Best Garage Storage Systems

Life becomes easier when there’s a spot dedicated to everything you own. You’re not constantly searching for items. You’re not discouraged by clutter. Not only is this true for your kitchen, living room, and bedroom, but it’s also true for your garage. 

The best garage storage systems meet your needs, enabling you to use your garage more efficiently and can even create space you didn’t know you had. 

How To Choose The Best Garage Storage System For You

Choosing your storage system is a matter of figuring out what works best for you. Just as you and your home are unique, your ideal storage solutions are the ones that are personalized to your needs.

Determining what the best garage storage systems might be for you and your household starts with asking a lot of questions:

  • How big is my garage?
  • How can I organize the clutter?
  • What do I want to use the garage for?
  • Do I need a dedicated workshop space?
  • Or just room for my cars?
  • What do I need to store?
  • What do I need to have easily visible and accessible?
  • Are there unused spaces I haven’t yet considered?
  • Which custom garage storage solutions are best for my garage?

For many people, the best garage storage systems combine readily available components, like shelves, racks, and pegboards, with personalized configurations and custom solutions. 

As you study your garage, review our list of the best garage storage systems available, and picture how each might fit in your space. Depending on your garage’s size, layout, and contents, some of these options will work better than others. 

How to Transform Your Garage

Coming up with the best garage storage system possible is a process. Be prepared to evaluate what you have, what condition it’s in, and what you can do to make it better.

The process of transforming your garage into a workable area involves these key steps:

  • Evaluating your garage’s current condition.
  • Determining what improvements need to be made. 
  • Exploring available storage solution options.
  • Figuring out what might and might not work for you. 
  • Coming up with a storage solution design.
  • Cleaning out your garage.
  • Keeping what you want and getting rid of the rest.
  • Bringing in both off-the-shelf and custom storage elements.
  • Arranging everything in a configuration that works best for you.
  • Installing your new garage storage solution.
  • Storing everything in its perfect spot. 

Some people may find it helpful to jot down ideas in a notebook and start creating shopping lists. 

You can write down your garage goals and intentions, your frustrations with the current state of your garage, and what your ideal garage might look like.

You can also make lists of what to keep, sell, give away, recycle, or throw away, and what you’d like to purchase to fill in any gaps and make your life a little easier. 

The Best Garage Storage Systems

If you’re ready to organize your garage, remodeling it to make it work for you, knowing what’s out there will help you rebuild your garage to make it the space you’ve always dreamed of—organized, clean, and a truly useful storage space, not the dumping grounds it might have become.

As you explore the best garage storage systems available today, consider the following options. 

Best Garage Rack System

Rack systems are diverse. There are overhead racks, which we’ll talk about in a moment, as well as shelf-style racks, wall-mountain racks with hooks, and storage rack systems with built-in organizers.

Many of the best garage rack systems combine all these elements for a versatile solution to your garage storage needs. Others are designed for specific requirements, such as organizing miscellaneous nuts, bolts, nails, and other hardware.

The best garage rack systems can be heavy-duty wall-mounted ones with organizing compartments. Or they can be free-standing shelves on wheels, enabling you to move them to other spots whenever you need to reconfigure your garage space.

Great features of garage rack systems include:

  • The presence of specialized compartments gives you a tidy way to sort and store small items, including construction hardware, paintbrushes, rolls of tape, crafting supplies, and more.
  • The option of using wheeled garage rack systems so you can take out the rack when you need it and wheel it back to its place when you’re done.
  • Since racks come in different styles and types, you can use a combination to solve garage storage issues you might be facing.
  • They give you  flexibility in storing a wide assortment of stuff.

The best garage rack systems bring you convenience, portability, and ultimate organizational freedom.

Best Garage Shelf System

Shelves can be tucked against garage walls to keep them out of the way. They can be freestanding or built into the walls, and they’re available in different materials, including wood and metal. 

Depending on your needs, you can add wide or narrow shelves or a combination of the two. The best garage shelf systems allow you to store random, miscellaneous items, such as boxes of nails, bolts, and screws, inline skates, paint cans, and garden potting containers. 

