Shop Storage

[Da Hammer]

Hello All, as some know I completely re did my shop over the last year and after having several friends flood over the last six months I have been storing their home furnishings in my shop since it's climate controlled.  It appears I will have my shop back to myself in about a month.  

 

So it's now time to finalize plans to build my cabinetry and such.  I have a length of wall that is 32' that runs along my workshop.  My plan is to run a countertop the entire length at 37" with an area for a chop saw and also a gap in the countertop for my drill press table.  My conundrum is in the rest of the areas what percentage of storage do I want to be cabinets and what percentage do I want to have drawers?  Since I am new to wood working I don't know exactly what will end up in storage over the years other than likely more than I have ever planned for.

Lastly to help everyone visualize what I am trying to do I will have an area of peg board above the countertop, and french cleats to help hang and hold stuff and then plan on some upper cabinets to run along the top of the wall to create more storage.  I will work on drawings over the coming week but looking for any insight/help from those who have been in my shoes.  I have been reading and trying to plan in my mind for a year and I still can't convince myself of the best layout of cabinets and drawers.. Thanks!

[gee-dub]

I'll take full extension drawers over cupboards every time.  Especially in lowers that can be deeper than about 18".  Anything with doors covering a space deeper than about 18" has a portal to the Twilight Zone at that depth.  Things that get pushed back there leave this dimension.

If you have a few large bulky items, a cupboard or two with pullouts could be helpful.  Super deep drawers to hold things like circular saws have never worked out for me.  I build drawers into darn near anything that will take them.

This releives me from having to give up wall space for storeage.  Not all drawers in each base hold items for the tool on top; they are just storage. 

If you are big on blow-mold cases or systainers I would build a cubby area where the cases act like removable drawers.  Stacking these things guarantees the one you want will never be on top and loading a shelf with them like books is generally inefficient.

I could never sacrifice that much wall space to a long counter but, the value of this varies on how you work and what you do.  I have no need of a CMS and the fact that you give up the real estate one requires implies that you use one a lot.  This is just an example of how what works for me may not be right for you but, maybe some of the ideas will help (or trigger a new thought) anyway.

Congrats on reclaiming your space ;-)

 

[pkinneb]

Here is my set up, the wall is about 24 ft long. If I had to do over, and I probably will soon, I would convert one or two more door spaces into drawer banks. There are two slide out trays behind each door. In my world drawers and mostly smaller drawers are king.