3 Of The Best Tool Chests At Harbor Freight, According To Users

Harbor Freight is best known for its affordable tools and accessories, but any pro will tell you that it's also one of the best places to pick up your first tool storage unit, whether that's a small three-drawer cart or a massive rolling cabinet. We're going to discuss the chests listed as "top chests" on the Harbor Freight website, which are a little different from tool boxes. These tool chests, usually designed to sit atop a rolling cart from the same manufacturer, expand storage, but they are much more than a simple toolbox.

When Snap-On or Matco tool dealers stop into our auto shop to talk up superior construction and financing options, I always think back to a tip I was taught by the lead technicians at a shop I worked at. It's a lesson I gladly passed on to my apprentices, and will repeat here: Tool boxes do not earn you any money. There is no reason to take out a second mortgage for a tool chest, especially when quality storage options of all sizes are available at retailers like Harbor Freight.

With that in mind, here are some of the best tool chests at Harbor Freight. Users have dropped dozens of reviews on websites, YouTube videos, and Harbor Freight's own website, and these three boxes are among the very best the discount tool retailer has to offer.

A small tool chest offers versatility that a six-foot top chest does not. You're never going to see one of those huge toppers on a work bench — in fact, you'll rarely see one on anything other than a good rolling chest. But a small chest can be placed on a table, work bay, truck bed, or any other surface with a couple of empty square feet of space.

The best-reviewed tool chest at Harbor Freight is the U.S. General 27x22 inch Series 3 Top Chest, a fantastic starting point for any fledgling tool collector. This box is available in eight colors, including traditional favorites like red and blue alongside eye-catching hues like orange and neon green. A fun option if you're building off a roll cart is to combine those colors to represent your personal tastes or favorite team — as an Illinois native who relocated to Colorado, my blue-and-orange setup helped ease me into a new shop by virtue of our NFL teams sharing a color scheme.

Seven drawers and 7,600 cubic inches of storage make this a great first box to plop on your bay's workbench or to use as an expansion to the U.S. General Series 3 Roll Cab, and it's also compatible with U.S. General Series 2 cab models. You can purchase the U.S. General 27x22 inch Series 3 Top Chest from Harbor Freight for $250.

Icon is considered to be Harbor Freight's premium line of tools and equipment aimed at the professional mechanic. The brand features basic shop equipment like hand tool sets and creepers, but Icon also makes some feature-rich tool chests.

The Icon 73 inch Professional Top Chest comes in four colors and has 18 drawers, meaning you're practically doubling the storage available in the Icon 73-inch Professional Roll Cab if you're using this as a modular top box. Each of those drawers is capable of supporting an obscene 265 pounds, which is great for heavy things you may be storing a lot of, like impact sockets or specialty tools. Drawer latches feature a dial to adjust the amount of force necessary to open them, and nonslip liners are included. And if you somehow run out of space with this tool chest and a roll cab, Icon offers a full line of modular cabinets and lockers that all attach together to make the Voltron-esque tool storage unit of your dreams.

The Icon chest doesn't have as many reviews as the US General models, but it's made by the same folks that make the roll cab it's designed to fit atop, and that unit has hundreds of excellent reviews and a 4.9 star average. The Icon 73 inch Professional Top Chest can be purchased for $1,800.

If you spend any time in the automotive repair industry, storage expansion is an inevitable necessity. You'll buy new tools as you need them, and you'll eventually fill the box you once thought was way bigger than you'd ever need. And once you find a tool chest brand that you like, odds are you'll stick with it. U.S. General's carts and chests are a great value for the price — I still have the first U.S. General roll cart that I bought almost 20 years ago — and it's not surprising that even pros stick with the brand while expanding to a massive 72-inch storage cabinet.

The U.S. General 72x22 inch Series 3 Triple Bank Top Chest has 12 drawers with stylish black handles, a large top tray with dual gas struts, and integrated power ports to keep batteries charged for cordless impacts and ratchets. Drawers support up to 120 pounds per pair, and the manufacturer says this tool chest provides 25,300 cubic inches of storage space. It's designed to fit seamlessly atop a U.S. General 72 inch Series 3 Triple Bank Roll Cab, and users who have bought this tool chest rave about its customization options and quality construction. The U.S. General 72x22 inch Series 3 Triple Bank Top Chest is available at Harbor Freight for $1,000.

We chose these three tool chests from the available options at Harbor Freight based on customer reviews on the retailer's website. We also searched YouTube and professional tool review sites for in-depth impressions on the chests. Finally, my own experience buying several toolboxes during my career as an automotive technician, and helping other techs select and move their new Harbor Freight storage solution, factored into our selections and my opinions of these tool chests.