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Due to two of our picks being discontinued, we’re currently researching and testing a new round of toolboxes. We’ll update this guide with our results.
The Milwaukee 13″ Jobsite Work Box and the Stanley Click ’N’ Connect 2-in-1 Tool Box have both been discontinued. We still stand behind the Custom Leathercraft tool bag, which remains in stock.
We had three carpenters test 10 toolboxes and bags, and we found that the best is the Milwaukee 13″ Jobsite Work Box. Simply put, it’s the most efficient, portable, and organized toolbox we could find.
This toolbox stores tools vertically, keeping them organized, easy to find, and unlikely to shift around. It’s not the biggest, but it holds a complete tool collection at a size that’s manageable even when full.
The biggest difference between the Milwaukee 13″ Jobsite Work Box and a traditional toolbox is the way it stores tools vertically in individual slots, so they stay in place and remain easy to access. This arrangement stands in stark contrast to the jumbled pile of tools that you typically see with other boxes. The Milwaukee isn’t the most capacious toolbox we found, but it holds a complete collection of basic tools, with a size and shape that’s easy to carry when full. With its lid on, you can use it as a seat, a unique feature we found convenient during eight months of testing while wrapping up a major home renovation.
The CLC has room for more tools and is more organized than the Milwaukee, but it typically costs twice as much. Consider this model if you use tools daily; for occasional projects, our other picks are a better fit.
*At the time of publishing, the price was $80.
If you want room to grow your tool collection or you use your tools a lot and like things extremely organized and accessible, we recommend the Custom LeatherCraft 1539 18″ Multi-Compartment Tool Carrier. The Milwaukee box comfortably stores the 25 or so tools in our collection of essential tools and has room for a few more, but the CLC can probably double that total. Even with fewer tools, the added space in this model means that nothing is cramped or jumbled together. The CLC is also the most organized of the toolboxes we looked at, with two large side panels that open to reveal three tiers of vertical storage pockets. It’s a great tool bag, but it typically costs about twice as much as the Milwaukee—it’s a worthwhile investment if you’re using it every day, but that’s more than you really have to pay to get an adequate container to store your tools for occasional projects.
This smaller, less expensive box doesn’t have the durability or the organized storage of our pick, but it fits a closet shelf well and provides places for miscellaneous small hardware.
*At the time of publishing, the price was $22.
If you have limited space, as in an apartment or condo, and you need a single box for not only tools but also screws, nails, glue, tape, and picture hangers, we recommend the Stanley Click ’N’ Connect 2-in-1 Toolbox. This model actually consists of two boxes that snap together; the larger one holds tools while the smaller, divided one holds accessories and smaller items. When it comes to tool storage, this Stanley box doesn’t offer much in the way of organization—you’ll end up with a jumbled pile of tools—but none of the other boxes we tested offered such compartmentalized storage for non-tool items. Just note that all of our testers were wary of its overall durability.
This guide is part of a larger series devoted to the best tools for the home. To see the rest of our selections, check out our full guide.
This toolbox stores tools vertically, keeping them organized, easy to find, and unlikely to shift around. It’s not the biggest, but it holds a complete tool collection at a size that’s manageable even when full.
The CLC has room for more tools and is more organized than the Milwaukee, but it typically costs twice as much. Consider this model if you use tools daily; for occasional projects, our other picks are a better fit.
*At the time of publishing, the price was $80.
This smaller, less expensive box doesn’t have the durability or the organized storage of our pick, but it fits a closet shelf well and provides places for miscellaneous small hardware.
*At the time of publishing, the price was $22.
I’ve been lugging toolboxes around for nearly 18 years. For 10 of those years, I worked in the trades as a carpenter, a foreman, and a jobsite supervisor, working on and orchestrating multimillion-dollar residential projects. I’ve been writing about and reviewing tools since 2007, with articles appearing in Fine Homebuilding, Popular Mechanics, Popular Science, This Old House, and Tools of the Trade. In addition, I completely gutted and renovated a 100-year-old farmhouse, a process that took nearly four years to complete. During all of this time, I’ve seen plenty of cheap toolboxes break, and as someone who has made a living using tools, I’m well aware of the value of a nice, organized place to store equipment.
For this guide, I also picked the brain of Rob Robillard, licensed contractor, fellow tool writer, and editor of A Concord Carpenter. I also spoke with two other carpenters: Aaron Goff, who has been a high-end remodeler and cabinet builder since 2003, and Mark Piersma, who has been a carpenter and builder since 2001. I’ve known and worked alongside these two for years, and both are very particular about their tools. Goff and Piersma also assisted with our hands-on evaluation.
