Garage cabinets vs shelves

Put the two side by side and shelving wins on almost every measurable axis. It holds more, it costs less, you can see what is in it, and you can reach it in one motion instead of two.

Cabinets win on exactly three things, and all three are real. The question is how much of your garage genuinely needs them.

The verdict, first

Build mostly shelving, with one cabinet for the things that genuinely need doors. In most garages that is one cabinet against a wall of shelving — roughly 20 percent of your storage, not 80.

Buying a wall of cabinets is the expensive mistake in this category. It looks like a finished garage in a photograph and costs several times what the same capacity in shelving costs, for storage that is harder to see into and slower to use.

Head to head on published numbers

The capacity comparison is not close, and it is not a fair fight — these are different sizes of object. But the ratio holds at any size: open shelving carries far more per dollar and per square foot of floor than a cabinet does, because a cabinet spends structure on doors, sides and a back that a shelving unit does not have.

What doors actually buy you

1. Security, and this is the strongest case

Paint, solvents, fuel, pesticides and sharp or powered tools in a garage that children use — that is a safety requirement, not a preference, and a lockable steel cabinet is the correct answer to it. If this describes your garage, buy the cabinet and stop reading the cost-per-cubic-foot argument.

2. Dust

A garage where you cut, sand or grind puts fine dust on every open surface in the room. Anything with a fine mechanism, any finishing supply, and anything you want clean when you pick it up benefits from a door.

3. The visual mess you cannot solve

Some categories will never look tidy on an open shelf. Half-used consumables, mismatched packaging, the miscellaneous drawer of the garage. A door is a legitimate answer to that and there is no reason to feel bad about using one.

What doors cost you, beyond money

• You cannot see in. A garage is where things go to be forgotten, and a closed door accelerates that considerably. Anything in a cabinet needs a labeling discipline that open shelving does not.
• Two motions instead of one. Open, take, close. It sounds trivial and it is the reason cabinet doors end up left open.
• Doors need swing room. A 36 in cabinet needs its doors to open, which means clearance in front that a shelving unit does not require.
• Damp gets trapped. An unheated garage swings through humidity, and a closed steel box does not dry as fast as an open wire shelf.

The hybrid that actually works

The layout most garages should build, in order of what goes where:

• One cabinet — chemicals, anything locked, dust-sensitive supplies. Against a wall, near the bench.
• Open shelving for the bulk — bins, seasonal storage, tools in bins. 24 in deep so the totes fit, per garage shelving that fits totes.
• A wall system for the hanging things — bikes, ladders, hand tools. None of that belongs in either a cabinet or on a shelf.
• Overhead for the seasonal bulk — the bins you touch twice a year.

That combination stores more, costs less, and each part is doing the job it is good at. Planning a run of cabinets specifically is on how to plan a cabinet wall.

Who should buy which

Buy cabinets if the garage has children in it and there are chemicals or power tools to lock away, if you generate a lot of dust, or if the garage is visible from the house and you want it to read as finished.

Buy shelving if you are storing bins, seasonal goods, sports gear, or anything bulky. Which is most of what is in a garage.

Buy neither if the problem is that there is no floor left. Both stand on the ground. That is what overhead racks and wall systems are for, and it is the first question worth asking.