You want to avoid these two things when buying garage cabinets:

• Having dead spaces: Corners/small gaps in your garage that can’t be used for anything.

• Not leaving enough space: If you get a garage cabinet that is too big, you might find that you’ll no longer be able to open your car door, garage door, etc…

So how can you avoid these two things? Measure properly and take these things into account:

• Measure the width of the garage cabinets. Make sure to take into account doors and other appliances in your garage.

• Measure the depth of your garage cabinets. This is one that most people miss. Lack depth, and you’ll struggle to store all your items properly, and have too much depth, you might find that your garage has become a tiny garage where you can’t even open your own car door fully.

• Measure the height of your garage cabinets. Make sure to take into account the garage door rails, any overhead storage you have, or car lifts, etc…

Once you have all three measurements across your garage space, you’re ready to move on to step 3.

Step 3: Choosing the Right Garage Cabinet Materials

Another consideration to think about when buying garage cabinets is the material. Here are the different material choices rear are available, each with their own pros and cons:

Material 1: Plastic

PROS — Plastic or “resin” garage cabinets can be a good choice because it is immune to a lot of the environmental factors that garage cabinets face (unlike kitchen cabinets, or other types of cabinets, garage cabinets tend to be exposed to more weather elements, humidity, and changes in temperature).

CONS — The downside to plastic garage cabinets is that they do not have as much load capacity as other materials. So if you are planning on storing some heavy-duty items in your garage cabinet, plastic may not be for you.

Material 2: Metal

There are two types of metal garage cabinets you can choose from: aluminum or stainless steel.

PROS — Metal cabinets are much more rigid and offer much more strength than plastic or wood-based cabinets. So if you’re planning on storing some heavy-duty items in your garage cabinet, metal is definitely your way to go.

Not only that, these types of cabinets can be painted or powder-coated, which will basically act as a protective coating to prevent breakdown of your garage cabinets (e.g. rust/corrosion).

CONS — Metals garage cabinets tend to be heavy, although aluminum cabinets tend to be a little lighter than steel garage cabinets.

Due to its materials, they also tend to be the more expensive option. And finally, they are also more susceptible to corrosion (especially steel), so make sure that any steel garage cabinets you buy are high quality ones with protective coating on them (Mentioned before).

Material 3: Wood Based

PROS — A lot of people do enjoy the aesthetic qualities of wood-based garage cabinets and those that do not have a melamine coating can be painted or stained.

CONS — The biggest drawback to wood based garage cabinets is that they are heavy and they are susceptible to moisture.

And once you’ve considered which of these three materials you want to purchase, you’re ready to start thinking about step 4.

Step 4: Choosing Your Features & Options

Here are some of the common features/options that you would want to consider for your own garage cabinets:

Off-the-Floor Construction — If you are in a flood-prone zone, you might want to consider this option. This feature raises the base cabinets on legs, effectively lifting them off the floor.

Rolling Cabinets w/ Locking Wheels — If you plan on doing lots of work in your garage (e.g. fixing cars, etc…), you might also want to consider rolling cabinets. Most rolling cabinets have a locking mechanism that allows you to keep it fixed in position if not in use.

Modular Cabinets — Most garage cabinet brands off modular cabinets, which allows you to combine various cabinet pieces (e.g. Base, Wall, Workbenches) so you can tailor the arrangement/combination of the garage cabinets that best suits your garage.

Step 5: Other Small Considerations

Finally, we will leave you with a few more considerations that many people miss when buying garage cabinets.

Work Tops — Most brands will sell worktops with your garage cabinets, but if you have to buy it separately, then make sure to get the exact measurement of what your work-top needs to be before buying it.

Shelving is Key — This probably goes without saying, but make sure that the shelving of your garage cabinet has enough load capacity to hold what you need to store.

Look for Back Panels — Make sure the garage cabinets you buy have back panels to prevent moisture and little critters from going inside your garage cabinet.

Locking Mechanisms — Are you a super-secret spy? Are you trying to store valuable or secret information inside your garage cabinet? If you are, then definitely look for a garage cabinet with some locking mechanisms in place so you can store your items securely.

So there you have it — your 5 step guide to finding the perfect garage cabinet for your home. If you’re looking for the perfect garage cabinet, make sure to take a look at our store as we feature the top brands of garage cabinets in our online store.

Take a look — I am sure you will be able to find the exact garage cabinet that you’re looking for.