Lowes has come out with a new Kobalt tool storage solution – a wall cabinet that will charge your cordless battery packs and give you a convenient place to stash your tools.
The new Kobalt charging station, model SHSKCS30, has a slew of features, most of which contribute to an overall “I want that!” sentiment.
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The Kobalt cabinet measures 30″ wide x 24″ tall x 12″ deep. It has a top charging bay with built-in power strip, 4 tool docks that can hold drills, drivers, and other such tools. and a large storage compartment with 2 adjustable and removable shelves.
I wonder what else the drill/driver dock can accommodate – an LED spot light? A jig saw? I have my doubts as to whether it can fit a cordless nailer.
There’s shelf space underneath the drill/driver dock, so you can fit other odds and ends there if you want to, and if there’s enough vertical clearance space.
The sides are pegboard panels!
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The whole unit mounts to a French Cleat-style rail, for easy installation. The cabinet is 30″ long, so you should be able to hit 2 studs.
Price: $99
Buy Now(via Lowes)
First Thoughts
The Kobalt charging station and tool dock looks to be versatile and convenient. I haven’t seen it in person yet, but I’d imagine it’s pretty sturdy, even if made from thinner sheet metal.
Here’s a good question: how would I make it better? Umm… USB charging ports. I can’t really think of anything else at the moment.
The Kobalt wall cabinet looks to have a lot of the storage features I’ve seen in DIY power tool cabinets – upside down drill and driver docks, an upper shelf with backwall, and bulk storage for fitting a circular saw or other larger tool.
The pegboard on the side is a nice surprise.
Priced at $99, it will likely appeal to a wide range of uses. In addition to being wall-mountable, it looks like ti could be easily added to the side of a workbench, mobile tool cart, or other non-wall fixture.
But given how it’s meant to be used, it’ll likely work best at typical wall cabinet height. I’d mount one above a workbench. There, it would be deep enough to hold a good amount of stuff, but shallow enough to not get in the way of whatever is being worked on on the workbench.
Some plywood and pocket holes will give similar functionality, but how many people have a similar charging station and power tool dock DIY project on their to-do list that they’ve been putting off forever.
Thoughts? And if you’re in the “just build your own” camp, what would you do differently in a DIY charging station?
The yeti
I’ve built myself something similar . This looks like a needed product .
BigDan
Too rudimentary I think most people would opt to build it instead of pay 100 for something that looks diy’d. Needs some chrome and lasers or something. Mountable lamp and magnifying arm on the sides, cord reel maybe, the underside is wasted it could be a whole second mounting point for more drills or other power tools.
Toolfreak
This will likely be on “sale” for $49-59, $99 is likely just the “retail” price to make people think they are getting a deal when buying it at the lower price they really intended to sell it for.
Jonathan
I could see this not selling as much as they probably manufactured and being clearanced out for $29-39.
firefly
Agreed. I do think that for around the $50 mark it’s more than worth your money…
Jim
Yeah I found it on sale for 100 bundled together with 24V max drill and 24v max impact, basically got the shelf for free, got it even cheaper with the box being demolished
John
I looked it up at my local store and it is showing $99 as the “new lower price” marked down from $129.
fred
That seems (to me anyway) to be a Lowes gimmick. New Lower price announcements for items that have just hit the shelves seems a bit disingenuous at the least.
Derek
Seems more like a Harbor Freight gimmick
Steve
No, it’s a Sears gimmick!
ed ski
It doesn’t need USB charging ports, but it need more plugs. It needs a locking drawer for bits, and locking bar to prevent removal of the drills. I’ve a deWalt screwstick, and “various” make drills (Panasonic, deWalt, Makita, Milwaukee…) that have different widths, so lets hope they fit. Pegboard side seems like an afterthought…pegboard (eyepokers) hooks will limit the location of this (if a corner, you lose that feature).
If its a charging station, it needs to accommodate the need to store (lockable) devices that you need to charge. Some of us have family members and neighbors that like to borrow tools.
