Agreed that size is size. The comment about the grade was one, to give more background info around our specialized needs and two, that the cost of the materials is really high, so want to be extra sure that we don't ding/mangle/munch the stuff if we can help -- maybe it doesn't make a difference, but I've seen some backroom setups of just 2x4's and somewhat splintery materials, etc. and am thinking that if our Finished Goods and Material storage is finished to a higher grade (yeah, I know, more expensive) that it would likely be worth it from saved material waste. As well, if clients do come by, it would project a "higher quality in all we do" image ("everything communicates").
OK, now we are getting down to the nitty gritty. I wondered what your reasoning was for digging for better ideas for benches and I see that you have the same outlook I had for the appearances of your work areas. I want to show you one of the very first projects I took on when I opened my first frameshop back in the late 80's. I too searched around and even got bids from professional cabinet makers to build some benches that would have the capabilities that I needed and also looked good. I got bids that started around the $5000 range and went up from there for 4 benches and that didn't count the customer counter that I also needed.
So I built my own.
I bought a half pallet of Baltic birch 12 ply plywood, some rough sawn red oak, and some sycamore for drawer carcases and linings along with the necessary hardware and fittings. I am not a cabinet maker, just a lifelong woodworking hobbyist so I had no professional background to fall back on, just my gut feeling about how I wanted the benches to look and some basic joinery practices that I used for other wood projects that I built. I feel that anyone who is capable of basic joinery skills, does revelant reading and studying of what he wants to do, and uses some common sense, can do just what I did when faced with a choice of paying someone else 2 states away over $5000 and not know until all was finished what he was getting or do it himself and make the benches exactly the way he wants them.
This is a photo of my cutting room with the Phaedra chop table on the left, the joining table at the rear, and part of my moulding storage rack on the right which I built from some 2x4's, 1x6's, and a few wooden closet poles cut into lengths.
Closeup of the chop table with storage underneath for spare blades and other hand tools that I use in the frameshop. Storage was of paramount importance in designing and building these benches.
Closeup of the joining table with a Stanley miter vise in the corner and set down so as to allow the top of the bench to support the moulding when using the vise. There are drawers for storing V-nails, a Barton angle guide book, and other small tools and putties and pastes used to touch up or fill nail holes and imperfections. Adjustable shelving on both sides allow for storing shorts of moulding that I chose to keep for smaller frames and other projects that I built later on.
The other side of the joining bench showing the drawers and storage shelves. If you are concerned as I was about finished looks of your benches and utilizing every square inch of space to its fullest, you may get some ideas from these photos.
Here is one end of my mat table. I fit in non-adjustable shelves and offset the table top by the thickness of the mat cutter bed so that the mats would be flat on the table top when in the cutter. I also covered the top with indoor outdoor carpet to pad the table top and provide a soft working surface that didn't abrade the components of the frame package. With carpet you have to be aware of keeping staples and such off of the carpet so that they don't become embedded in the fibers but I wanted the carpet and I set my mind to keeping it as clean as I could.
Opposite end of mat table showing storage shelves and dust cover paper. If I had it to do over again, I probably would have built this end solid and allowed for a number of paper roll dispensers on the end for dust covers and plastic bags.
My glass storage bench, which also was home for my oval cutter and my shrink wrap machine. Pretty straight forward, I stocked a number of PC sizes and a few CC sizes along with some plexi.
I had some supplies and wood left over and, by coincidence, got a very good deal on a custom built 12' long formica counter top that was built with the wrong color formica. It was perfect for me as it was a beige combination so I bought it and built a customer counter out of it. I ripped off the back splash and front rollover and trimmed the edges with 2" oak strips all around. I covered the front with indoor outdoor carpeting and used the remaining baltic birch plywood for the adjustable shelves. It was the perfect end to a very satisfying wood project and the solution to a serious need for my shop.
Backside of the customer counter showing the adjustable shelving. I simply installed a strip of oak on the edges of each birch plywood shelf and also the partitions to give it a finished look. The difference in a bare plywood edge and a nice finished solid wood edge is remarkable and so easy to make happen.
The tops of most of the benches were made 48" wide by whatever length I felt I needed for that bench. They are all 39" tall which I determined was the optimum height that I could work on comfortably and they all had a toe space that I made from 2x4's so I could work close to the benches without kicking the edges of whatever was stored in them. The ingenious thing about the benches was I could fit them all through a 3/0 exterior door without any trouble! The tops come off and the toe space platforms are removeable and, when you turn the benches on their sides, they slide right through most exterior doors. We had to remove one door at the present gallery where I work to fit them through the opening but the commercial door simply didn't swing outward and out of the opening far enough but that was the only hitch in the 4 moves I had to make with these benches.
And, yes, they are still in service today!! I have all of them but my chop saw table here in Florida and use them daily. They are as sturdy and space efficient as ever and I wouldn't trade them for any commercial bench on the market today. Again, I was not overly skilled in building cabinets or benches, but, if you know the basics of carcass construction and have a fair amount of tools to make dimensioning and assembling of the benches easy, you can build these yourself and probably do a better job than I did almost 20 years ago! All it takes is a need for work benches and lack of money to pay someone else 3 or 4 times the cost of materials to build them for you. The rest is easy!
i apologize for the lengthy post but I feel that this is a very important outlay of money for the beginning framer. Any ideas that they can use to make their own benches and save all that money is time and space well spent in my opinion.
My current location has a very small room for my framing equipment, so I had to maximize space by not only building in the matboard storage, but the whole table (cabinet really) is on lockable casters. This allows my to push the table against the wall when not in use, and pull it out when cutting mats. As I only frame items for the store or custom frame the prints we sell, it works. If I had to take in customer's work and frame "full time", I'd have to get a bigger place for sure.