Most small garages don't run out of floor space. They run out of inches on the side where your car door needs to open. Fitting storage and still parking comes down to one number: how deep your cabinets can be before they eat your exit room. Here is how to find it.
Measure your garage's inside width, subtract your car's width and the space you need to open each door and step out, then split what's left between the side walls. That leftover is your storage depth budget. Under 12 inches, keep the side walls clear and use the front wall. From 12 to 17 inches, go wall-mounted. 18 inches fits a standard-depth set. 24 inches fits full-depth heavy-duty cabinets.
How much space does your car need in a small garage?
Your car needs its own width plus a door zone on every side where someone gets out. The door zone is the gap between the car body and the point where you can stand with the door open. Measure it on your own car, because door length and how people get out vary more than any rule of thumb allows.
You need a tape measure, painter's tape and about ten minutes:
- Park where you normally would, centred, with room for the garage door to close behind you. Mark the tire positions with painter's tape so you can repeat the spot.
- Open the driver's door to where you can step out without twisting, and measure from the car body to the door's outer edge. Repeat on the passenger side if someone rides with you most days.
- Measure the inside width wall to wall at bumper height. If a concrete ledge runs along the base of the walls, measure from its face, since a cabinet can't sit over it.
- Measure from the front bumper to the front wall, and from the rear bumper to the closed garage door.
- Note what can't be blocked: the door into the house and its steps, the electrical panel, the water heater, and the garage door tracks near the ceiling.
Write the numbers down. Every decision below runs on them, and our storage cabinet measurement guide shows how to check a specific cabinet against them once you have a shortlist.
How deep can garage cabinets be before they block parking?
Your storage depth budget is the width left over once the car and its door zones are accounted for. The formula: inside width, minus car width, minus driver door zone, minus passenger door zone. Give the remainder to one side wall, or split it across both.
A worked example with illustrative numbers: a garage 140 inches wide inside, a car 74 inches wide, a 32-inch driver door zone and a 14-inch passenger zone (enough to load a grocery bag) leaves 20 inches. That fits an 18-inch-deep cabinet set on the passenger wall with 2 inches spare. Give the passenger side a full 24-inch door zone and the budget drops to 10 inches, which rules out floor cabinets on either side wall.
Match your budget to the depths CEHA lists on its own product pages:
| Storage | Listed depth | Works when your budget is |
|---|---|---|
| Core Plus 24" wall cabinet (wall-mounted) | 12 in. | 12 in. or more at mounting height; floor stays clear |
| Core Plus cabinet sets (lockers, base and tool cabinets) | 18 in. | 18 in. or more |
| Prestige 5-piece workstation set | 22 in. | 22 in. or more |
| Prestige cabinet sets with 36" lockers | 24 in. | 24 in. or more |
Treat listed depth as the starting point. Before you commit a wall with only an inch or two to spare, ask us whether handles add to it.
Which wall should get the storage in a one-car garage?
Start with the front wall. Storage there costs you length instead of width, and you never open a car door into it. The catch is standing room: you need enough gap between the bumper and the cabinet to open its doors and reach inside.
Two-door cabinets help in a tight front gap. The Prestige 36-inch locker uses two doors, so each swings out about half the cabinet's width instead of the full 36 inches.
If the front gap is too short, use the passenger-side wall when one person drives and usually rides alone. Keep the driver's side clear unless your budget clearly allows it. In a two-car garage, park both cars first, then measure the spare width in each bay. The gap between two cars is door zone for both of them, so it is rarely a storage spot.
How high should wall cabinets hang above a parked car?
Wall cabinets mounted above the hood let you use the front wall even when the bumper gap is tight, because the nose of the car slides under the cabinet. Measure the highest point of your hood, add a safety margin, and set the cabinet's bottom edge above that line.
The Core Plus 24-inch wall cabinet is 12 inches deep and 20 inches tall, with a 150 lb load limit. That suits the paint, fluids and car-care supplies that tend to collect on the garage floor.