Like others, $100 is overpriced. The person that needs a station like this would likely build their own. Unless it was in the $29-$39 range. Still, a good 12 outlet powerstrip can set you back that much.
John
I like the idea but unless they make add on components I’ve have to pass since it isn’t large enough to hold all of my Makita LXT tools.
Since this piece already has power in it, an LED lightbar on the underside seems like a no-brainer for illuminating a work surface.
Could this be the first piece of a modular garage storage system?
Stuart
It could be the start of a bigger line, or it could be a “one and done” seasonal promo. It’s always hard to gauge whether products like these are to test the market, or to sell for one season only to disappear forever afterwards.
Toolfreak
I’m guessing it’s a “promo” sort of deal for Father’s Day or at least the spring season.
Seems like it’d make sense to have something like this all the time, you’d only need to keep 2 or so in the store at a time except holidays, and you’d probably sell more power tools to someone once they have one of these.
Toolfreak
Geez, this is a dang good idea, especially considering the array of Kobalt cordless power tools, plus of course you can store corded tools as well if you don’t have the cordless counterparts yet.
I’d say one thing to improve this would be to make it in widths that fit on top of the Kobalt rolling lower cabinets, so instead of a $200-400 top chest you could have this, for those who don’t want to mount it on a wall but also don’t want it on top of the workbench or other workspace.
A long 12 gauge cord might deform the pegboard holes or bend a weak hook, so it may be a good idea of they offered some custom hooks that are larger/longer and use multiple holes.
Otherwise, pretty good overall. I don’t think it needs to be heavy-gauge sheet metal since it’s not going to be holding much weight other than power tool batteries and of course the tools themselves. If anything, keeping the weight down is a plus. That’s one thing sheet metal constructed units usually have over plywood and especially MDF projects – they have the durability of metal and can be lighter, plus take up less space since the material doesn’t need to be thick.
Making your own storage solutions of out of wood can be nice if you do woodworking, but typically a store-bought metal unit looks less cobbled together and you save the time spent so you can make stuff that you can’t buy.
fred
Not exactly on topic – but when I was looking at Fit and Elora pliers on Stuart’s prior post – I spotted a pegboard “hook” that displays a concept that should better spread out the forces imparted by the load of what you hang.
https://www.tools-giant.com/item.php5?id=98835635&lang=at&curr=EUR
Toolfreak
That’s a pretty nice hook for pliers.
That’s also a good, simple way of making a hook that spreads the weight load pushing against the pegboard – though I think something with say, a flat plastic backing would be even better and have less risk of leaving lines if the parts pushing against the board do push in some.
Derek
I built this with scrap wood – http://www.woodmagazine.com/project-plans/workshop-jig/shop-cabinets-storage-organizers/cordless-tool-station-downloadable-plan
I would buy this if it was closer to $50. $100 just seems too much. I do really like it, but I’m guess if you have the need to hang up 4 cordless tools you have the ability to build something for way less.
fred
Might be OK – but I wonder how many prospective buyers have 4 associated tools that will fit in the 4 T-Slot bays? Drill/Driver, Impact Driver, Impact Wrench then what a second drill? A right angle drill/driver ? Were the 4 bays designed in because that’s what they thought most folks needed – or to encourage you to fill the open space with a new purchase?
Stuart
Drill + impact driver is 2, and I think it could fit 1 other tool, plus 1 cordless LED flashlight. An empty slot can be filled with other stuff, such as some materials, or power cord.
I think 4 is a good balance between “not enough” and “too many” slots.
Some users might max it out with a drill, impact driver, and different sized impact wrenches. Or 2 classes of drills (compact, heavy duty), an impact driver, and a cordless flashlight.
Derek
I have my pneumatic nail guns hanging up like that.
Nathan
price is high and I have to say if it was 20 dollars cheaper without the peg board side – so much the better. it’s sort of useless for a little as this thing appears to be. now a hook for an extension cord – sure – but all those other holes seem a bit pointless.
