Whether you manage a factory or a warehouse, a catering business, or a restaurant, a sturdy workbench can be a useful accessory. It offers several advantages for almost every working environment.
Stainless Steel
Durable, attractive, and food-safe, stainless steel is an iron alloy known for its strength, corrosion resistance, and modern styling. Stainless steel workbenches provide several advantages to the warehouse, factory, restaurant, or other business. These include:
Strength
There are several stainless steel alloys, but the types used for industrial applications are prized for their ultimate tensile, compressive, and yield strength. Since stainless steel workbenches are strong and durable, they can sustain heavy loads. This is especially advantageous for applications requiring the placement or storage of heavy castings, machine and automotive parts, and metal stock.
If you need a heavy-duty table for assembly, material handling, or other activities that require a work surface with high resistance to wear-and-tear, stainless steel is an excellent choice.
Durability
Stainless steel is known for its corrosion resistance, which stems from a minimum chromium content of 10.5%. This prevents the iron in the alloy from rusting, which allows the material to maintain its structural integrity and strength in a wide variety of environments, including those that are humid. Stainless steel also has significant impact resistance, so if you drop it, drop a heavy object on it, or a forklift operator collides with it, it remains functional.
Easy to Clean
Stainless steel is easier to clean than many other materials. This means you can maintain cleanliness standards in commercial kitchens and industrial workspaces using stainless steel work tables. Dirt, grime, and chemical residues don’t adhere as well to a stainless steel workbench, so you can scrub these away using general household cleaning products. This is also why flat-top stainless steel products are suitable for medical facilities.
Heat Resistance
Unlike wood and plastic, stainless steel has a high melting point — between 2,500°F and 2,800°F — and is inherently fire-resistant. This allows you to perform high heat-related tasks using a stainless steel bench without worrying about causing damage to the work surface. It also benefits chefs and line cooks because you can place cookware directly on the bench after heating it on the stove or in the oven.
Modern Appearance
Practical function isn’t the only reason to consider a particular type of material or design. Sometimes you want to choose furniture, in part, because it’s cosmetically attractive. Whether brushed or polished, stainless steel can display an aesthetically pleasing luster and modern style to complement newer fixtures in a commercial kitchen or workshop.
Longevity
Due to its strength, durability, and resistance to rust, stainless steel products last for years, especially compared to wood, plastic, and other materials. This makes them an excellent long-term investment.
Eco-Friendly
However, once it reaches the end of its service life, stainless steel products can be recycled and repurposed into other products, reducing waste and environmental harm.
Other Reasons to Consider a Stainless Steel Workbench
When you purchase a workbench, this is a long-term investment, and you need to know that your equipment will last. That’s why you opt for quality materials, such as industrial stainless steel.
You should also seek adjustability. If you’re sourcing work tables or benches for a warehouse or machine shop, you have a limited amount of space to use efficiently. As a result, a table with adjustable height allows you to make the most economical use of available space. It also allows you to customize the height to suit your staff.
A stainless steel workbench is more expensive initially, but its long-term usefulness more than offsets the cost. That’s why so many businesses opt for workbenches made from this material — they endure.
Workbenches in Commercial Kitchens
The stainless steel workbench has various industrial applications, from warehousing to manufacturing workspaces and commercial kitchens for food prep.
High-quality wood benches have their strengths — they can be sturdy and cosmetically attractive — but they don’t stand up to quality stainless steel for long-term durability. Wood is susceptible to insect damage and accelerated wear, especially when it becomes wet. Water damage is hard to repair, and maintenance is more time-consuming and difficult. Wood and other materials with porous surfaces can harbour bacteria and allow it to grow.
Stainless steel doesn’t absorb moisture, resists corrosion, and can be disinfected effectively. As a result, it’s one of the best materials to use in a restaurant or supermarket — hence the popularity of stainless steel appliances.
What to Look For?
When choosing to buy a stainless steel workbench, it’s always essential to determine the gauge of the steel before you place your order. Not every manufacturer fabricates benches to the same standards or thicknesses. It’s also worth considering how the bench can complement other furniture or fixtures and how well it can fit. Aside from dimensions, there’s also the question of manoeuvrability.
Bench Accessories
An industrial workbench is highly customizable, and several accessories can be incorporated into the bench to maximize its usefulness. These include heavy-duty drawers and shelves that you can attach to increase your workstation’s storage capacity.
Whether above or below the top of the table, cabinets and shelving units provide additional storage space, allowing you to keep small tools, cleaning supplies, user manuals, and miscellaneous equipment accessible.
Mobile Workbenches
Another handy accessory is a caster kit. A caster is a wheel attached to an object, such as a table or chair, using a fork — a piece of metal stamped into a U-shape. Sometimes the caster has a swivel joint that allows it to rotate for increased manoeuvrability.
Using casters allows you to turn your heavy workbench into a mobile unit, relocating it as needed. In fast-paced and continuously changing work environments, a fixed workbench or table doesn’t offer the same degree of flexibility.
With lockable casters, you can immobilize the workbench once you’ve arrived in a particular location and need the bench to remain in one place for an extended period. This type offers one of the most versatile options because you can benefit from mobility and rigidity when you need them most.