Academics need to store books; catering halls need to store stacking chairs; SWAT teams need to store weapons. These days you can buy something to stack 'n rack multiples of just about everything, starting with basic pieces like Billy bookcases and getting into more complicated stuff like rotating rifle racks.

Those of us who work with our hands making or fixing things often need to store small items, parts or tools. As my vintage Singer repair parts stash started to spin out of control I went down to the hardware store, resigned to the fact that I was going to buy a junky plastic drawer-thingy made overseas on the cheap, as I refuse to drop 50 bones at the Container Store to buy some frou-frou frosted plastic thing that's impossible to clean.

So I was surprised to find that Stack-On, the American company that seemingly outfitted every tool shop, garage and repair place from the 1970s on, is still in business and being stocked by my local hardware shop.

How they still manage to make a $20 box of plastic drawers without being wiped out by Chinese competition is beyond me. It's not every day that I can buy something affordable—and that I actually need—that comes out of a 450,000-square-foot factory in Illinois, so this item with a 40-year-old design wins my Most Valuable Purchase award for the quarter.

I realize that Stack-On's humble Drawer Cabinets are never going to make it into the MoMA, but they really are a perfectly designed object. The clear drawers let you quickly find what you need, and there's a little tab to keep them from falling out so you can pull them out all the way to get to the back.

They're removeable so you can bring them right to your project and there are little divider tabs you can use to load drawers up with multiple parts but still keep them separated.

The different drawer size options mean you can fill every available square inch with something useful. There's no dead space—like in the back of a drawer or cabinet where you can't reach, or a needlessly tall base. You can place it on a surface or hang it from a wall through the mounting holes in the back. Yes it's made out of cheap plastic, but applications like this are exactly what cheap plastic is made for; you need the transparency and glass would be overkill. And the cheap plastic they use is recycleable polystyrene, a/k/a Plastic #6.

Stack-On makes other storage items as well, including tool storage and safes, but their higher-end stuff (which you can check out here) is out of my price range. I'll stick with my cheap little plastic cabinet.