Before these showed up, my truck parts lived in Rubbermaid totes. It worked, right up until I actually needed something. Then it was moving four totes to get at the fifth one. I wanted that empty wall in the shop filled, I wanted a lot more enclosed storage, and I wanted something black that would sit reasonably close to my Husky toolbox.
This is not sponsored. I purchased these cabinets myself with my own money.
Seven months in, here is the honest version. Full video:
Why not the nicer cabinets
I already run Mastercraft Maximum cabinets at the other end of the shop. They are heavier and they are very nice, but filling this wall with them would have cost roughly twice as much. Every time I ran the numbers I landed in the same place: it is a shop. I would rather save that money for truck projects than spend $4,000 to $6,000 making every cabinet in the building match perfectly.
Price and delivery
Caught the Boxing Day and New Year’s sale, ordered January 10, delivered January 24. Roughly $2,400 Canadian delivered. The listed price I was working from was $2,299.99 CAD, but NewAge runs sales constantly so treat that as a reference number, not what you will pay today.
One heads up on the shipment: everything nests inside the two big lockers, lower cabinets and wall cabinets included. It shows up looking way smaller than nine pieces should.
The damaged cabinet
One of the tall cabinets looked like it had been dropped. The side was dented badly enough that the doors would not sit or close properly.
I put in a damage claim. The first options were basically a small refund or a replacement cabinet in grey. I was not taking $100 back on a cabinet worth $500 to $600, and I was not putting one grey cabinet in the middle of an all-black wall.
About another month later they found a grey cabinet with black doors. I took it and swapped the doors over. The doors off the damaged one still need a little straightening, but the wall itself was made right. I also picked up two more matching cabinets from a buddy for $100, and the spare parts and doors from the damaged cabinet made those usable. So it worked out fairly well in the end.
Check every box carefully before you start bolting anything to the wall.
The steel
Let’s call it what it is. These are 24-gauge steel cabinets. They are not industrial cabinets and they are not built like a mechanic’s toolbox. The doors and panels flex if you lean on them. If you are running a commercial shop with a few guys beating on cabinets all day, look somewhere else.
For my use, they are completely fine for what I use them for. Truck parts, tools, supplies, general garage storage. I am not hammering on the doors or using the top as a fab table.
The countertop
Weakest part of the whole package. The original bamboo top was thin and shallow and did not feel like it belonged with the rest of the set. I replaced it with a six-foot piece of butcher block about 1½ inches thick, ripped down to fit the cabinet depth. The difference is night and day, and it is something I can actually work on. Budget for that up front.
Installation
Not hard, just slow. Getting everything level, straight and properly spaced takes real time. I started at the toolbox end, got the first tall cabinet level and lagged into the wall, then used it as the reference for everything else. Lowers next, two of mine on casters and the centre one on adjustable feet. Uppers last.
The uppers were the sketchy part doing it alone. Get a second person for those. There are plenty of mounting holes, so hitting the wood framing behind my metal shop walls was easy. Three lag bolts per tall cabinet. Look at how your wall is built first, because the supplied hardware may not be long enough.
Verdict after seven months
Happy with them. The steel is thin, the original top was disappointing, and the damage claim dragged longer than it should have. But they look good, they match the shop, they hold a pile of parts and they cleaned up that whole side of the garage. For $2,400 delivered, worth it for what I needed.
Commercial shop? Probably not. Home garage at the right sale price? I would buy them again.
Full write-up
The complete review, the product details, the full advantages and drawbacks and the installation notes are on the blog:
https://fullsizechevy.com/newage-bold-series-9-piece-garage-cabinet-review/
Your turn
Anyone else running the NewAge Bold cabinets? How have the Bold 2.0, Bold 3.0 or Pro sets held up? Did yours arrive without damage, and did you keep the original countertop or replace it?