After speaking with Robillard, getting the input of Goff and Piersma, and drawing on my own extensive knowledge of toolboxes, I found that a successful toolbox needs only three attributes: organization, durability, and proper sizing.
Organization: All of the carpenters we spoke with emphasized organization. Goff said, “In order to be efficient, my tools have to be organized. Nothing irritates me like having to dig through some big box of gear to find what I’m looking for.” Not only does organization make for faster work, but when tools reside in specific places, they’re also less likely to be damaged. This means nothing for a tool like a hammer, but you can’t just toss precision instruments like stud finders and voltage testers in with the pliers and wrenches. We determined that compartmentalized storage for small hardware items was not a requirement but a nice bonus for a toolbox to have.
The most highly regarded tool-organization option, which Robillard, Goff, and I use, is the Veto Pro Pac line of tool bags, which we’ve included in the Competition section. Looking to Veto’s organization as a standard, we sought to avoid the haphazard pile of tools that most traditional toolboxes create.
For both our original guide and the 2018 update, we managed to find less-expensive options that incorporated this style of vertical storage. We also tested a number of traditional basin-style toolboxes.
Durability: A toolbox should be able to tolerate being knocked around a little. We weren’t necessarily after indestructible pro-level durability, but we did want something with solid latches, a strong handle, and hinges, lids, or zippers that would last through years of use. This criterion eliminated many cheaper store-brand boxes.
Size: Our main requirement for size was that the toolbox be able to hold all of the tools we outline in our guide to the best tools and toolbox. That’s our list of essential tools for the DIY-oriented homeowner or apartment dweller. We have just over 20 tools on our list, ranging from large (hammers) to small (precision screwdriver). In terms of a traditional toolbox that can house that collection, this translates to a model in the 20- to 24-inch size range. Any smaller, and the toolbox is too cramped; any larger, and it’s too difficult to carry around.
When we first wrote this guide in 2015, the options for vertical storage in a lower price range were very limited, so we also tested a number of traditional toolboxes to see what they had to offer. Overall, we were disappointed with them, so for our 2018 update, we decided that in order for us to consider a toolbox, it needed to have tiered vertical storage in an enclosed compartment.
For the 2018 update, we also declined to look at standard duffle-style bags like the DeWalt DG5553. Bags like this have limited vertical storage, but unfortunately it’s all on the exterior of the bag, so tools can fall out or catch on things during transport. For the most part this style of tool carrier presents the same issue as a standard toolbox—creating a jumbled pile of tools—but in a soft case rather than a hard one. We also avoided open-top tool bags like the Jackson Palmer 9″ Tool Carrier.
For our tests, Goff, Piersma, and I looked at the latches, the hinges, the overall durability, and any other features. We loaded each toolbox full of tools and went through the process of working out of it. Once we decided on the Milwaukee 13″ Jobsite Work Box as the best of the group, I filled it with our selection of the best tools and spent eight months using it exclusively as I put the finishing touches on my three-and-a-half-year full gut and renovation of a 100-year-old farmhouse.
This toolbox stores tools vertically, keeping them organized, easy to find, and unlikely to shift around. It’s not the biggest, but it holds a complete tool collection at a size that’s manageable even when full.
Our three-carpenter consensus—confirmed by my eight-month testing period—is that the Milwaukee 13″ Jobsite Work Box is the best option for home tool storage. Thanks to its vertical design, it not only stores tools but also organizes them, providing specific spots for small, medium, and large items. This design makes the 13-inch Milwaukee a very easy box to work out of during a project, even one as simple as hanging a towel bar. The Milwaukee isn’t exactly small, but its bucketlike shape has a minimal footprint and is easy to carry around. As a bonus, with the lid on, it can serve as a seat, a feature that the three of us especially liked—and one that I came to rely on as I worked on my own house. As for cost, it’s on a par with other high-end toolboxes in the traditional style.
What puts the Milwaukee head and shoulders above the rest is its emphasis on organization. The box has a removable tool caddy with eight slots on one side (good for tools like pliers and screwdrivers) and two large storage spaces on the other side (good for wider items such as a torpedo level and a pry bar). The caddy is easy to access inside the toolbox, but you can lift it up and out using its handle. It slides into any of the three slots in the box, so you can shift it around depending on your space needs. A small divider that comes with the toolbox can slide into the slots as well; this piece separates the rest of the box’s open space so that you can organize larger tools like hammers and bigger pry bars. At the top of the box is a removable tray for seven or eight small items, such as pencils or hex wrenches, or tools that you’ll use a lot, like a tape measure or a multi-bit screwdriver.
