Strolling through Costco, I spotted a deal on a stainless steel rolling workbench. I’ve seen the Trinity 48″ workbench a few times before and never really thought about it, but a tool storage combo review has been on my mind for the past few weeks, so this time it caught my interest.
The price was $300, but it’s back to its regular price of $400 – still a good buy.
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The workbench is made with “fingerprint resistant” stainless steel and has a 2200 lb weight capacity. It has 10 drawers — two of which run the entire length of the cart. The top is made from 1-1/2″ rubberwood (more about rubberwood below).
The workbench is 48″ wide (53″ with side handles), 19″ deep, and 37″ high. It rests on 5″x2″ casters – two are locking swivel casters, and two just swivel.
The drawers have aluminum pulls and include pre-cut liners. All of the drawers except the bottom one have a 100 lb weight capacity and the bottom 8.25″ deep drawer has 2 pairs of slides to give it a 200 lb capacity. The lock located top and center on the workbench secures all of the drawers.
This is one of the few products that Costco seems to sell both online and in stores. If you can buy it in-store you can save the $150 shipping and handling fee.
Price: $400
Buy Now (via Costco Online)
First Thoughts
One of the reasons I was excited about this workbench is that I’ve been looking at maple butcher blocks for a workbench build. When I was in the store I thought the top was a 1-1/2″ thick maple butcher block, but after reading about it on the Costco site I found out that it is rubberwood.
I’d never heard of rubberwood before, but evidently it’s a strong and cheap wood that’s used in furniture. It has an unfortunate name, so-called because its sap is used to make rubber. Sometimes it’s called Hevea. It is a sustainable hardwood that grows fast.
Looking at the Milwaukee workbench, that only has a 1″ (or 1.2″ depending on where you look) “hardwood” top. I’m not sure what hardwood it is, but if it was maple they would probably say so. So maybe rubberwood isn’t a deal killer.
The casters looked pretty heavy duty. They have similar locking mechanisms to the casters that come with Milwaukee and premium Husky cabinets.
I pulled out the drawers, and they seemed reasonably well constructed. The full width drawers extended fine, but they had a bit of side to side wobble. I don’t know if some weight in the drawers would fix that or not.
I’m actually on the fence about this workbench. I was planning on building a workbench and topping it with a maple butcher block top, to replace a few old kitchen cabinets that have been serving as a workbench in my garage.
It would probably cost me a lot less just to buy this workbench, and given Stuart’s experience with the storage efficiency of drawers you build yourself, the Trinity might be able to store more in the same space.
RC Ward says
I have seen this many times at Costco and always thought it might be a good buy
Jim Felt says
Benjamin. If you’re going to take this particular model and leave it in a damp prone garage take a decent magnet to Costco and determine how much “exposed” steel there is. As in “coated”, painted and/or not so much “stainless” steel. I did.
Toolfreak says
I’m doubtful these are really made from stainless steel, or at least anything close to what the term “stainless steel” implies. Craftsman had some “stainless steel” models a few years back, that rusted pretty good when stored in a garage, even under the clear coating. If these are some kind of “stainless steel”, for $300-400 it must be pretty low-grade stuff that uses the name on a technicality, it certainly isn’t the stainless steel used to make knives or what you’d find in a professional kitchen, which is what the term” stainless steel” implies as a sales gimmick.
That said, Costco/Sam’s Club stuff does tend to be decent quality for the price.
I’d still rather get a fully powercoated box for storing tools though.
Tom says
I’ve never seen one of these in-store before, but have often looked at them online.
I wonder why it is the only cabinet that I have ever seen that has the full width drawers at the bottom. Everybody always seems to put those on the top.
Blythe M says
That was going to be my comment too, weird place for a full width shallow drawer.
Although for the home mechanic who normally has to work off a creeper, that might be the “roll over and not have to get up” height, hard to tell for sure
Stuart says
Stability?
That large full-width drawer is so tall that maybe it could topple the entire thing over, even if the other drawers are fairly heavily loaded.
I’m guessing it would be challenging and more costly to have the 2 full-width drawers separated, which would explain why the shallow drawer is at the bottom instead of the very top.
Toolfreak says
I’m going to guess that this is more of a multi-purpose storage cart with a wood top surface than a dedicated tool storage cart, hence having bulk storage on bottom makes sense if this were to be used in a kitchen, greenhouse, or a wide variety of other possibilities.
Of course having the wide, shallow drawer on top, with the eight smaller drawers in the middle and then the deep wide drawer on bottom would be ideal for tool storage, since you could keep longer but smaller tools in that top drawer for quick access, or just have all your wrenches or sockets laid out.
I don’t think it’d be any more challenging to have the wide shallow drawer on top, but it would have made the frame construction slightly more complex, and so of course probably more expensive.
