I have been thinking of treating my garage to a decent tool cabinet, and would welcome advice. There are three or four advertised regularly, I like the look of one at Halfords, at £110, but don't fancy ordering one without seeing it first.

Any suggestions would be welcome.

Alan

Location: Rhos on Sea

Hi Alan,
For what it's worth I treated myself to a new tool set and cabinet from machine mart ,was very disappointed with quality of tools,
Ironically have just returned from Luton Halfords and looked at there tools and cabinets and wish I had paid a bit more and got there's
Cheers Cliff

Location: Junction 10 M1 Luton

Halfords 'Professional' range tools are very good quality but, regretfully, they don't appear to do Whitworth size spanners.

I've had my Machine Mart 5 draw chest and 3 draw cabinet for 10 years or so and it continues to be excellent. Whatever you go for, pay the extra for ball bearing draw runners.

Steve

Location: North Yorkshire

SGS seem to offer a good range of garage equipment, though I haven't actually bought anything from them as yet so can't comment on the quality of their products.

I notice their cabinets carry a 10 year warranty and 60 day no quibble returns.

http://www.sgs-engineering.com/garage-equipment/tool-chests-cabinets

Around 30 years ago I bought a bright red Tool Chest & Roll Cab unit from from Halfords wth the brand name TALCO - these were good quality British Made cabinets - 30 years on it's as good as the day I bought it and will see my lifetime out without a shadow of a doubt - sadly the TALCO company is no more, gone the way of most British manufacturing. However it's more or less identical in design to the SGS 26" 14 drawer unit shown below.

http://www.sgs-engineering.com/garage-equipment/tool-chests-cabinets/professional-14-drawer-roll-away-tool-chest-cabinet

If money's no object then Bott are probably the best and as far as I'm aware still British Made !

http://www.bottltd.co.uk/Workplace-Storage-1958.html

Jeff.

Location: Almost but not quite, the far North East of England

I saw a huge stainless workshop cabinet/bench/on wheels, 6ft long! In Homebase today.
It's in stainless steel with an oak top and enough drawers to store most of an Austin 7! Plus would hold all the tools you'd ever need.
However it was £480 but you would not need any other storage ever!
They had about 10 in stock so if they can't shift them watch for a real bargain coming up.

Regards
Bill G

well worth watching fleebay for used good quality cabinets.

or even if you have a little more time watch the online auctions,

i found an auction selling a snap-on tool box full of snap-on tools plus everything else you would ever need. ex 1980s mechanics tool box.

the bidding almost stopped at £400. but not quite. i chassed it and paid £700. still chuffed though, it would have cost several thousand to buy it all originally. and ill never have to pay for a quality tool again. or even a box to keep it in.

a day surfing the net can often pay off.

tony

Location: huncote on the pig

I find small multi draw filing cabinets ideal for storing smaller tools, they come in a variety of sizes 5,10, 15 draw, they can be picked up quite cheaply second hand and are better quality than some of the cheaper tool chests.

Location: Pembrokeshire

I bought the Halford's top and bottom cabinet of their black "professional" range and am more than happy with the quality..especially as I bought it in their sale. The thing to note is that tool chests are among the items that Halfords offer at VERY good discounts from time to time. If not in a great hurry sign up for Halfords emails and look out for the cabs being offered at low price..

Location: Goldsithney

I have bought tools and cabinets from Cromwell Tools who do have outlets in many places together with online purchasing. There Kennedy range is very good quality. This is a company that deals with the trade and retail.

John Mason

Location: Nottinghamshire

Thankyou all for your help. I'm thinking maybe SGS look good value.

Alan

Location: Rhos on Sea

Hi Alan,

I've had several budget cabinets in the early years, but the phrase of getting what you pay for is ever true and I needed a top quality unit to last several decades or so, together with good security too.

So, I'm totally with Tony on this one and I bought a used Snap-On base roller cabinet with a top box from a local Snap-On mobile chapy I found on flea bay for £300 and it's just as robust and secure ten years later.

Hope you find what you want, or at least what you need and are happy with it a few years down the road.

Bill

Location: Saumur, France