Some mounted shelves have hooks underneath. This way, you can store most items on your shelves and hang a few items, like tennis rackets, tool belts, and gardening shoes, from the hooks underneath the bottom shelf.

The best garage shelf systems can:

  • Fit into spaces against the walls, leaving room for your car(s). 
  • Accommodate a wide assortment of miscellaneous objects.
  • Offer adjustable shelving options.
  • Provide sturdy, stable shelving that won’t collapse or fall over.

Whether you use free-standing shelves, wall-mounted ones, or a combination of the two, make sure your shelf system is secure enough and doesn’t pose a falling or tipping-over hazard. 

When you arrange items on your shelves, group them according to classification—hardware in one section, sporting goods in another, arts and crafts on a different shelf. When you organize your items more intuitively, you’ll find what you need easier. 

Best Garage Cabinet System

Some of your garage items are better off tucked away in cabinets. 

You can have a cabinet full of cleaning supplies and another reserved for tools you use for your woodworking projects. Cabinets can conveniently hold sports equipment, summer pool toys, auto detailing tools, and virtually anything you can think of.

The best garage cabinet systems are versatile enough to bring you the necessary garage storage solutions. Cabinet doors create a neater appearance. You can label each door to help you identify what you’ve stored inside.

Section off your cabinets into areas, such as one for your home remodeling equipment and another for the kids’ crafts. Mix and match styles and sizes to make it all work for you. There is no end to what you can do with the right assortment of cabinets. 

Your garage cabinet system can help you to:

  • Present a neater appearance by storing many garage items behind closed cabinet doors.
  • Create storage solutions that shelving alone may not be able to handle completely.
  • Keep some items in lower cabinets that are accessible to the kids and other items high up that are accessible only to you and the other adults in the house.
  • Establish stations with different cabinets dedicated to storing different categories of items.

Many cabinets can be locked, so if you need to keep tools and equipment out of reach from young children, select garage cabinet systems with locking features. 

Best Garage Slatwall System

Have you seen slat walls in some of your neighbors’ or friends’ garages? These are panelled sections of garage walls where you can hang different tools, including ones you use for home construction, yard work, or cleaning. 

The best garage slatwall systems are attractive and handy, giving you maximum flexibility to visually arrange your tools in a way that works best for you. You can hang rakes, shovels, brooms, scooters, skis, leaf blowers, and so much more from slat walls.

What’s more, you have a wide range of styles, materials, and sizes to choose from. Attach a slatwall to your existing garage wall, and it’ll look like it’s always been there, cleverly built in.

Slatwall system benefits include:

  • A convenient way to hang your most-used items for easy access.
  • An attractive presentation of larger items you and your family use frequently.
  • The ability to organize your tools in a way that makes the most sense and lets you spot what you need quickly.
  • Storage ease combined with elegance.

One of the best things about garage slatwall systems is that they come in many different styles, so you can select what looks and works best for your household. Slatwall panels can be made of PVC, wood, or other materials. Installing them is generally a straightforward task that won’t take too long. 

An alternative to a slatwall is a pegboard. Metal pegboards let you organize your tools in many different ways, with accessories like organizer kits, bins, and peg locks provided to simplify the job. Hardboard pegboards are often very economical and great for organizing work areas in your garage. 

Best Overhead Garage Storage Racks

Storage racks are great for organizing and transforming your garage. The best systems make the most of overhead space. Hanging racks utilize what would otherwise be wasted space, creating a storage area seemingly out of thin air while being tucked out of the way.

The best overhead garage storage racks are ceiling-mounted. Hanging from the ceiling of your garage, they use minimal quantities of material, yet they’re strong and durable, made of heavy-duty metal, and able to support hundreds of pounds in weight.

Some overhead storage rack systems are adjustable, enabling you to position shelves higher or lower. It’s important to attach the ceiling brackets to wood beams or other sturdy frames so that the weight of your stored items won’t rip the rack off the ceiling. 

Features and benefits of the best overhead garage storage racks include:

  • Reclaiming unused overhead garage space for storage purposes.
  • Out-of-the-way storage for items that are used infrequently or seasonally. 
  • Vehicles can fit underneath so that you won’t lose your garage parking spaces. 
  • Freeing up floor space for other uses. 

