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Drawing cabinets and plan chests

Drawing cabinets and plan chests for A0 and A1

Here are lockable cabinets with shallow, pull-out drawers for drawings, maps, posters and other large sheets that need to lie flat. Use the Paper format and Number of drawers filters above the products.

Not sure which format you have? Measure your largest sheet. If it is wider than a metre you need an A0 cabinet, otherwise A1 is enough.

Unsure which cabinet fits? Call us on 0770 - 22 01 22.

A0 or A1?

The format decides which cabinet you need, and it is the one choice you cannot compromise on. An A1 sheet fits in an A0 cabinet, but an A0 sheet cannot lie flat in an A1 cabinet without being folded, and then the cabinet has lost its purpose. The internal drawer dimensions are given on each product, so compare them with your largest sheet before choosing.

Plan chest, map cabinet or drawing cabinet?

It is the same piece of furniture. Drawing cabinet is the most common term, plan chest is used in architecture and construction, and map cabinet when the contents are maps and charts. Architects, local authorities, land survey offices, schools and museums all use them for the same thing: keeping large sheets flat so they are never rolled, folded or creased.

How many drawers do you need?

More drawers means fewer sheets per drawer, and that is the whole difference. When a drawer is full the sheets are hard to lift out without bending them, and anyone looking for one has to work through a pile. If you have several projects or years to keep apart, more drawers is almost always right. The number is given on each product and can be filtered.

What the drawers are built for

The drawers are shallow and wide and pull out to their full depth, so a whole sheet is visible at once. Several of the cabinets have a retaining bar that holds the sheets in place as the drawer opens, and dividers are available as an option on some models. The cabinets are built in sheet steel and take the weight of full drawers, which an ordinary pedestal does not.

Locking and placement

The cabinets are lockable, which matters in an office with confidential drawings or in a public setting. The lock type is given on each product. Some models can be fitted with a laminate top, turning the cabinet into a work surface to unroll a drawing on, and some are delivered with a plinth that raises the cabinet to a comfortable height.

Used drawing cabinets

A drawing cabinet is furniture that lasts for decades, so buying used is often a good deal. What is in stock varies, so have a look in the bargain corner, where we collect used cabinets and display models.