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One of the things I really struggled with when I first started working from home full-time was storage space. After a few months, my paper (and other files) started making my home office a bit of a mess. One of the things then that really helped me out was investing in a file cabinet but finding one that had enough depth was a challenge. So exactly how deep are file cabinets?
The average depth of a vertical file cabinet is 591mm or 23.26 inches. The average depth of vertical file cabinet drawers is slightly less at 568.65mm or 22.38 inches. The depth of lateral file cabinets is 514.16mm or 20.24 inches. Lateral file cabinet drawers are 501.66mm deep or 19.75 inches.
So are there differences in how deep file cabinets are depending on the number of drawers they have? and how deep are file cabinets when comparing lateral and vertical file cabinets? Keep reading to find out more
Now if you’re just interested in my recommendations for the best file cabinets that have the best weight capacity limits you can check them out here (all links take you to Amazon):
- Small cabinet (2 drawers)
- Medium Cabinet (3 drawers)
- Large (4 drawers)
(Just a heads up a lot of people reading my blog are in the process of designing their own home office. If you want to save some of the painstaking time I did in designing my office, you can find my recommended products here)
How deep are file cabinets?
With more people working from home than ever before and 80% of companies letting their employees continue to work from home, long after the pandemic ends, finding accurate storage to house items in is going to be incredibly important.
One of the best solutions then that I found, is investing in file cabinets, as they can be used to store paper files that you have but also other items you have lying around such as clothes or electronics.
Heck, you can even keep valuables in these bad boys with a lot of them having locking mechanisms.
Before you end up buying a file cabinet, however, it is important you know how much depth file cabinets have, as the more depth you have, the more items you can squeeze in your individual drawers.
I then went through the painstaking cause of measuring my own file cabinets I have at home and comparing them to 18 of the best-selling file cabinets on the marketplace to ensure that you can rest assured, knowing that you have the most accurate depth measurements for file cabinets.
I measured, not only some of the biggest known brands like Bisley, Hirsh Industries, Pierre Henry, and Hon but also best sellers on sites like Amazon and Staples.
These then were the results
How deep are file cabinets:
- The average depth for a vertical file cabinet is 591mm or 23.26 inches
- The average depth for a lateral file cabinet is 514.16mm or 20.24 inches.
- The average drawer depth for a file cabinet is 568.65mm or 22.38 inches
- The average drawer depth for a lateral file cabinet is 501.66mm deep or 19.75 inches.
Now to help break this information down even further, I’ve put together two tables below comparing both vertical and lateral file cabinets, comparing the depth.
I’ve also compared file cabinets with variations on the number of drawers which we will dive into in a little more details:
Vertical file cabinet
| Brand name | Number of drawers | Total depth | Individual drawer depth | Total measurements (Inches) | Total measurements (mm) |
| Pierre Henry | 2 | 400 mm
(15.74 inches) |
390 mm
(15.35 inches) |
15.74 (W) x 15.74 (D) x 25.9 inches | 400 (W) x 400 (D) x 660 (H) mm |
| Bisley | 2 | 622 mm
(24.48 inches) |
600 mm
(23.62 inches) |
18.5 (W) x 24.48 (D) x 27.99 (H) inches | 470 (W) x 622 (D) x 711 (H) mm |
| Hirsh Industries (Amazon) | 2 | 558 mm
(21.96 inches) |
538 mm
(21.18 inches) |
15 (W) x 21.96 (D) x 28.34 (H) inches | 381 (W) x 558 (D) x 720mm (H) |
| Hon 210 series | 2 | 723.9 mm
(28.5 inches) |
685.8 mm
27 inches |
18.25 (W) x 28.5 (D) x 29 (H) inches | 463.55 (W) x 723.9 (D) x 736.6 (H) mm |
| Bisley | 3 | 622 mm
(24.48 inches) |
600 mm
(23.62 inches) |
18.5 (W) x 24.48 (D) x 40 (H) inches | 470 (W) x 622 (D) x 1,016 (H) mm |
| Dams International | 3 | 655 mm
(25.78 inches) |
620mm
(24.4 inches) |
18.89 (W) x 25.78 (D) x 41.14 (H) inches) | 480 (W) x 655 (D) x 1,045 (H) mm |
| Dams International | 3 | 622 mm
(24.48 inches) |
600 mm
(23.62 inches) |
18.5 (W) x 24.48 (D) x 40 (H) inches | 470 (W) x 622 (D) x 1,016 (H) mm |
| Jemini White (Staples) | 3 | 622 mm
(24.48 inches) |
600 mm
(23.62 inches) |
18.5 (W) x 24.48 (D) x 40 (H) inches | 470 (W) x 622 (D) x 1016mm (H) |
| Bisley | 4 | 622 mm
(24.48 inches) |
600 mm
(23.62 inches) |
18.5 (W) x 24.48 (D) x 51.65 (H) inches | 470 (W) x 622 (D) x 1,312 (H) mm |
| Dams | 4 | 650mm
(25.59 inches) |
630mm
(24.8 inches) |