When installed correctly, the best overhead racks are stable and safe, offering a practical means of storing away bins filled with holiday decorations, camping gear, and other seasonal items that aren’t used year-round. 

Best Garage Tool Hanging System

What can you do about all your tools? You don’t want to throw them into a bin and dig through everything whenever you need the right tool for the job. You want to keep them well-organized and easy to spot. The best garage tool hanging systems bring you the wonderful gift of organization combined with a way to visually locate exactly what you need when you need it.

Tool hanging systems come in a wide range of options. You can get a wall-mounted garage tool organizer that’s adjustable, comes with heavy-duty hooks, and can hold hundreds of pounds. This system is ideal for shovels, industrial brooms, garden tools, trimmers, edgers, hoses, and more.

The best garage tool hanging systems can also utilize wall mount panels that allow you to hang all your most-used tools, arranging them by use and size. Line up your wrenches in one section and every screwdriver you own, by size, in another section of the panel. You can add hammers, pliers, drills, hand saws, and more to your tool-hanging system.

Top features and benefits include:

  • A way to keep your tools organized, separate, protected from damage, and easy to find.
  • The convenience of grabbing a tool right off the hanging system.
  • Generally, easy to install.
  • A flexible way to store all types of tools, from home construction to gardening hand tools, and from artist’s supplies to cleaning tools—brushes, dusters, brooms, and more.

A simple rack with adjustable hooks can make a great way to hang tools for easy access. 

Best Garage Bike Storage

Do you and your family enjoy going out for bike rides along trails? Whether you own traditional bicycles or electric ones, you want to be able to retrieve them easily and keep them out of the way when you’re not riding them.

That’s where specialized bike storage solutions come in. You can purchase practical bike storage systems that fit your garage size and height, giving you a dedicated place for your bicycles.

The best garage bike storage system is sturdy and practical, holding up your bikes safely while creating a place for your bicycles to hang out, so to speak, when not in use.

Bike storage solutions include:

  • Hanging them from racks mounted to the garage ceiling. 
  • Mounting them vertically on bike storage racks attached to the walls.
  • Stacking them vertically, side by side, using a free-standing bike stand.
  • Using a ceiling-mounted multi-bike lifter.
  • Standing individual bikes vertically on portable bike nooks.

One of these solutions should work for you, even if your garage is full, your ceiling is low, or your space is small. 

Best Custom Garage Storage Systems

The best custom garage storage systems consider all your storage needs, your garage dimensions, and your goals to develop a personalized design that solves your garage storage issues.

It doesn’t leave any major consideration out, and it makes use of all the best garage storage systems—racks, shelves, cabinets, slat walls, pegboards, tool hanging systems, overhead storage, and more—to deliver a custom garage storage solutions that’s right for you.

The Garage Experience offers custom options that combine the best garage storage systems to design a solution personalized to your needs and wants. 

Choosing custom-built garage storage over store-bought pieces comes with many benefits, including:

  • Working with experienced garage organization designers who understand what goes into an effective system, so you don’t have to reinvent the wheel.
  • Qualified designers supporting you in your garage transformation efforts. 
  • Starting with a free consultation, with a top garage specialist inspecting your garage and listening to your ideas before making recommendations on what might work best for you. 
  • Being able to review a 3D design that your garage specialist will draw up for you after your initial consultation, so you can see exactly what your custom garage storage solution will look like. 
  • Being able to offer input to change the 3D design drawing before approving a final design—so you don’t waste your money buying garage storage shelves, racks, or cabinets that won’t work for you.
  • Enjoying the peace of mind that comes from working with someone who fully understands what the best garage storage systems can achieve.
  • Having a professional team to handle all the installation for you—let others do the hard work and heavy lifting for you. 

You can achieve custom garage storage solutions faster and better when you work with the talented garage organizers at The Garage Experience. You’ll save yourself a lot of hassle and confusion since we can help you sort through what you really need and eliminate what you don’t. 
To learn more about the process of working with skilled garage organizers for personalized garage storage solutions, reach out to The Garage Experience today.

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