Shallow drawers work best

[Tom Bender]

Here's an example of tools in a 2" deep drawer. Pretty crowded but workable. In the next drawer are chisels and putty knives etc. Imagine if it was all in a 4" deep drawer.

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[andy bessette]

"Shallow drawers work best".

Nonsense. :)

In my shop, tools such as routers, cordless drills and their batteries, sanders, angle die grinders and their accessories, etc, are kept in drawers. Much of the milling machine and lathe tooling requires deep drawers. You need both shallow and deep.

[Michael Burnside]

I generally agree with Tom as I prefer to organize my shop through drawers of various heights. Usually 1-3" tall. That said, I do have a few deep 6-14" drawers to house things like what Andy is talking about. Routers, jigs and other unusually tall items. I would never use a deep drawer to hold things that would fit in a shallower drawer.

I believe that was what Tom was implying Andy.

[Brian Runau]

I bought plans for Norm's shop and have his router base as well as his full wall chop saw station cabinets. Great storage and organization. Brian

[George Yetka]

Tom I feel you need to mix it up. A few 12"-14" drawers take on large stuff. 2" drawers are great for small stuff. but you need stuff in between. I do agree with 34" or so of drawer 4-2" drawers are better than having 1-8

[Jimmy Harris]

I agree with the principle that you can have a drawer too deep, and things get lost under things. Then it's no longer serving its purpose of organization. There's definitely a middle ground there, as too many shallow drawers equals most of your storage space being used up by the drawers themselves. Still, better to err on the side of too deep.

Everyone's got to figure out what works best for them. I once lived in a tiny, three-room house. I had a bathroom, bedroom, and a kitchen/living room. No closets. Everything I owned (which included a recording studio) was in boxes stacked in the four corners of the room. People would ask me how I found anything. But I knew where everything was in those boxes. It looked like a mess. But it was a thoroughly planned execution of organization in a very limited space.

[Jim Becker]

Drawers are at the "correct" depth when they are configured for the specific job you are asking them to do. For a lot of small stuff, I absolutely agree that shallow drawers are ideal. But as Andy and others point out...what's going in there matters. The trick is the to get the best combination for one's own shop and needs. I use metal tool cabinets so there is absolutely some compromise on that. But it works out.

[Derek Cohen]

Drawer depth depends on what is to be stored in them. If drawers are wood-on-wood (not on runners), then aim for narrower fronts than the length. Otherwise they run the risk of racking if not a close fit.

Deep drawers in a workshop can be split into two level using internal slides.

Top row ..

https://i.postimg.cc/33gs0hd9/3.jpg (https://postimages.org/)

Bottom row ...

https://i.postimg.cc/Fh5tKzs7/4.jpg (https://postimages.org/)

Regards from Perth

Derek