18.89 (W) x 25.59 (D) x 53.54 (H) inches | 480 (W) x 650 x 1,360 (H) mm |
| First (Staples) | 4 | 600mm (23.62 inches) | 580mm (22.83 inches) | 17.9 (W) x 23.62 (D) x 53.74 (H) inches | 465 (W) x 600 (D) x 1365 (H) mm |
| Pierre Henry | 4 | 400mm
(15.74 inches) |
380mm
(14.96 inches) |
15.74 (W) x 15.74 (D) x 49.21 (H) inches | 400 (W) x 400 (D) x 1250 (H) mm |
Lateral file cabinets
| Brand name | Number of drawers | Total depth | Individual drawer depth | Total measurements (Inches) | Total measurements (mm) |
| AJ Products | 2 | 740 mm (33.62 inches) | 720 mm (28.34 inches) | 31.4 (W) x 33.62 (D) x 16.73 (H) inches | 800 (W) x 740 (D) x 425 mm (H) |
| Kumo 2 Drawer | 2 | 600 mm (38.62 inches) | 580 mm (23.82 inches) | 31.4 (W) x 33.62 (D) x 28.74 (H) inches | 800 (W) x 600 (D) x 730 mm (H) |
| AJ Products | 3 | 425 mm (16.73 inches) | 420 mm (16.53 inches) | 31.4 (W) x 16.73 (D) x 40.55 (H) inches | 800 (W) x 425 (D) x 1030 mm (H) |
| AJ Products (white steel) | 3 | 425 mm (16.73 inches) | 420 mm (16.53 inches) | 31.4 (W) x 16.73 (D) x 40.55 (H) inches | 800 (W) x 425 (D) x 1030 mm (H) |
| AJ Products | 4 | 425 mm (16.73 inches) | 420 mm (16.5 inches) | 31.4 (W) x 16.73 (D) x 51.9 (H) inches | 800 (W) x 425 (D) x 1320 mm (H) |
| Bisley | 4 | 470 mm (18.5 inches) | 450 mm (17.71 inches) | 31.4 (W) x 18.5 (D) x 51.18 (H) inches | 800 (W) x 470 (D) x 1300 mm (H) |
Do vertical file cabinets have more depth than lateral file cabinets?
Lateral file cabinets are a type of file cabinet that is wider than it is taller. They are typically designed this way in order to hold more files than traditional file cabinets whilst being easier to move. They typically have fewer drawers (2-3) when compared to traditional vertical file cabinets (3-4).
So how do these lateral file cabinets compare to vertical file cabinets when it comes to how deep file cabinets are?
Vertical file cabinets have 14% more depth on average than lateral file cabinets. The average depth of a vertical file cabinet is 591mm or 23.26 inches. The average depth of lateral file cabinets is 514.16mm or 20.24 inches.
The difference in drawer depth, is slightly less, with vertical file cabinet drawers having 11.7% depth than lateral cabinets.
What is a good depth range for file cabinets?
A good depth range for file cabinets will be between 400mm and 750mm for vertical file cabinets. A good depth range for lateral file cabinets is also between 400mm and 750mm or 15.74 inches and 29.52 inches.
How deep are two drawer file cabinets?
The average depth of a vertical two-drawer file cabinet is 575.9mm or 22.67 inches. The average depth of two drawer vertical file cabinet drawers is 553.45mm or 21.78 inches. The depth of two drawer lateral file cabinets is 670mm or 26.37 inches.
How deep are three-door file cabinets?
The average depth of a vertical three-drawer file cabinet is 630.25mm or 24.81 inches. The average depth of three drawer vertical file cabinet drawers is 605mm or 23.81 inches. The depth of three drawer lateral file cabinets is 425mm (16.73 inches)
How deep are four-door file cabinets?
The average depth of a vertical four-drawer file cabinet is 568mm or 22.36 inches. The average depth of four-drawer vertical file cabinet drawers is 547.5mm or 21.55 inches. The depth of four drawer lateral file cabinets is 447.5mm (17.61 inches)
Wrapping things up
So this post has a tonne of information in it and rightly so, you see a lot of blogs will throw random answers out there without actually doing the work and giving you the industry average.
To summarize how deep file cabinets are:
- The average depth of a vertical file cabinet is 591mm or 23.26 inches.
- The average depth of vertical file cabinet drawers is slightly less at 568.65mm or 22.38 inches.
- The depth of lateral file cabinets is 514.16mm or 20.24 inches on average.
- On average lateral file cabinet drawers are 501.66mm deep or 19.75 inches deep.
- Vertical file cabinets have more depth than lateral file cabinets
- Drawer depth is around 10% less than the total depth of the file cabinet – This is usually to make room so the file cabinet drawer can actually close.
- 3 door vertical file cabinets seem to give the best bang for your buck – Usually offering more depth space for the number of drawers you have available.
- If you are opting for a lateral file cabinet – go for a two drawer lateral file cabinet which will offer the most depth
Now a lot of you reading this will be in the process of buying a file cabinet and so if this is the case with you I would advise you to check out the following posts:
- Why are file cabinets so expensive?
- how heavy is a file cabinet?
- how much weight can a file cabinet hold?
The content on this site has been written by Fehed Nicass who has over a decade worth of experience in sales and has worked remotely for the past 2 years.
