Craftsman has come out with quite a few new 41″ ball bearing tool storage units recently, such as a large tool storage wall tower, several new combos, and a Craftsman Pro cabinet with Smartphone-controllable locks.
This new combo, which Craftsman describes as “Fully Featured,” are a little different, with some standout new features.
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To start, there’s an 8-drawer chest with 100 lb-rated drawer slides and a spacious top compartment with pegboard back wall and built-in power strip with USB charging ports.
I find it interesting that the Sears photo shows the cabinet with a Milwaukee M18 battery on its charger, rather than a Craftsman charger.
It doesn’t look to be built by the same OEM that builds the great-for-the-money Milwaukee tool storage units, such as the 30″ combo we recently reviewed.
The 6-drawer ball bearing rolling cabinet is a little unusual, in good and potentially disappointing ways.
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There is a large vertical pegboard drawer, with some shelves and another built-in power strip with USB charging ports.
This could have easily been 4 or more traditional drawers. Part of me believes the single vertical drawer is intended to fill the space as inexpensively as possible, part of me sees it as a potentially beneficial option. To me it looks more like a less efficient use of space.
There’s a full-length pull out work surface, and while the Craftsman product description doesn’t go into details, I’m guessing that work surface lifts out of the way to reveal a deep and heavy duty drawer. Otherwise, what’s the point of that extra set of drawer slides?
There’s a small pegboard built into the side of the cabinet, underneath the non-tubular-looking handle. It looks like these are the same bins and shelves shown in the vertical drawer photo.
With pegboard panels built into the top compartment, the vertical drawer, and the rolling cabinet’s side (sides?), there’s plenty of places to hang quick-reach tools and supplies.
The rolling cabinet has stylized casters. The wheels look to have a textured tread of some kind, but it’s hard to tell. The casters also have a similar locking mechanism to the ones Milwaukee and Husky have been using on their premium tool storage products.
Price: $320 for the chest, $480 for the rolling cabinet, $800 for both
Buy Now(Chest via Sears)
Buy Now(Rolling Cabinet via Sears)
Delivery doesn’t seem to be available yet, so we couldn’t check freight fees.
First Thoughts
$800 seems fair for this combo, but you can get more bang for the buck with other brands, such as Milwaukee and Husky. Milwaukee’s 46″ 16-drawer combo is currently $749, and might drop back to $700 during the holiday season.
14 drawers is nothing to sneeze at, but I wish the bottom cabinet had a few more drawers in the right side.
Sears’ pricing BS is in full effect. Today is October 4th, these products are said to have been first listed on October 2nd, and they’re already “on sale” for $320 and $480, from “regular” prices of $480 and $720.
While it’s hard to tell from a bunch of online photos, this really doesn’t look like a $1200 combo to me. $800 seems almost fair. But the price will need to drop a little more in order for the combo to be optimally competitive.
A few years ago, $800 would have been a great price for this combo. But in today’s market, with Milwaukee, Dewalt, Porter Cable, and Husky offering huge good-quality storage combos at high-value pricing, consumers expect more for less.
Looking at full-resolution images of the top chest (huge image here), and even trying to bump up the brightness for greater clarity, I can’t tell if the right side of the chest’s top compartment is open or covered. Look at the bottom – there’s no reflection of the protective mat, suggesting that the right side is indeed open. The lack of an enclosing inner panel is unusual and could be indicative of a cost-cutting measure.
The drawer handle pulls look well-done, but I like to see end caps on higher priced models.
The casters look cool, and I’m sure they were going for that, but they also look to have a similar locking and unlocking mechanism that I have grown to really love.
Are these “fully featured” tool storage units? I suppose I can’t argue with that, they do look to be thoughtfully designed and equipped with some handy features.
The rolling cabinet would need some more drawers to fully appeal to me, but overall I’m optimistic about its design. The chest has fewer features, but looks more practical, or at least more ordinary in terms of useful storage density – a good thing in my book.
Dacan
I recently bought 2 Milwaukee 30″ combos and sold a bunch of my old Craftsman ones. I had so much interest in the Craftsmans, one thing that stood out to the buyers were the big steel casters my old cabinets had. Come to find out that all the Craftsmans these days have plastic casters, my Milwaukees have steel casters. Even if plastic ones are better in some way, people view them as cheap, so older Craftsmans with steel casters are in demand. I sold 4 old cabinets lightning fast and for more $ than expected.
Travis
These look very child ‘toy like’ and I just can’t believe what Craftsman tells me. Their is no repor with the Craftsman name anymore. Everything is about milking the brand for as much as the company can. I would stick with Husky and Milwaukee from the HD.