By providing specific areas for small, medium, and large tools, the Milwaukee proved to be one of the easiest toolboxes to work out of in our tests, even for mundane tasks like installing a toilet-paper holder. You can grab what you need without rummaging around, and put the tool right back in place when you’re done. My tools usually end up spread out on the floor all around me—but not with this box. Beyond efficiency and organization, the design also protects more delicate tools such as torpedo levels or electronic stud finders.
The overall shape of the Milwaukee gives it a number of advantages over a traditional toolbox. Because it is taller than it is wide, it has a compact footprint, making it perfect for the back of a closet or the corner of a garage. With the lid on, the Milwaukee is tall enough to serve as a seat, a great feature to have while you’re adjusting a doorknob.
What puts the Milwaukee head and shoulders above the rest is its emphasis on organization.
That distinctive shape also makes the Milwaukee much easier to carry around fully loaded than a traditional toolbox. The compact design gives it a steady center of gravity, and with your tools secured in the caddy, nothing really shifts around while you carry it. With a regular toolbox, everything stays heaped in a single pile in a large open compartment, and as the tools slide and move around, the toolbox can quickly become unbalanced.
Bringing the Milwaukee around the house as I went from room to room working on projects was hassle-free. Traditional boxes are so awkward that I’ve always tended to leave them in the basement and pick out the tools I need (usually forgetting one or two, leading to a frustrating second trip down the stairs).
The Milwaukee is also notably durable, with a solid lid. The lid is fully removable and has no hinges, which are usually the weakest part of a toolbox. When you pivot the handle over to one side, the lid can come off; when you set it upright or pivot it to the other side, the lid stays secured in place. The lid also has a spot for a small padlock.
Bringing the Milwaukee around the house as I went from room to room working on projects was hassle-free.
As with many other construction-grade toolboxes, the lid of the Milwaukee toolbox has an angled groove that can cradle a piece of wood or a pipe, turning the toolbox into a quick-and-dirty cutting station. It offers no way to clamp the wood in place, and the groove is only 11 inches long, but I found the feature helpful for small tasks here and there, such as trimming little window stops for a French door that I’d refurbished.
According to Milwaukee, the box can withstand 1,000 drops with a 25-pound load. We didn’t confirm that, but we did bang the toolbox around enough to be convinced of its long-term durability. After more than three and a half years of regular use, the box still looks nearly brand-new, with only a few minor scuffs here and there.
The Milwaukee can easily fit small and medium tools, but for longer items, it maxes out at a little over 15 inches in height. This restriction means that items such as a big drill-bit case or a long framing hammer won’t fit. With everything that this toolbox has to offer over the competition, not easily fitting a couple of larger tools is a small price to pay. And the Milwaukee has no problems storing all of the core hand tools like wrenches, pliers, screwdrivers, and a 16-ounce hammer.
Also, once filled with our selected tools, the Milwaukee has some room left to grow, but not much. It has space for a few additional tools or some duct tape and a can of WD-40, say, but if you have a fairly large collection of tools or have hobbies that require additional pieces and want to keep them all in one spot, we recommend our upgrade pick, the Custom LeatherCraft 1539 18″ Multi-Compartment Tool Carrier.
Lastly, the Milwaukee is designed specifically for tools and isn’t good for smaller items like screws and fasteners. So if you’re looking for an all-in-one storage option for tools plus other items like picture hangers and the bits and pieces left over from an IKEA build, we recommend the less durable but more compartmentalized Stanley Click ’N’ Connect 2-in-1 Toolbox.
The CLC has room for more tools and is more organized than the Milwaukee, but it typically costs twice as much. Consider this model if you use tools daily; for occasional projects, our other picks are a better fit.
*At the time of publishing, the price was $80.
If you use your tools constantly and want top-shelf organization, we like the Custom LeatherCraft 1539 18″ Multi-Compartment Tool Carrier. Because the vertical storage is in two large side compartments, we could more easily see all of our tools than we could with the Milwaukee, which made this the easiest tool carrier to work out of. It can hold about twice as many tools as the Milwaukee, too. The central compartment is even large enough to hold a drill and a sizable bit case. It has a shoulder strap, which makes it easy to lug around.
It has several downsides. First, since this CLC model is a soft bag, it can’t serve as a seat, a feature unique to the Milwaukee toolbox. Second, it has no compartmentalized storage for smaller fasteners. And third, it typically sells for about $60, making it roughly twice the cost of the Milwaukee.
