Home Interior & Exterior: A Beginner’s Guide to Finding Quality and Secure Filing Cabinets

Just as the name suggests, filing cabinets are special furniture units designed for filing important papers, storing files and documents in a methodical manner and keeping them secure under lock and key. A neatly organised filing system creates a positive feeling about any organisation.

Unlike other office furniture, filing cabinets come in very few styles. The two main types of filing cabinets offered by most office supplies companies in the UK are:

1. Vertical Filing Cabinets:

This is the traditional filing cabinet designed with two to ten drawers for storing letter or legal sized files. Here, the files are stored facing the front of the drawers. For offices with little space, vertical filing cabinets are a better choice as they take less floor and wall space.

2. Lateral Filing Cabinets:

These filing cabinets come with much wider drawers as compared to the vertical ones, up to 42 inches. Here, files can be stored from front to back or side-to-side depending upon the filing structure. In a lateral filing cabinet, one can store files of both legal and letter size in the same drawer.

One more advantage of lateral cabinets is that one can easily access and view the stored files. Moreover, the storage capacity is about one third more as compared to the vertical filing cabinets. This filing cabinet is a better option for offices where limited wall space is not an issue.

Apart from the two types of filing cabinet mentioned above, there are two more popular furniture units that are used in offices for storing files and important documents.

Things to consider before buying a filing cabinet

Before buying an appropriate filing cabinet for your office, it is essential to know a few essential things like:

- The number of drawers of the cabinet, and their width and depth.

- The floor space where you want to place the filing cabinet.

- Enquire about the maximum weight capacity per drawer before selecting the cabinet.

- If buying for security reasons, look for a fire or impact-resistant filing cabinet.

- Look for filing cabinets with counterweighted drawers to ensure that the cabinet never tips over while accessing the top drawers.

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