Buying The Perfect Industrial Cabinet For Your Business

“Cabinets can really be used in any type of business; from a normal office, to a large parts warehouses and just about any type of business that needs a place to secure things like valuable tools, supplies and other items.  A lot of people use heavy duty storage cabinets especially if the cabinets are going be used out in a shop, where employees will need to lock up their expensive tools,” states Buy Metal Shelving Sales Rep Cameron Canfield.  “Basically having a cabinet in the warehouse or distribution center is used to store and secure any items they don’t want people to get to.”

He’s right.  Having industrial pallet racking and other types of light duty boltless racking (such as single rivet racking and double rivet racking) is great when a business needs to expand their storage options and space, however what happens when a business wants to store various supplies and expensive tools that have the unsavory tendency to wander off when the boss is away…

“A lot of the storage cabinets are just metal shelving of course with doors, so it goes hand-in-hand with shelving.  We have shelving that goes from anywhere from 200 lbs per shelf up to 850 lbs per shelf, so really a cabinet can meet any needs that a shelving unit can that allows you at the same time to nicely and securely lock up its contents and keep your items secured and safe,” adds Canfield.

So here are the basic things you need to know about a cabinet for your business.

“Usually there is about three different configurations that a storage cabinet will have, and the first is offering  five shelves for storage, including the bottom shelf.” Explains Canfield.  This type is primarily built for and its usually made to store normal sized items on those five shelves than the other types.”

The cabinets that Canfield just told you about are the ones that are pretty much the most common—a top, a bottom, three sides and a lockable door that can lock whatever is stored upon the shelves inside.  Some manufacturers like Rousseau who produce very high end cabinets actually build theirs so they can be installed and secured onto actual pallet racking—giving the cabinet the look it is an integral part of the storage solution you choose.

“The next type is used for storing clothing, kind of like a lockable closet, and you can get some called wardrobe cabinets which will have a shelf and a hang bar right below the top of the cabinet so you can hang up coats or whatever items you want to hang on that bar,” explains Canfield.

These are used widely in a restaurant setting like in professional kitchens where chefs, sous chefs, caterers and mechanics, race car drivers, welders, construction related jobs, or really anybody that wears a uniform, or specialized clothing.

“And then finally you have what is called the combination cabinet and what it does is it gives you four half-shelves, a full shelf on top and then when the half shelves are it gives you that hanging bar as well so you can just hang a few items such as coats or whatever it is you need to keep in there,” said Canfield.  “Usually it is a work jumpsuit or whatever the case may be so that your employees do not have to always take whatever uniform, jumpsuit or other gear home with them each and every day after their shift ends.  It also allows them piece of mind that their tools and clothing will be safe and secure for when they arrive the next day for their shift.”

Interestingly enough, with industrial cabinets you can choose the type of door you want.

“There’s a solid door, there’s a safety view door, there’s a ventilated door to go along with whatever you are storing in it.  Some people, if they are storing chemicals or anything like that, they want a ventilated door,” said Canfield.  “Some people want the safety view doors so they can see into the cabinet so you can see what is in there before you go in and get it.”

Now you’re hopefully beginning to see that there is much more to a simple cabinet than what initially meets the eye!

“It just depends on what you’re looking for, if you are just doing some basic storage of office supplies and things like that, a stock office cabinet would be great for holding things like that.  But then these options go all the up to a 12 gauge, all-welded cabinet which on the 36” wide, can hold 1,950 lbs per shelf,” adds Canfield.  “And they are all welded so they are assured they will last a lifetime with a reasonable amount of care.”

Yes, you read that correctly.  Depending on the make and model, cabinets can hold an astonishing amount of weight without the danger folding or collapsing.  And this is where a cabinet specialist like anyone you’d find at Buy Metal Shelving would be a great resource to call and ask questions.

“The main questions I get are usually capacity questions per shelf—how much it will hold, for example.”

This is welcome news for those with heavy tools, heavy gear or have a tendency to want to store lots of liquids that can weigh quite a bit–Matter of fact, these cabinets we sell are so tough you can actually store gold bars in them!

“I’ve had a couple customers just basically order a lot of the basic cabinets for storage, I’ve had a couple of them even order wall hanging cabinets and those come with as little as 16, to 30 to 36 inches wide that can hang off of a wall,” Canfield testifies.  “And they can place items in and it will hold them if the cabinet is secured to the wall correctly.”

And if you’re looking for cabinets for a specific purpose, such as for use in a medical environment where there is a constant concern against bacteria and other germs; there are cabinets made for those applications as well.

“Some people ask me about the galvanized series which is kind of a antimicrobial shelving and they’ll use those in medical installations because of that antimicrobial finish.  These have a finish on them that doesn’t allow bacteria to grow,” explains Canfield.

We hope you’ve learned a bit more about how the ‘basic’ cabinet is far, far more complex than what it appears to be to the layman’s untrained eye.

“Like I said it is just like a locker—kind of like a metal box that has a door and walls,” Canfield summarizes with a smile.

Furthermore we hope you’ll give us a call if you have a specific question about cabinets that are used in an industrial setting.