Unlike the Milwaukee box, the CLC bag offers plenty of room to grow if your tool needs expand beyond the essentials. Whereas the Milwaukee can comfortably hold 30 or so tools, the CLC can probably double that. The only concern is whether you’d be able to haul it around when it’s full—but the CLC has a shoulder strap, so even when it’s pretty loaded up, putting the weight on your shoulder is easier than carrying it at the end of your arm.
Each side of the CLC has a large flap that unzips to reveal tiered pockets of varying sizes that are perfect for pliers, wrenches, screwdrivers, and even smaller items like voltage testers and precision screwdrivers. It also has a large center compartment for hammers, handsaws, combination squares, and anything else that can't fit in the side pockets. The outside of the bag has a few small pockets (at the ends) and a clip to hold your tape measure, but we like that the bag has enough internal space that you don’t end up with an abundance of tools hanging off the exterior.
Of all the carriers we tested, this model most closely matches the tool organization of its priciest competitors, the vaunted Veto Pro Pac bags. Compared with the Veto design, the CLC bag feels less solid overall, with saggier sides, a lighter-duty handle, and fewer exterior-storage configuration options; it also lacks the Veto design’s waterproof bottom panel. However, the CLC costs about a third of the Veto Pro Pac XL’s price and still gives you some excellent features, making for a very good value.
Although it’s cheaper than that Veto model, the CLC carrier is quite a bit more expensive than the Milwaukee box. While it’s true that the Milwaukee holds less, we believe it holds enough for most basic home-maintenance tasks. If you use tools daily, however, the CLC’s added size and ease of tool access make it a good investment. And if you’re a professional, you may already be shopping for a Veto Pro Pac—the CLC is similar enough that it may seem like a relative bargain.
This smaller, less expensive box doesn’t have the durability or the organized storage of our pick, but it fits a closet shelf well and provides places for miscellaneous small hardware.
*At the time of publishing, the price was $22.
We like the Stanley Click ’N’ Connect 2-in-1 Toolbox for its modular design, but it has nowhere near the organizational capabilities or the durability of the Milwaukee 13″ Jobsite Work Box or the Custom LeatherCraft 1539. The Click ’N’ Connect includes two separate boxes that you can click together for easy storage and transport. You can fill the boxes however you like, but the obvious way is to use the larger, upper box for tools and the smaller, lower box as an organizer for picture hangers, nails, glue, and other accessories. Both boxes can accept the included dividers, but those pieces work better in the lower box.
The main storage basin in the upper box can comfortably fit most of our recommended essential tools but can’t handle the large drill-bit case. Although you can divide the space up a little, even with some of those dividers the tools pile up and need sifting through. But this Stanley box is relatively shallow, only about 5 inches deep, so it doesn’t feel as chaotic and bottomless as some of the other traditional toolboxes we tested that were closer to 10 inches deep. This smaller size also made us less likely to overload the Stanley, which lessened the frustration a little when we were sifting through the pile of tools.
Like the Milwaukee box, the Stanley upper box has a removable lid, not a hinged one—an advantage, as we’ve had problems with inexpensive toolbox hinges on other boxes we’ve tried. This lid attaches to the box with large plastic clasps, and once they’re connected, the lid is secure. The Click ’N’ Connect lid also offers two compartments good for smaller items like pencils and a voltage tester.
What sets the Stanley apart is that it comes with a second, smaller box that can attach to the first one. That box has its own lid, so you can store it separately as well. You can also divide this second box in a number of ways, with the most compartmentalized being 12 areas, each about 3 by 4 inches. This design makes the box ideal for storing a small collection of nails, screws, glues, and all of the other odds and ends that can accumulate, such as spare parts from an IKEA build. None of the other boxes we looked at offer this kind of all-in-one storage.
The light-duty construction of the Click ’N’ Connect boxes was obvious to all three of us carpenters/testers. None of us would use it on a jobsite, but we thought it was sturdy enough for light home use. The primary weakness is that the carrying handle is on the lid of the box, so the plastic lid clasps have to support all of the tool weight. The Milwaukee box’s handle, on the other hand, is attached directly to the body, and the lid is entirely separate, so when you pick that one up, the tool weight goes right from the toolbox to the handle. In the years I’ve been testing the Click ’N’ Connect, the boxes have held up fine, and the clasps haven’t loosened (yet). But the handle is very small, and overall the Stanley feels much bulkier to carry around than the Milwaukee.
Connected, the Stanley boxes together measure about 1 foot by 1.67 feet by 10 inches tall. As mentioned earlier, both boxes have lids, so you can store them separately; they don’t need to be stacked.
