Shaker Workbench

This shaker-style workbench combines cabinet storage underneath with a generous work surface up top.

- By Steven Bunn

Traditional Shaker workbenches appeal to me for two reasons. First, the long wide top offers space enough to work on almost any project, with enough room left over for everything else that we all find essential and keep ready to hand while we work. The carrier deck sized top brings out the Walter Mitty in my nature, playing carrier commander in my imagination.

Secondly, and equally important, is the storage space offered by the enclosed cabinet that makes up the bench's base. Whether your shop is large or small, no one, especially me, ever has enough storage space. I evaluate every tool cabinet and bench plan I read about with an eye for wasted unfilled volumes of space that could be better used.

As I look back over the last few years in my own shop, my efforts have not revolved around fitting larger or newer tools into the space I use, but rather on constantly improving the organization and storage within the shop. The Shaker belief that keeping everything orderly and in its place, is a useful guide for a modern woodworker. The storage space incorporated in the base of this new bench will be filled before I know it.

Bench Design