I’d like the “drill holsters” (for lack of a better term) to be adjustable so you could widen one out for put say an impact wrench up there or whatever. I’d like it to be open on the bottom so as to allow whatever length – like a OMT would sit in the slot if there was space. (IE it might as well not be boxed in at the bottom). DIY’g it I’d probably move the power strip to one side so as to reduce it’s space use – and maybe make that the side the power cord/extension cord came off of. And it would have to have a battery shelf or 2 – which this does.
RKA
I wouldn’t buy it, but I can appreciate that not everyone wants to waste time building shop organization items and this is sized perfectly to replace an upper wall cabinet.l, so if you have them, pull out the old, screw this in and you’re done. The post above was spot on, LED lighting under the cabinet would have rounded this out nicely. The mounting clear is great, super easy. The pegboard on the side is interesting, but probably a waste.
But, for this kind of money, the other comments are spot on. It shouldn’t look like a 7th grade shop project (my apologies to the 7th graders that I just insulted). And when will these product designers learn…if it has an AC outlet, it should have a USB port! More flexible/configurable tool holders would have been nice too. Find your 5 most popular selling cordless tools and figure out a way to arrange them in the space.
ktash
I’ve made a drill/driver charging station that hangs on a french cleat. The drills/drivers hang out the bottom, with shelves above. Made to fit two sets-12v and 18v, It’s a very handy item. If I’d seen this first, I would have modified my design for adjustable shelves, that’s a nice touch. For $49 it would be worth it to buy. I do like the pegboard idea.
One thing I do store on it are small cases with bits and also I have two small cases of #8 and #6 screws that hold screws of commonly used lengths with a countersink drill bit, a driver bit for the screws (square head). Also a small magnetic dish with a beeswax tin in it. Just grab and go. This charging station is used constantly and I don’t know how I did without it.
I do like the idea of a charging station for other tools, without dedicated drill hangers. I have that saw, so it caught my attention right away. They could make another station to go with cordless tools, since there are so many now. Cordless circ saw, multitool, nailer, jigsaw, recip saw, worklight, etc. : Ten years ago, I only had cordless drills, but now I have these other tools. I may build one, but certainly would consider buying it if well-designed and the price was right. A modular system would make sense.
With their updated Kobalt 24-v tools, and this kind of accessory, they are definitely in the running with me, which they weren’t before. For DIY use I’d only considered Ryobi because of their battery policy and so many tools and yard tools. But some of Ryobi’s tools, like the kit circular saw, is just wimpy, and very rarely used. But then, the Ryobi nailer is a winner, and so are the worklight and handheld vac. I’d like to not have to mix and match different brands, but right now, that’s what I’ve done.
ShawnB
My initial impression was that it looks really cool, and would be handy for storing oft-used power tools to free up space in my big rolling tool chest.
But at that MSRP, I would probably opt to spend a little bit more and pick up a basic 5-drawer 27″ rolling cabinet and get a lot more functionality.
Josh
If this does go on sale for $50-ish I’d buy it in a heartbeat. I need to build something similar and the design looks like it doesn’t suck.
FuelFanatic
I’m in the same boat. I’ll have to keep an eye on it. the second it’s under $50 I’m buying it…for my Milwaukee tools.
Eastbaygrease
I work in a wood shop. I can imagine how much dust would collect inside the battery slot in those upside down drills.
Robert
I hope for your sake that your shop has air filtration, dust collection and wide open bay doors if dust could be that much an issue
Adabhael
Not just dust, what about the body mechanics to grab a tool? I’ve always seen this with the heads up/battery down, so your hand (thumb up) can pick up a tool with the natural grip. Obviously this is just a staged marketing picture, but to my eye, the head of the impact wrench (?) on the right side wouldn’t fit in the space, so they put everything upside down so it looks intentional.
Jim Felt
Good call dude!
A Lowes’ ad agency art director let alone a product stylist would literally have little or no idea of how to best practice place any tool.
ToolGuyTy
Hoping it goes on sale! @ $50 – $60 I’d buy it.