We believe that the Milwaukee toolbox offers much more than the Stanley in both durability and organization, but we can also see this model being a good option for an apartment dweller who has limited space and wants to keep everything—including fasteners, nuts, and bolts—in one easy-to-access container.
In 2018, we tested two other tool bags that incorporated vertical storage like the CLC 1539. Neither offered the amount of storage, durability, or overall usability of the CLC or the Milwaukee.
The 18-inch Husky Total Tech Bag offers a lot of storage both in the exterior compartments and in the large interior one. The downside is that the side compartments—the easiest to access— each have only six tool pockets. You get more dividers in the center compartment, but they’re actually just loops, not pockets, so small tools can fall right through them.
The 16-inch Covax Tool Bag typically sells for less than $20, which is really inexpensive compared with the rest. Even with the attraction of the budget price, the Covax doesn’t deliver a lot in the way of storage, as only one side opens up to reveal tiered tool pockets. The other side has pockets along the exterior of the bag, which we didn’t like. We were also suspicious of the bag’s long-term durability.
The other toolboxes we tested were all good, solid items, but they didn’t offer organization options beyond a single large basin and a removable tray. After we dug into the neatly arranged Milwaukee 13-inch box, we had a hard time justifying the competitors’ traditional design and the resulting giant heap of tools.
The 24-inch DeWalt One Touch Tool Box is nice due to its one-handed latch and overall durability. The 23-inch Stanley FatMax Structural Foam Water-Resistant Toolbox is pretty similar but doesn’t offer much beyond the DeWalt to justify being twice as expensive. The Stack-On 23″ Professional Tool Box is a basic model with a tray taking up the entire top of the basin. We liked this design because it was nice and big, but we disliked having to remove the tray every time we needed one of the tools stored below. We also checked out the much larger Milwaukee 26″ Jobsite Work Box, but it’s just way too big for home use.
Like Rob Robillard and Aaron Goff, I’ve used a Veto Pro Pac XL for years. I see it as the pinnacle of tool storage due to its extreme durability and vast storage options, but with its price tag closing in on $200, it’s way too expensive for home use. The Pro Pac models have tiered, vertical storage pockets for small and medium hand tools and a basin area for larger tools, making everything visible and accessible. The CLC 1539, our upgrade pick, is the most similar carrier that we recommend in this guide, and next to that model, the Veto Pro Pac XL offers stiffer sides, a better handle, more exterior storage configuration (thanks to some well-placed clips and D-rings), and the addition of a waterproof bottom panel. The Veto really is an excellent choice for a tradesperson, and I know firsthand that it can endure heavy use for years, so I believe it has an edge in overall long-term durability compared with the CLC. But for intermittent use, its added toughness might not even be noticeable to most people.
You can find some other options that offer vertical tool storage as the Milwaukee does, but they all have their faults. Electrician’s tool pouches such as the Custom LeatherCraft 1528 22-Pocket Electrical and Maintenance Tool Carrier don’t have lids and aren’t that big. Another style is the bucket liner, such as the Bucket Boss 01056, which basically consists of a saddle bag that fits over a 5-gallon bucket. These liners offer a ton of pockets for tools that you store vertically, but everything remains fully exposed, with some tools positioned on the outside of the bucket. This arrangement makes the bucket tough to store and carry. Secondly, a bucket with a liner goes deeper than the Milwaukee 13-inch toolbox and lacks the removable caddy, so you can easily lose tools at the bottom of the bucket. The Milwaukee toolbox’s basin is much easier to keep clean.
Finally, many high-end tool companies also sell modular storage systems. The Bosch L-Boxx collection, for example, consists of boxes that you can click together and carry around on a dolly. Such systems are convenient for the professional but generally priced way out of the range of the homeowner, usually around $50 and up for a single box.
Also, from the start we avoided inexpensive store-brand boxes like The Home Depot’s 19-inch Homer Tool Box. Boxes like this create a jumbled pile of tools, and our long experience with carrying tools has shown that these kinds of boxes tend to have weak handles and flimsy latches. Due to their low cost, we see them as a way to stock up on storage if you need organization beyond tools (such as a box for electrical supplies or plumbing supplies), but for your primary toolbox that you’ll be working out of and storing your tools in, you have better options.
Doug Mahoney is a senior staff writer at Wirecutter covering home improvement. He spent 10 years in high-end construction as a carpenter, foreman, and supervisor. He lives in a very demanding 250-year-old farmhouse and spent four years gutting and rebuilding his previous home. He also raises sheep and has a dairy cow that he milks every morning.
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