Check the ceiling before you go tall on a side wall. The garage door's horizontal tracks run along the side walls near the ceiling, and Prestige lockers stand 84.25 to 86.5 inches tall on their adjustable legs. Measure from the floor to the underside of the track before placing a tall unit beneath it. If you're mounting cabinets yourself, our guide on how to install garage cabinets walks through the process.
Lockers or base cabinets: which works better in a small garage?
Tall lockers store more per inch of floor than base cabinets because they use the full wall height. Base cabinets with a worktop give you a place to work, but only if you can stand at them with the car parked. For a parking-first garage, build around lockers and wall cabinets, and add a worktop only where you have standing room.
Steel thickness matters more in a small garage than a big one, because fewer cabinets carry more weight each. Prestige cabinets use 20-gauge steel (Heavy Duty). Core Plus uses a 24-gauge frame (Regular) with 22-gauge doors (Medium Duty). Locker shelves in both series are rated to 200 lb. Our guide to steel gauge for garage cabinets explains what those numbers mean day to day.
What changes in a small garage during a Canadian winter?
Winter shrinks a small garage. Bulky coats widen the door zone you actually need, a second set of tires needs a home, and slush melts off the car onto the floor. Plan the layout for January, not July.
Re-measure your driver door zone wearing a winter coat. Store the off-season tires against the front wall or in a corner outside every door zone, never along the driver's side. Keep cabinets off a wet floor: both Core Plus and Prestige sit on adjustable legs, which lift the base off meltwater and leave room to clean underneath. A powder-coated steel finish resists scratches and wear, which matters when grit and salt come in on every tire.
Four mistakes that cost people their parking spot
Most of these come from buying first and measuring second.
- Choosing by piece count instead of depth. A 7-piece Core Plus set is 18 inches deep and a 7-piece Prestige set is 24 inches deep. Same piece count, six inches apart.
- Measuring at the floor only. A concrete ledge or stair landing can take inches the tape measure missed.
- Forgetting the door into the house. Cabinets beside the steps often block the landing or the door swing.
- Ignoring the garage door hardware. Tracks and the opener rail limit how tall and how far forward storage can go.
Why buy small-garage storage from a GTA manufacturer?
Measuring is easier when you can stand in front of the real cabinet. Our showroom at 140 Allstate Parkway in Markham puts Core Plus and Prestige side by side, so you can see the six-inch depth difference before you commit a wall to it. You're welcome to visit our showroom in the GTA with your five measurements.
CEHA is a manufacturer with over 53 years of experience in sheet metal manufacturing. We own our designs and tooling, build in state-of-the-art facilities, and ship orders from the GTA. Our own logistics company can deliver anywhere in the world. Shop local, and buy from the people who make the cabinet.
Small garage storage questions
Can you fit garage cabinets in a one-car garage and still park?
Yes, when the cabinets go where your measurements allow. Measure the inside width, subtract the car and its door zones, and check the front wall gap. If no side wall has 18 inches to spare, use 12-inch-deep wall cabinets mounted above hood height on the front wall and keep the floor clear for parking.
How deep should garage cabinets be for a small garage?
Match depth to your budget, not the catalogue. Under 12 inches of spare width means nothing on the floor. From 12 to 17 inches, use wall-mounted cabinets. From 18 to 23 inches, a standard-depth set like Core Plus fits. At 24 inches or more, full-depth heavy-duty sets like Prestige fit. Confirm whether handles add depth first.
Is the front wall or a side wall better for garage storage?
The front wall is the better first choice because you never open a car door into it, so it costs length rather than width. Use a side wall when the bumper gap is too short to open cabinet doors, and pick the side nobody exits from on a daily basis.
Measure first, then shop
A small garage can hold real storage and a car once the storage stays out of the door zones. Take the five measurements, work out your depth budget, and shop by inches rather than piece count.
Browse Core Plus garage cabinets for 18-inch depth or Prestige garage cabinets for 24-inch heavy-duty storage, or book a showroom visit and bring your numbers.
