Akro-Mils 10144 44-Drawer Cabinet: Sort Parts by Size

Forty-four drawers sound generous, but the useful question is how your supplies divide up. The Akro-Mils 10144 puts 32 small drawers above 12 larger ones in one black cabinet. That mix suits a collection with many kinds of small supplies and fewer bulkier groups, provided those items fit the drawers they will occupy.

Assign the 32 small and 12 large drawers

Start by laying out the categories you want to keep separate. A hardware collection might need individual homes for different washers, nuts and short screws; a craft collection might divide by bead type or button color. Count those groups before counting pieces. Several hundred similar items can need fewer drawers than a modest assortment of unrelated ones.

The larger drawers give you somewhere to put groups that need more space without spreading them across several small drawers. There are only 12 of these, so a collection dominated by bulky supplies may leave small drawers underused while the larger ones fill up. Check the interior fit of your largest items before assigning them a place.

Translucent fronts make broad differences in the contents visible. Green building bricks and metal washers are easy categories to distinguish by appearance; neighboring screw sizes call for more information. Add your own labels for details such as diameter and length, then keep the same category in the same drawer. Visibility helps orient the search, while the label identifies the part.

Finger-grip pulls give each drawer a place to grasp. Akro-Mils also describes rear stop tabs as a feature intended to prevent spilled contents. Treat that as a drawer-control feature, with no promise that a loaded cabinet will keep everything contained during transport.

Plan around 12 included dividers

The cabinet includes eight small dividers and four large ones. They are molded into the back of the cabinet frame and must be removed for use. This is a starter supply for selected drawers; the 44-drawer count does not mean every drawer comes with its own divider. Decide where separation adds value before distributing those 12 pieces.

Two small groups of buttons can each have a section of the same drawer, with a divider separating the colors, provided both groups fit. That leaves another drawer available for a different supply instead of assigning each color a mostly empty drawer. A larger batch of one color may deserve a whole undivided drawer.

If that plan needs more partitions, Akro-Mils sells size-specific extras for this cabinet: 40716 small dividers come in a 16-pack, and 40717 large dividers in a six-pack. Match the divider to the drawer size when ordering. These are separate purchases, so include them in the budget when comparing the cabinet with your actual storage plan.

Choose a spot for a 20-inch-wide cabinet

The cabinet measures 20 inches wide, 6-3/8 inches deep and 15-13/16 inches high. Use those outside dimensions to mark its position on a bench or shelf, then allow room in front to open the drawers and reach inside. A shelf that accommodates the closed cabinet can still be awkward if another object blocks the drawer fronts.

Wall mounting is another option: the cabinet has four keyhole slots on its back. That lets a suitable wall location become part of the storage plan when bench space is scarce. Work out the support and installation for that location before committing to it; the presence of four slots alone does not establish which fasteners your wall needs.

Akro-Mils also lists the cabinet as stackable. Before planning a stack, check the available footprint and whether you could comfortably see and reach the upper drawers. Keep frequently used supplies within easy reach.

Before buying, make a simple tally: categories that fit small drawers, groups that need larger drawers, and drawers that need partitions. The 10144 is a convincing choice when that tally resembles its 32-and-12 layout and the starter dividers cover much of the plan. If larger groups dominate, choose storage with more room allocated to them.