Keeping a lab in good working order requires harmonizing a multitude of moving parts. Since there’s typically so much to do, not only should workers be kept humming along in their roles, but the equipment necessary for everyone to get his job done is simply indispensable. As labs grow in size and complexity, they may come to need more and more different kinds of specialized equipment and furniture.
Laboratory furniture is in many ways the foundation of all lab work. It represents the hard and steady surfaces where all work is performed. And let’s not forget, where laboratory tools and samples are stored and equipment is transported. It is the rock on which the foundation of every research lab is built.
But what if your lab furnishings budget is limited? What are the key laboratory furniture components that every lab manager absolutely needs to get?
Here are five of what we condor to be the most critical pieces of laboratory furniture that there are.
1. Laboratory Casework and Cabinets 
The simple, humble cabinet is an essential piece of laboratory furniture. Every lab of reasonable size will be teeming with all sorts of materials — especially tools and chemicals — which need to be used only intermittently. When not in use, they’ll need to be stored away. Since many common lab chemicals are caustic, flammable, or otherwise hazardous, they’ll need to be put away somewhere where they can’t do harm.
RDM’s quality-designed laboratory casework is just the thing to help you in all of these crucial areas. We made a wide array of both overhead and floor cabinets. As mentioned, we can include these as part of our workbenches, but we are happy to produce standalone casework as well. As with our workbenches and tables, we can make our cabinets flame-resistant, chemical-resistant, and/or static-resistant. We can make both small and large-sized cabinets. Our large, tall storage cabinets, in addition to the standard features already mentioned, also allow you to choose which kinds of doors you’d like them to have. We offer stainless steel doors, glass doors, or no doors at all. We can also make doors that either swing or slide open.
Have a look at RDM’s wide selection of industrial-quality laboratory casework here.
2. Lab Tables and Workstations
Arguably, tables and workstations are the most important pieces of furniture that you can have in your lab. They’re where all of the magic happens — where many important experiments are performed, where all chemicals are mixed and samples inspected, and where all lab workers and researchers spend the majority of their working hours. It’s virtually impossible to imagine a lab humming along smoothly without good tables or workbenches placed orderly about.
RDM’s laboratory workbenches are designed for maximal efficiency comfort. Most of our workbenches are made of stainless steel, though you have the option of ordering ones made of wood or other materials if you so desire. We also sell special types of workbenches called laminar flow workstations, which are meant to prevent particulate matter from disturbing or contaminating lab samples. In laminar flow workstations, the work surface is encased in glass or acrylic to keep anything unwanted from getting in.
Our laboratory tables come in many different shapes and sizes and can boast quite a wide range of functionalities. Tables can be square-shaped, rectangular, L-shaped, or have an F-frame. Though most of our tables are made of stainless steel, we also offer some wooden models for sale as well.
In addition to all of this, you can also place orders for factory-direct tables with any of the following special features:
- overhead racks or shelves
- overhead lighting fixtures
- adjustable-height legs
- wheels
- side drawers
- floor cabinets (for workbenches)
- adding of fireproof coating, chemical-resistant coating, or ESD anti-static coating to stainless steel tables
- light tables with adjustable and tilt-able surfaces
All of our factory-direct laboratory tables and workstations can be customized to suit your labs’ specific requirements. Customization is based accordingly on any of the parameters discussed here, and many others as well. These and other features all meant to make workers comfortable, safe, and productive.
3. Ergonomic Lab Seating
RDM Offers a Wide Variety of Industrial Duty and Laboratory Chairs
We’ve already discussed some of the critical lab equipment that allows work to get done. But there’s a second side to every lab work equation that reaches beyond mere efficiency. Comfort is this other side.
Uncomfortable workers are disgruntled and unproductive workers. Comfortable ones are happy and hardworking ones. Since lab workers will likely spend hours every day sitting at their workbenches, they’re going to need some comfortable chairs.
Our ergonomic laboratory seating is simple but deceptively luxurious. We offer a number of height-adjustable chairs with supportive backrests, leg rests and wheels for quick mobility if you need to slide from place to place. Our laboratory seating varies greatly in size, giving it the ability to comfortably support all workers, large, small, short, and tall.
4. Laboratory Fume Hoods
A fume hood is a very advanced piece of technical equipment. Which is nevertheless indispensable to workers’ safety whenever the question of handling noxious fumes comes up. Certain chemical reactions release dangerous gases as by-products. To keep all lab personnel out of danger, the air into which such gasses are expelled should be kept strictly segregated from the air that they breathe, and the gases should be swiftly removed from the lab environment.
That’s exactly what fume hoods are designed to do. They can be thought of either as accessories to workstations or as special devices in their own right. A fume hood encloses a workstation and keeps gases from flowing into the rest of the lab. It also sucks up said gases and swiftly removes them from the outside through a ventilation system. Fume hoods can be either ducted or ductless. Ductless hoods simply capture and release gases. Ducted hoods run them through a filtration system before releasing them.
5. Lab Utility Carts
Often, things need to be transported quickly across the lab and put into the hands of others. Whether you need to swiftly distribute some important tools that your researchers need to carry on with their work, or whether you need to collect chemicals or safety equipment from everyone at the end of the day, a good lab cart is an excellent thing to have.
We make custom laboratory carts and mobile tables of a variety of different kinds. Of course, the fact that we’re ready to build them in any way you need — whether high or low, single or multi-shelved, square or rectangular — puts all of the power at your disposal. Whichever sort of custom laboratory carts, your lab requires, RDM stands ready to build them at an industrial quality.
Conclusion
A well-rounded lab may have more than just these pieces of furniture, but we feel confident in saying that no lab can be truly complete without them. No matter what you happen to need, we encourage you to browse through our full collection of lab furniture until you find something that precisely meets your requirements. All of our equipment is proudly manufactured in the USA. At RDM Industrial Products, we’re ready to provide you with only the very finest of lab furnishings.