Broadly speaking, there are two kinds of furniture systems for labs: "on-the-floor" and "off-the-floor." On-the-floor systems are the more common. Cabinets made of steel, wood or plastic laminate sit on the floor adjacent to each other, with their tops supporting the working surfaces of the benches. The cabinets may be leveled using adjustable height guides or wedges. When properly installed, the cabinets are bolted together and sealed to the floor with a rubber or vinyl cove molding, making them difficult to move.
Off-the-floor systems are of two types. The first (often called the C-frame) is the suspended cantilevered type. A steel frame supports the worktop above and cabinets below. In the second, the cabinets may either be cantilevered from a vertical support beam at the rear of the bench or suspended from brackets that cantilever from the vertical support beam. I prefer the first type because many of the second ...
