Every Major Work Bench Brand Ranked Worst To Best

When the demand for something becomes essential, people tend to find a way to innovate to fulfill that need. Some in need of a workbench just put up a couple of sawhorses and a piece of plywood, some venture into the realm of cutting and drilling and build drop-leafs and modular designs. For those new to the craft, the journey may begin with feeling like a lost puppy in a hardware store — full of uncertainty and indecisiveness about where to begin. For those intent on building one, you might want to start with these Ryobi tools that will come in handy for crafting a custom workbench. 

For the rest of us, we've curated a list of the major workbench brands to help you in your ordeal. Brands like Black & Decker and Craftsman are ones you may already have heard of, but there's plenty of others on the list that surpass these big names. Each of these brands has a rich history and strong market presence forged by its continuous work at delivering trusted products, and you may even know them for tools apart from workbenches. Your garage — the heart of your DIY endeavors — deserves just as much love as the rest of your house. After all, there is not much else that rivals the utility and reliability of a well-appointed workbench.

This company has beechwood in its veins and sawdust in its dreams, as Sjobergs is a Swedish brand that deals exclusively in wood and wooden products alone. They've got the most aesthetically pleasing collection of workbenches you will ever see, enough to make it look like pretty furniture that you don't want to hammer away on. 

Made for children, classrooms, professionals, and all the home DIYers at their factory in Stockaryd, their roots trace all the way back to 1922 and they crossed waters to make it to the U.S. market, with the USA and Germany currently being its biggest export markets. Interestingly enough, Sjobergs says it takes approximately three months to handcraft a professional workbench for the market, showing their dedication to detail and quality.

The benches on their website are categorized according to use — workbenches for professionals and workbenches for hobbies and crafts. All of their benches are made of beech and the design sends you down a nostalgic, old-school, and classic feel you rarely find in US-manufactured ones. The professional range mostly has products with built in storage cabinets and clamping platforms, and buyers comment on the large weight and good quality they offer. 

They also have options that will work for younger children and adults who want an individual workspace for some little tinkering. The Sjöbergs Smart Workstation Pro Vise Top, for instance, is a popular product that clamps onto any other workbench and is said to be extremely easy to assemble.

What's something that a construction worker, a homemaker, and a mechanic have in common? Each owns at least one Black & Decker product. Heck, even their babies and pets might have one tucked away somewhere in the house. There's plenty of brands with over a century to their name, but very few that have been able to build a name as well reputed and prestigious as Black & Decker. It built its original manufacturing facility in 1929, its first adjustable workbench in 1979, and a merger with Stanley in 2012 has helped Black & Decker stay competitive today.

All the products on their website feature workbenches with a steel construction and wooden top, and the modest lineup is heavily oriented towards being portable and compact, all featuring a flat foldable design that serves a dual purpose of being a powerful clamp along with a workbench. 

Buyers find these features commendable as it contributes to the workbenches being lightweight and allows easy storage and maneuverability so you can move it to wherever you need, even if they're not especially sturdy and are generally better suited for smaller projects. Unfortunately, the real chink in their armor arises from a flood of complaints about the complex and cryptic instructions on the manual, making assembly extremely time consuming and difficult. Then again, what's a little frustration compared to owning a Black & Decker, right?

Bora has cooked up something special with its Centipede workbenches that are unlike anything else you will see on this list. Many settle for a makeshift setup with a couple of sawhorses and a sheet of plywood — a piece of cake to use but a royal pain in the back to disable, move around, or put up again. 

These Centipede products are flexible workbenches that function exactly like the foldable beach chairs. The centipedes come in five sizes: 2x4, 2x8, 4x4, 4x6, and 4x8, all with 30-inch and 36-inch height options. The most impressive part? The 4x8x36 workbench — the largest size there is — can support up to 6,000 lbs.

To complete your workbench, you can add on their solid or centipede workbench top customized to fit perfectly with your centipede stands. Buying the centipede and top together can cost you as little as $190 or as high as $500, so you can always choose to spend as little or as much as you want. 

Gladiator is a company that is focused on helping you whip your garage into shape while making good use of every nook and cranny. We're talking the whole shebang — cabinets, shelves, wall organization, workbenches — and they even offer custom design plans for your garage in case you're unsure how to begin organizing and offer the best workbenches to complete your garage setup. The brand even offers an entire page detailing the testing process of Gladiator products, mentioning that products are exposed to temperatures ranging -30°F to 150°F, while strength testing is done at four times the normal capacity.

Solid hardwood tops and welded steel legs for the benches — nothing too unusual to see here, but that's exactly what plenty of people want from their new workbench. Most support up to 3,000 lbs and many people actually buy it for use within the house as countertops and tables instead. Resistant and tough? Absolutely. Mobile and compact? Not so much. 

In addition, the Gladiator Modular system offers GearBoxes and GearDrawers separately to provide great storage, but if you're counting your cents you should be aware that neither the workbenches nor the storage units are exactly budget-friendly.

They've been around for over 40 years now, but what have they accomplished in these four decades for them to earn the gold medal on our list? To put it simply, Seville Classics has put in impressive work to build a line of workbenches that focus on versatility and durability.

Ranging from as low as $200 up to $1,000, the workbenches are designed for home use as well as professional use. Some are built with heavy-duty stainless steel while others are constructed from solid wood. All the products come in different color options, there's a good variety of different size configurations, and a few even have useful little roller wheels on them, so you can have your pick of a very generous lot, whether you want something that's portable or something that can take on the heaviest of tasks. 

Whatever you pick, users have backed up the workbenches with stellar reviews of great storage, excellent quality, and aesthetically pleasing build. Like many of the items toward the top of our list these aren't cheap, but a Seville Classics workbench is built to last.