Harbor Freight Is Selling A Small-Space Storage Gem DIYers Say Is Perfect For Beginners

If you're building out your very first personal D.I.Y. workshop in your garage, there's a problem you're going to run into very swiftly: a distinct lack of sealable storage space. The average garage isn't going to have any secure storage period, much less anything specifically designed with potentially dangerous or volatile tools or utilities in mind. If you need a good jumping off point to get your D.I.Y. garage started in earnest, hardware retailer Harbor Freight has a particular product on offer that users swear by: the U.S. General Hanging Tool Cabinet.

U.S. General is one of Harbor Freight's many in-house brands, specializing in various forms of tool and utility storage like cabinets, carts, lockers, and organizers, as well as tool storage accessories. The Hanging Tool Cabinet in particular is a pleasantly simple option to serve as a baseline for your burgeoning tool collection. This cabinet bolts directly to your wall and allows you to stash a small, yet healthy supply of odds and ends, as well as keep them all under lock and key for safety. 

This cabinet, while not the fanciest product sold by Harbor Freight, is good for what it is, and is well-liked by both Harbor Freight users and YouTube DIYers. For more information on our recommendation for this cabinet, check our methodology at the bottom of the page.

The U.S. General Hanging Tool Cabinet is exactly what it sounds like: a medium-sized tool cabinet that's designed to be hung up on the wall of your garage or workshop. The cabinet comes with a set of heavy-duty 20-gauge bolts, so you can drill them right into a wall or pegboard. The cabinet itself is made of 19-gauge steel with a baked enamel finish, which makes it naturally resilient to time and punishment, and helps to stave off the threat of rust and corrosion.

The inside of the cabinet has three shelved compartments measuring in at 23-3/4 in. x 15-3/4 in each, with two shelves per compartment. Each compartment is secured via a key-locked door: They don't have any knobs, so you do need to have the keys handy each time you open and close the doors. The cabinet does come with two keys for each compartment, so you can keep the spares somewhere safe if you're worried about losing the main keys.

Compared to some of the other tool storage options manufactured by U.S. General and other brands, the Hanging Tool Cabinet is fairly well-liked by Harbor Freight shoppers, with 793 users giving it a 4.4 out of 5 star rating.

Several user reviews say that the cabinet is pleasantly simple; it's easy to put together, looks good in a garage, and is fairly sturdy. Several users do note that the assembly instructions are a little too verbose, but the inherent simplicity of the cabinet's design makes it clear enough how to put it together, even if the instructions are poorly worded.

Variety and D.I.Y. YouTuber About a Minute reviewed this cabinet after three years of ownership, saying that they were glad they purchased it, and that they particularly like the relatively shallow depth of the storage compartments. That shallow depth allowed them to store a decent variety of tools without losing track of anything, which is helpful for a beginner. Another channel, L35 In Colorado, echoed this sentiment; calling it a good value for the price and appreciating the many accoutrements like internal pegboard hangers.

Even for something as simple as a storage cabinet, you always want to be sure you're getting products that meet your needs and won't end up falling apart. To back up our recommendation of the U.S. General Hanging Tool Cabinet, we consulted Harbor Freight's user reviews on its website, where 94% of users indicating they would recommend this item. We also consulted independent video reviews from YouTube D.I.Y. channels with a sufficient presence (at least several thousand subscribers) to present another gauge in customer interest and satisfaction.