Vinyl Record Crates Compared: Red Sticks and 5 Others We Make

Every crate we make is front-facing: the jackets face you, and you flip through them the way you would in a record shop. That is not what sets Red Sticks apart. What sets it apart is that it is the loud one — a frame of intersecting rods in a colour you will notice from the doorway — and that it moves on two rear wheels rather than four. Both of those are reasons to choose it, and both are reasons not to. This guide gives you the numbers to decide.

We have hand-welded vinyl storage in our workshop in Cherkasy, Ukraine, since 2011. Red Sticks is the newest of our crates, so it has two published reviews so far — one of them from a buyer who sent it back; the five crates it is compared with below have been on sale for years and carry most of our crate reviews. Every dimension and price here is the current product-page figure.

Six crates, side by side

All six hold records upright and front-facing, ship fully assembled, and are welded from square steel tube. The three things that differ are capacity, how the crate moves, and how much the frame asks for attention. Capacity is approximate: gatefolds, box sets and outer sleeves take more room than single jackets.

Red Sticks' external size is 24.4 × 15 × 11.8 in (62 × 38 × 30 cm). Mark that rectangle on the floor with tape before ordering; the frame is open, so it looks smaller in photographs than it is in the room.

When Red Sticks is the right crate

You want one strong object, not a piece of furniture that disappears

A red steel frame has visual weight before a single record is in it. Give it clear space — beside the turntable, under a window, at the end of a sofa — and do not repeat the same red on every object in the listening corner. One echo is enough: a book spine, a print, the stripe on a rug. The blue version does the same job cooler; black joins the audio equipment; raw steel with its transparent finish shows the welds and reads as workshop rather than showroom.

Screen colour is not room colour. Our red is a powder coat, and it shifts with daylight and lamplight. If an exact match matters, write to us before ordering and we will send a photo of the actual finish.

The rear wheels: what they do and what they don't

Red Sticks has two small, non-locking wheels at the back. To move it you lift the front slightly, tilt the crate onto the wheels, roll it across a smooth indoor floor and set it down. That is the whole mechanism. It is meant for the occasional move — pulling the crate out to reach the back row, shifting it for the vacuum cleaner, taking it to the other side of the room for a listening evening.

It is not a cart. If your routine is to roll a hundred records to the turntable and back every day, or across carpet, choose a crate that stands on four or five wheels and rolls fully loaded without tilting. Two of ours do exactly that, and both have several years of reviews behind them.

If a hundred records is the wrong number

Red Sticks comes in one size. Collections do not. If you are already past a hundred LPs, or you know the crate has to fit a 42 cm gap under a console, the Light Metal Crate is the same idea — open frame, four wheels, front-facing — made in three depths: 16.5, 20.5 or 24.4 in (42, 52 or 62 cm) for about 80, 100 or 120 records. Any of our crates can also be welded to a custom depth; send the measurement in inches or centimetres and we confirm feasibility, price and lead time before you pay.

What buyers told us about crates — including the complaints

Red Sticks has one review of its own that is not a rave — Arno: "Quality is okay, hope the return goes well!" — so here is what people have said about our other crates over the years, because the same physics applies to this one.

"Smaller than the pics suggest." That is Robin on our open-frame LP rack, and it is the most useful sentence in this article. An open steel frame has no visual mass, so a 62 cm crate photographs like a 50 cm one. Tape the footprint on the floor. The rest of Robin's review — "It's well made and does what it is meant to do while looking good" — is why it still got five stars.

Capacity is a ceiling, not a promise. Alejandro fitted "30 singles and 16 gatefolds, all in their sleeves" in the crate with handles. Gatefolds and outer sleeves roughly halve the count. If your collection is mostly gatefolds and box sets, plan on 60–70 in a "100-record" crate.

The frame is light; the records are not. William on the industrial crate: "very light (without records) and sturdy." A hundred LPs weigh roughly 20 kg (45 lb). A loaded crate on two rear wheels is a tilt-and-roll object; a loaded crate on four is a push object. Decide which you want before you decide on colour.

Half-empty crates let records lean. Christopher on the crate with handles: "Great bin. Needed a thin piece at base in front to keep the vinyl from sliding out." Records stand best when the crate is at least half full; while a collection is still growing, fill from the back and ask us about a front stop — it is a small custom add.

Shipping across an ocean. jmvernaelde: "fit exactly where we wanted it, and the wheels are surprisingly good quality, not your average wheels." Crates ship fully welded, wheels attached, in a padded box. US orders are 10–14 business days from dispatch with duties included in the price.