Tom
The pegboard drawer seems like a terrible idea at first, but the more I think about it, it might just be a good way to store your power tools. Most companies seem to be trying to figure out an efficient power tool storage option. This may be better than just one big, wide drawer that others have been featuring.
julian
I had a tool box that had that type of “drawer”. Hated it. What a waste of space…
Hard to access and would have rather had more drawer space. Maybe if it was a locker design with a door and a few small pull out drawers in the top like a Snap-On side cab it’d be worth losing the regular drawer space.
With the way HD clears out every previous design of tool storage from Dewalt or Milwaukee every time a new style comes out, or the offerings from HF, why would anyone buy a Craftsman tool box anymore?
JT
JT
Tyler
The first thing I noticed was the Milwaukee charger, I find that really odd.
I suspect that the work surface on the drawer either hinges open or slides back into the cabinet when open. The lock on the frame just behind the laptop might indicate you can latch it so it won’t slide while you are working on it.
The pegboard drawer is one of those items that depends on your application. It’s great if you need a place to store power tools and don’t need that extra space for standard tool drawers. Otherwise it is a was of efficient drawer storage if you do not need a place for power tools. If it is built reasonably well, it would be a great box for someone that doesn’t have a huge assortment of power and hand tools and wants to store everything in one setup. At one point in my life it would have been beneficial to me, but I’ve outgrown a need for an item like this.
mizzourob
It would not shock me if the Milwaukee charger is a sign of things to come, as in the death of the C3 line. There has been a slow decline in tool launches and the post battery pack makes it look dated.
Toolfreak
Doubtful. Most of the C3 stuff is made cheap by Ryobi, so Sears makes a killing even at clearance prices. I’m so not sure they’d kill that cash cow.
Patrick H
TTI makes all three. I have started trying to sell my C3 stuff for that reason. I have lost faith in the lineup. Ryobi had gotten better at lower prices to be honest.
William Butler
What are the two square looking things on the peg board? The things that aren’t shelves?
The top pegboard seems gimmicky to me. It doesn’t seem tall enough to be of much use. I cant think of what I would store there.
Stuart
Parts bins or drill and driver holsters, I can’t tell. I’ll ask my Craftsman contacts.
J
Anyone know where to get new drawer slides for the Pro tool chest? I can’t find them anywhere and I can’t even find a model # on my full stacked CM Pro chest (which I love btw). Thanks
Phi Nguyen
They look like cupholders! ?
BigDan
Vertical slide perfect for keeping my keurig coffee maker in, or one of those mini fridges that hold 2-4 beers!
It’s a way to sell accessories at $30 a pop for inside the drawer and on the side pegboard.
I think the milwaukee charger was because it was red and didn’t take up twice the space like the craftsman pod and charger style do, which would have made the storage area look smaller.
I used to walk into Sears with awe and wonder, but now I walk in expecting/out with a feeling of – disappointment.
Phi Nguyen
If I had any desire to purchase this rolling cabinet, I would just shove a small trash can in that vertical drawer. Otherwise, it seems like a waste of space. The pegboard is just too low for my taste (and my back).
I don’t really understand the trend of putting pegboard in a rolling cabinet. I already have issues with hooks falling off of stationary (wallmounted) pegboard. I can’t imagine the hooks staying securely in place whilst moving this cabinet and the tools (hanging from said hooks) around, especially on the right outer portion of the cabinet. I guess if you could actually access the back of the pegboad, those retainer clip thingies could be installed, but it seems like a solution looking for a problem. More horizontal drawers would have made better sense to me.
Toolfreak
Yeah, this is definitely just another one of Craftsman’s versions of the Milwaukee/Dewalt/Porter Cable boxes. Seems like they are either partnering with multiple manufacturers to make several box styles and find what sells, or they are going to completely do away with the Waterloo stuff and just have a few different versions of these newer boxes.
I guess these slightly larger 40+” boxes are what some people like, but they seem like a big waste of space to me. Too few drawers, that are too deep, and waste all the space above whatever is set down on the bottom of the drawer. That’s probably the point of these chests, make them cheap with thin metal so they are under a grand, but are still strong enough to hold the 100lbs of tools that would line the bottom of a drawer.
I’d rather have a smaller 26″ chest with shallower drawers, then I can store lots more tools and they are easy to access. In fact that’s what I bought and have – and glad I did before these larger boxes came along.
T
100% agree. Density is key to efficiency, thus value.
T
Meh, some smart/nice features, looks to have borderline build quality for the $, per past Cman offerings imo.
Add a few more inches of depth, and convince me that used premium/pro boxes in same price range arent worth it, and we may have a deal. Seems to be the way of the world.
Sort of on topic… I guess. I wonder who will purchase the Craftsman brand. Interesting Bloomberg story today. Things may change drastically, and soon.