RC WARD
That does look very easy to make and very familiar , they must be cruzing the net looking for ideas
Jonathan
Think it would have been better to have the power strip at the bottom, with a pass through grommet or 2″ tube to feed cords to the strip at the bottom. As well as more outlet plug slots and USB and the LED Light bar.
With the current layout I can see a battery charger turning off the power when swapping batteries when pushing the charger back on the shelf. I would rather see slots to hold a 1″x 29″x6″ board in the area where the present power strip is, so that chargers could be mounted vertical with keyhole slots or screws for easier battery swaps.
The hanging tool bay could be made modular and adjustable by using peg board, I’m trying to recall but i have seen peg board hangers for cordless drills.
I am curious if this was designed primarily for the Kobalt 24v cordless system. The reason I bring it up is the Kobalt cordless tools always seemed to be bulky and ov
Cr8on
I built one a year or so ago.
firefly
What else would I want to add to it? Personally I would want a door as well. Perhaps a pair of half doors, one open up ward and out of the way. The other open down ward to act as a shelf…
Greg
Needs locking doors before I’d consider it.
Charles
I really like the idea of a more tool dedicated storage cabinet like this and it’s probably a pretty good “generic” layout, but . . .
The immediate thing I noticed (for myself) is that four tools bays are not enough but the pegboard sides would at least four of these (below) drill holders -two each side, maybe more depending on the tool
https://www.lowes.com/pd/Project-Source-Steel-Pegboard-Hook/50218557
The next thing I realized was that the battery chargers are loose . . . not that big of a deal but after having had hard mounted chargers that don’t require two hands to use, it’s something else to consider. Miiiight be able to hard mount chargers on the pegboard sides but I’d bet that there isn’t any access to the backside of board to feed screws through.
The other thing I noticed was there is a lot of wasted space beneath the hanging tools . . . a shorter cabinet would’ve probably been better (but then again I’m looking at things via milwaukee m12 tool size googles).
None of these things are a deal breaker but I’d want to be able to put hands on a unit to see if / how my concerns could be mitigated.
Were I designing the “ideal” version it’d have the tool holders as inserts for both sides (and the option of large spaces for large tools for both sides), the shelf space would shorter to minimize the wasted space beneath the hanging tools, and you could make the case for moving that removed vertical space up to the top open shelf and putting a small pegboard back across the top back and maybe moving the power ports to side.
BikerDad
Other than the light bar and USB, I’m good with it. Mind you, I wouldn’t buy it because I’ve already built one, but I can see how this can do well in the market. There’s a lot of guys out there with these tools who don’t do much woodworking or the like. So building something isn’t necessarily in their wheelhouse, but having a spot for everything and everything in it’s spot is…
Randy
I agree but I would also wait for a sale/coupon at that price.
Chris
Has not everyone who owns cordless tools already built this via DIY. Copycats.
Dave
just waiting for the right amount of time to get one like this built, if they would adjust the price a little I would jump.
Nathan
I would say it doesn’t need USB and it doesn’t need lights. For what it’s meant for the light might be useful but barely. Unless under it.
usb charge port – while its bolted to a wall on the other side of your garage. Meanwhile they probably would have to stick with something like the base USB spec so it might not charge your device and have power to let you use the device at the same time. (5 volt @ 0.5amp). Versus supplying 2.1 or higher amperage at a usb port – or better supplying alternate voltages like the qualcomm fast charge system or apple’s thunderbolt.
so the usb port on this stand would be sort of useless IMO. space to plug in your wall wort – might be more worthwhile. or speakers – I could see that being a thing – make this a BT speaker setup since it’d would be plugged in. I personally wouldn’t want that but some might.
Jim Felt
Not to be too contrarian but a thought about the “missing” USB charger ports.
Amazon sells many double (not just single) USB chargers that are both transportable and can not eventually fail within a fixed power strip. Yes I have in wall Leviton USB/line voltage receptacles all over the place but hate the idea of their like being grandfathered into steel tool boxes and shelving.
Kinda like Sears with their inane Bluetooth locks. WTH?
I just expect shop stuff to last far longer then a passing consumer electric connection fad.
