Workbench and tool chest recommendations

Have you heard of BigDug?

https://www.bigdug.co.uk/workshop-flooring-c348/workbenches-c11604/garage-workbenches-c11610/bigdug-garage-workstation-mega-deal-p19952

That looks interesting! Cheers.

They do the 1200mm wide one for £426.
Not bad! I'd rather have more drawers than cupboards.

Just find someone local getting a new kitchen.

Take their drawer units and cupboards. Paint them grey if you like.

Worktop makes an ideal workbench top. You might want to make a frame out of 2x4 and screw to a solid wall to put it on as kitchen cabinets aren't ideal base for a workbench,

I screwed some 18mm ply to a set of horizontal filing cabinets a business was chucking out. Rock solid and loads of storage. Since fitted some kitchen units above.

Homebase do the ultimate storage range that is the same stuff as the SGS tool cheats you'll see in most bike shops. The price fluctuates a lot at Homebase and you can get 10% off your first order.

Have a look at SGS, or the Sealey modular workshop range that you can get from various places inc Homebase and Halfords.

Workshop porn, please stop posting pictures.

I have the Machine Mart tool trolley - they do a 10% off every now and again. 

https://www.machinemart.co.uk/c/new-tool-chests-and-cabinets/

Have racking and a workbenches from BigDug, that's been good too. 

Von Haus have this:

https://www.vonhaus.com/vh_en/workbench-pegboard

I had their plain workbench which was fine for 'value' stuff.

https://www.vonhaus.com/vh_en/diy/storage

That vonhaus one looks similar/identical to the catalogue one machine mart sell....

It's a bit pants.

Replaced mine with 18mm ply and some fence posts.

That vonhaus one doesn't look like it would be particularly rigid.
Slotted together rather than bolted. 🤔

Thanks all! I’ll take a look at all those.

I had that Vonhaus one a few years ago and it lasted less than a year before falling apart. It buckled, bent and could hold nothing. Huge waste of money.

I personally just bought some timber to build a frame and then had b & q cut me sheets of ply to my measurements.

For about £80 I made a pretty huge bench and it's solid. Easy little project.

Home made for me. I built a massive bench from 2x4's and OSB and it's absolutely bombproof. I've put an IKEA peg board above and and that Halfords Advanced chest underneath it.

I'd do it exactly the same way again if I had to.

As above, theres nothing in them really.

You can pick up a wardrobe like that for £80 from ikea, the rest you build from ply out of B&Q
B&Q have a big saw and you can make up a cutting list of the components that make up the upper and lower units. Peg boards off ebay are cheap as chips.
eg, for b&q taking the lower cabinet, you'd need the two outside panels and the middle divider, then the cross supports at whatever. Just take a piece of paper and work out 8x4 sized panel how many pieces and their sizes and B&q would cut them for you. Then its just a case of screwing the lot together.
At a rough guess the '£620' Adexa Garage workstation set would actually cost you about £250 to build yourself, probably less.

Im sure Kayak would love to walk you through the assembly process 😉

I got a heavy duty workbench on wheels from here which is a very solid beast. They seem to do a fairly big range of options with storage as well:

https://arborgardensolutions.co.uk/workshop-industry/

I have the Halfords advance kit and TBH I wouldn't recommend it. Drawers already sticky and just doesn't feel quality. I wish I had bought the Costco professional one....

I had that Vonhaus one a few years ago and it lasted less than a year before falling apart. It buckled, bent and could hold nothing. Huge waste of money.

Fair enough! Their plain workbench lasted me 10yrs before I gifted it on. 🤷‍♂️

You might want to post up what you intend to do with the bench.

I tend to abuse mine so have a 450kg rated one, that Von Haus one is no use to me, but could be ideal for somebody elses uses.

That vonhaus one doesn’t look like it would be particularly rigid.
Slotted together rather than bolted. 🤔

You might be right about vonhouse.

But my work liberated gorilla shelving is absolutely solid and that just slots together

With something like the Vonhouse, you can over-clad it in ply. Just use some dome headed self tapping screws*, to hold the sides and back on and that will dramatically increase the strength and rigidity.

* Buy the type that pre-drills the hole and it will easily go through the ply and metal holding both together

Lots of great comments, thanks!
I'd not really considered a fully wooden workbench.
It's going in my cabin/man cave/garden office, so wanted it to have a nice-ish finishing.
I want it to be heavy duty enough to handle some DIY and maybe attach a vice.
I imagine a few 100kgs would be fine.

With something like the Vonhouse, you can over-clad it in ply. Just use some dome headed self tapping screws*, to hold the sides and back on and that will dramatically increase the strength and rigidity.

* Buy the type that pre-drills the hole and it will easily go through the ply and metal holding both together

This is a good idea, but use OSB it is cheaper.

I’ve just seen this- looks like a more robust version of the Vonhouse. Price seems good too at £230. 

https://www.sgs-engineering.com/catalog/product/view/id/15499/s/sgs-garage-workbench-with-pegboard-wall-cabinets-and-sockets/?gad_source=1&gclid=Cj0KCQiAhomtBhDgARIsABcaYynzLV39OjX5Ud0XLDosN6-yb0zXw3r7uVmNb47xTkEZqDPlZQB3BEgaAjh2EALw_wcB

I made one myself. One big sheet of 18mm MDF cut in half lengthways on the big saw at B&Q. Half makes the vertical back and the other half the top of the bench. The rest using 2x4 doubled up where necessary. Cost under £100 and solid as.

Nothing more disappointing than a s£it floppy workbench.

nothing more expensive than a good one

if you actually are working on it it’s worth buying a really nice workbench like Bott, and using cheap drawers. The cheap drawers are annoying but still functional unlike a wobbly workbench

neil SuperstarComponents

Home made for me. Reclaimed 4" x 2" timber joists with a 3mm ply sheet on top. Bolted to concrete floor and walls.

Toolboards from reclamed plywood packing cases. Old kitchen cupboard for some storage. Old metal microfiche drawers for tools.

Thanks again all- will go away and have a look at what I might do.
I can't mount anything on the walls, so needs to be purely floorstanding.
I don't think thats an issue though.

I made this one with an old solid core door as a top. Solid. Record no.4 on the end. I've shared the link on here, I think one or two others have made the same?

https://straightchuter.com/basic-workbench-design-plans/

plus the halfords advanced drawer set. No issues with them in 5 or 6 years.

Bit of closure- I had a play with the Bror in IKEA and was pretty impressed so I went for that. I used some 15mm OSB for the backboard which is attached to the same bolts as the workbench. Added a backboard and shelf. It’s solid. Very happy with it.
Part of the reason was also the size. It fits really nicely in the space I had available.
Just order some shadow foam and the. I can move all the tools across properly.
Thanks for all the help and recommendations.