RKA says
I like the idea of a full length deep drawer at the bottom. That’s the drawer I dump the things that don’t fit in my shallow drawers and it’s not large enough being only 65% width. At some point you could make the case those items below on a shelf or in a cabinet. BUT, I would not trade that for the full width deep drawer at the top (which is handy for densely storing socket wrenches, and a vast array of sockets.
In terms of using it as a workbench, I never find these tool chests deep enough to completely replace a need for a bench. So you might find yourself looking to build a bench later anyway.
Jim Felt says
As an aside I’ve built benches around these kind of rollarounds to have the best of both. Great cheap drawers and solid wood bench tops. You can obviously remove the casters if the they’re no need for that mobility in the (near) future. Looks pretty cool too. Wood is as a bench top is far quieter then any wood on tin tool bench too.
Bolt says
I’ve got the Husky one about this size and it’s not much of a workbench. But it is a great stand for tools I’ve got my miter saw and bench grinder on it now and it works great for those.
rumpole says
by the time i see these at costco there is one unit left – the display unit, with a ding in it. the $150 delivery fee detracts from this as a deal. i wonder if costco will allow you to order one up, pay for it , and have it delivered to your local costco store. the home despot does this.
The yeti says
So jealous of American prices … land of the free for sure .
Matthew says
Rubberwood is good and durable, as well as being a “sustainable” hardwood, it grows very fast.
I bought a kitchen table set made out of rubberwood and during the 3 years I had it I was unable to leave any discernible marks in it. Granted I didn’t treat it like I would a workshop top – but still impressive nonetheless.
I would not discount it based on this fact at all.
Having said that – I am not at all interested in a “stainless” tool chest.
Processwrench says
If you have a Sam’s club nearby check out the Seville ultra classics rolling workbench, similar in design and style including the mysterious hardwood top. I’ve got a lighted fixed workbench and storage cabinet in this series in my basement. I’m skeptical of the steel being stainless but i like the look and my basement is dry so I haven’t seen any rusting of the supposid stainless steel. I’m impressed with the workbench, I’d actually put it just below commercial assembly work benches from sovella or lists and have seriously considered buying them for work. Based on what I already have I buy the Seville over what Lowe’s and home depot offer.
firefly says
I have seen this workbench in person at Costco. I am a few of the fortunate one that have a local Costco carry this item. It’s pretty solid as far as build quality at a great price. I have always thought it’s a good buy.
Personally I am not a fan of the “stainless” but other than that everything else seem to be good. I am also not a fan of workbench with build in drawers or anything else underneath for that matter. Unless it’s a secondary workbench…
Hang Fire says
As a secondary box or workshop table, maybe. This could not be my primary automotive toolbox because the full-length, standard depth drawer needs to be at waist level, where the vast majority of mechanics (just look at the multi-thousand post “Lets see your toolbox” thread on Garage Journal) keep their most-used tools, i.e, their sockets, ratchets and impact guns.
My secondary box is a 41″ with all 27″ and 12″ drawers from top to bottom. I added on top a single 40″ drawer middle box. That instantly became my most-used drawer in that stack.
Putting the full-length, standard depth drawer near the bottom was a big mistake.
Justin W. Hunt says
I have the older version of this cabinet https://www.samsclub.com/sams/20262-uhd-rolling-w-in-club-item-54182/prod19330105.ip?pid=_CSE_Google_PLA_556072&source=ifpla&CAWELAID=730010300000553560&adid=22222222627000036423&wl0=&wl1=g&wl2=c&wl3=84719163635&wl4=pla60160347539&wl5=9011070&wl6=&wl7=&wl8=&wl9=pla&wl10=1247713&wl11=online&wl12=556072&wl13=&wl15=23329149515&wl17=1o3&veh=sem
It is very comparable to the one above for about the same price, and I have been very happy with it for over 5 years. No rust, top is good, but like all things in the garage, has taken a beating–will need refinishing when I can get it cleaned off. Definitely recommended.
MikeG says
Just got this cabinet locked my tools up and the next time I tried using my tools the lock would not release the drawers ??? Need help getting this unlocked?
Jim Felt says
Call Costco Customer Service in the morning (they’re in WA State) and ask for their vendor Trinity’s direct number (they’re in Canada last I knew) while first reporting the issue to them.
Do it through Costco as that’s the bigger deal then direct.
Kurt Templeton says
I’ve had mine now for two years in a Northern CA garage. I’m 100% happy with it. I’m a weekend mechanic and all around fix it kind of guy for my home. Would this be something that a dealership car mechanic would purchase? Probably not. (Even though the quality seems good especially at that price point) But it works above and beyond for the weekend warrior. I’d call this the highest quality consumer product available that could compete in a commercial environment if need be. I love it.