Now get off my lawn.
Graham Howe
I built this a while ago. https://youtu.be/qYLr94WyZf4 my garage shop gets so cold in the winter that the battery chargers would stop working. So I built an insulated cabinet with little heater and then multiple cordless tool storage on the side. The heated cabinet also keeps the glue warm.
The yeti
Nicely done
Tojen1981
An led light would be nice. Other than that, I like it. I think $99 is a good price for this, assuming its built fairly well.
Unless you have fully functional wood shop/metal fab setup, this would easily take 8-12 hours to build by the time its all said and done. Not to mention lost opportunity costs. What’s your time+materials worth? I know mine’s worth more than 8-10.00/hr. As always, YMMV.
Steve
It’s not a bad piece, especially since I don’t see too many other units like this….but for anyone with more than a few cordless drills, I’d need to go bigger. I’ve got the 18v an 12v lines from Milwaukee….plus I still have my trusty Bosch 12v drill/driver set….I use them frequently for woodworking because they don’t have the impact function like most seem to have these days.
Austin
I think it’s a good idea that’s poorly executed.
I need a shelf & charging unit like this, and I’d possibly pay $100 for it. However, I have more cordless tools than it can hold, so I’d need two of them. Since I have some Milwalkee M12 tools, the tool holder won’t work (the battery isn’t wider than the handle) just like many other 12v tools. So they’d just sit on one of the three tiny shelves.
It’s like something you’d find on Instructables that was made from pallets for $10.
JR
Overpriced, IMO. Also, I don’t leave my batteries out in the hot garage as heat is a battery killer. Not mention, if someone were to steal my tools, they’d need to buy batteries to use them and those cost a good amount of dollars.
Robert W
Perhaps it could be a little lower in price, but I bought one anyways. It may not suit everyone’s needs, but it works perfectly where I wanted something like this placed, and as for the space underneath, it’s not wasted for me, I have a knick knack organizer mounted right below it. I am super happy they made this. All my local stores sold them out already, I literally grabbed one off their pallets when they came in this weekend.
BrianB
I have been wanting to build something like this for like a year and half. I will buy it tomorrow fo $99. Just what I need.
James
Just picked it up. It’s a great item to have for the average dude who owns a couple of tools and very little space to organize. If I had more tools and the know how, I’d say you could build one cheaper and to fit your needs. A couple design flaws for hanging the unit but suits my purpose quite well.
Royesses
I picked one up yesterday. $90.00 with veterans discount and tax exempt. It’s built well and looks good. My table saw is stored so building one out of wood is inconvenient for me. I do have many cordless tools but if it works out I might buy another. I have no worries about usb chargers. Now to get my son to hang it. This was the last one left at my local Lowes so someone besides me must be buying them. I like it.
Roy
Matt
Perfect for a few but useless for many.
Karl
What happened? They’re no longer on Lowe’s web site. Seem to have gotten good reviews, I wonder why they were apparently dropped…
Stuart
Listing is still up for me. Perhaps try a different zip code?
Karl
Interesting. I’ve tried all the stores in Greater Cincinnati, none in stock, the number isn’t recognized on the Lowes web site. I also looked on Amazon. It’s listed as not in stock, unknown availability. I’ll give the local store a call and see if they can figure out what’s going on… Thanks!
Jim Felt
“He who hesitates”… I’ve found myself in this situation with too many things over the years.
That said I’ve also got a lot of stuff that never served its intended purpose once I acquired it. So there’s that too.
Oh. And “he” above is hardly gender specific. Ahahaha.
Karl
Geez, first I saw it was today.
Jim Felt
I was kidding. Try eBay. Might well be there.
Karl
I also checked fleabay. Out of stock. ☹️
Larry
Does anyone know the dimensions of this wall cabinet.
Stuart
As mentioned in the post, it’s 30″ wide x 24″ tall x 12″ deep.
Kalos
Looks like this Kobalt cabinet is discontinued (for good).
Does anyone else sell something similar?
Stuart
Unfortunately, I don’t.