Matthew
If you really like this set (I think it looks awesome) just wait for a sale and combine with coupons, Surprise Points, and Shop My Way Rewards and another 5% off if you have a Sears credit card….you will most definately beat the price on the Miluakee and Husky offerings.
A nice way to pay tribute to this brand before Sears goes out… 🙁
firefly
I think it have some neat features for a hobbyist with limited spaces. Personally I have out grown that a long time ago so this wouldn’t work for me.
Mike
This probably isn’t the right place for this, but the end is near.
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2016-10-04/sears-s-craftsman-said-to-draw-interest-from-black-decker-tti
🙁
There’s nobody in the running to buy Craftsman that I would trust to bring the name back to its former respectable level, let alone even keep it at the present level. I’ll be purchasing some pliers to round out some sets, then that’s it for me.
Jeffrey
Too many deep drawers. They should put drawer liner in a drawer and Ernst wrench rails with a 32mm and 1 1/8″ combo in it. Whatever the height of that is could establish the height of the 2nd and 3rd drawers. Then more thin drawers…
And the bottom drawer should be 6″ (the height of a 4lb deadblow, usually the biggest hammer in a hammer drawer. The fake power can drawer should have an outlet in the bottom for chargers and a rack for cordless and impact tools above. The pegboard is just pointless.
Matt
Honestly, if Sears dies, I think much of the heritage and romanticism of the Craftsman brand will permanently die with it. I don’t think it will last… I enjoyed Craftsman because it was American and I could visit my once favorite store to buy it, Sears. Even with K-mart, Ace and Blaine’s farm-fleet here carrying Craftsman now, I still drive further down the road to Sears if I want a Craftsman product. It only seems right that way I guess.. Craftsman from any other store just isn’t the same. As I said, I think it’s the heritage and romanticism of what it all once was.
For me, If Ideal bought Craftsman and tied it into a lower tier American Made S&K line for the most part, I might be interested in sticking with Craftsman. Aside from that happening, I’ll just go S&K from here on out. I happen to like the traditional Craftsman American built Waterloo toolboxes. I’m not fond of the one above though. For power tools, there’s nothing new TTI nor Black & Decker can bring to the table as it’s much the same right now. So I see no advantage there. I prefer the feel of Bosch and Makita stuff myself. What a sad time in history (for me at least).
Tyler
I think you summed it up with “romanticism.” Growing up Craftsman was mostly what both of my Grandpa’s and my dad had when they would fix a broken toy or work on the family vehicles, fix a tractor or do a home repair. I always wanted to follow in those steps. I did at first, but things quickly turned for the worse with the Craftsman quality. For me, I still get the romanticism from the decades old quality tools that were handed down and the periodic used Craftsman hand tool that I find and pick up to add to my toolbox.
Shiny and new is always nice, but there is something to using a tool that has been used and loved for a couple generations and has all kinds of memories to go with it.
Greg
The best thing that could happen to Craftsman is that it gets spun off either into its own company or gets bought up by a good company. Sears is a sinking ship, no way around that. Craftsman tool storage would be at the absolute bottom of my list. I probably wouldn’t even take it if someone gave me one, because it would be that frustrating to use.
If you want a quality (non professional) tool storage unit pick up one of the Milwaukee ones, followed or proceeded by any of the US General Pro stuff at Harbor Freight, followed by the Husky brand stuff Home Depot sells. If you don’t go with that the Homak line Northern Tool sells is decent too. If you’re budget is unlimited go with something from Kennedy or Snap On.
Paul
Well I bought this combo it’s ok,But when I got the set and got it to the shop opened the create the keys was missing to the bottom box and the bottom drawer wouldn’t close one of the soft close plastic pull in on the rail was broken couldn’t get parts cause there’s no model number anywhere on or in the box . Called craftsman and shopyourway they couldn’t find it even from my sales recipit order number. I finally got it exchanged. I won’t buy another craftsman box. I had a snap on box I wish I kept. I like the USB ports and plug in. But I also wish I shopped someplace else. But it will work for me for now. The box has been taken off their website you can’t find it,it’s like it doesn’t exist when you call them and ask for parts they supposed to sent me keys to the first bottom box but no record of it being sent and they gave me a tracking number that didn’t exist for the keys. So like I said I won’t buy another craftsman box ever and I won’t buy any power tools that has craftsman on it. Milwaukee is they way to go on Power tools from my experience with this.
Andrew Mattson
just shows that this is the end for the brand since SBD bought it.
Paul
Yes it’s sad to see the name ruined and quality trashed
Miguel A Contreras
I need the lock replacement for my tool box is the same the lock number is 002 and 0010
Tommy
How do I go about getting the replacement on the keys? I believe the part number is 0009 and 0010
Stuart
Contact customer service. There should be a phone number in your manual or on a label fixed to one of the top drawers.