Drawers steel vs alluminium advice

[conso Junior Member Find all posts View Profile Close conso]

I am looking for alluminium vs steel double drawers but I am not sure if 220-250 kg max load for alluminium drawers will be restrictive. How much load are people puttring in drawers. Will 250Kg be enough?

[RPP Senior Member Find all posts View Profile Close RPP]

Its also about what you put on top of them. At max load I carry about 120Kg of tools and spares in my lower two drawers. And about 60-100Kg of fridge, food, camping gear, recovery gear etc on top.

Commonly available aluminium sheet metal is too soft, and I haven't seen any hi tensile aluminium alloy sheet metal in use, except on aircraft. There is also not a lot of difference in weight of a plywood drawer system and steel one. Its just easier to fabricate them out of plywood.
Steel weights 7.8Kg/litre and plywood weighs around 0.9Kg/litre. Fabricators typically use either 1mm galvanised sheet steel and some wood, or 12-16mm plywood sheet plus the usual drawer slides and handles. So a plywood system can be heavier than a steel one!

[conso Junior Member Find all posts View Profile Close conso]

It is a good point to check what this load rating means - content weight in drawers only or drawers content plus load on a top of drawers frames. If it is a latter then it is an obvious choice for steel one.