27 gallon tote
This is the designer’s default bin. The preset is aimed at the common black-and-yellow 27 gallon tote sold as Costco SKU 718262. The name and SKU are here so you can match a product. We are not Costco, and the preset is not a certification that every tote with that SKU matches these numbers.
Why the preset does not copy the catalog line for line
The published outer size is 30.4 in deep, 20.4 in wide, and 14.7 in high. Those decimals do not land on an eighth or a sixteenth of an inch, so the preset uses 30¼, 20¼, and 14¾ (30.25, 20.25, and 14.75). The rack dimensions and the cut list then come out in ordinary fractions instead of numbers like 30.4. The shift is a few tenths of an inch. The lip is separate from that rounding. It is not in the catalog line at all. The preset uses a measured lip: 2 inches from the lip seat up to the top of the bin, and 2.75 inches of combined lip overhang (bin width minus lipless width).
That overhang is large compared with the smaller bins. Each side of the lip is a bit over an inch of bearing if bin-cleat slack stays at zero, which is what this preset sets. The cleat is 1½ inches thick into the bay, so the lip can sit on the cleat with some of the cleat left over. Confirm the contact number on screen after you pick the preset. If your tote’s lip is shorter than 2.75 inches total, unlock lipless width and enter what you measured, or the bay will be sized for a lip you do not have.
What selecting it fills in
Inches. Lipless width is bin width minus the 2.75 in overhang.
| Field | Catalog | Preset uses |
|---|---|---|
| Bin depth | 30.4 | 30.25 |
| Bin width | 20.4 | 20.25 |
| Bin height | 14.7 | 14.75 |
| Lipless width | — | 17.5 |
| Height above lip | — | 2 |
| Depth slack | — | 1.25 |
| Bin-cleat slack | — | 0 |
| Vertical slack | — | 1.25 |
| Top/bottom slack | — | 0.5 |
Depth, width, and height lock while this preset is selected. Lipless width and height above the lip start locked and can be unlocked. Slack is filled in and left editable. Depth slack of 1.25 in makes the rack 31.5 inches deep, with the extra split in front of the tote and behind it.
What to watch on this bin
- The rack is deep. A single column is still about two and a half feet from front to back before you add walking space. Check the outer depth against the wall, a door swing, and whatever has to pass in front of it.
- A full 27 gallon tote is heavy. Several rows of them is a lot of weight the designer does not calculate. Put weight low until you have decided how the rack is anchored. Pulling a full tote out of an upper row is also how a freestanding rack tips.
- The yellow lid is part of the look, and it can add height and a rim that the preset’s 14.75 in may or may not include the way you stack them. Measure your tote with the lid in the state you store it. How to measure walks the fields.
- Vertical slack is 1.25 in, more than the smaller presets, because these totes are bulky to lift off the cleats. You can reduce it if you would rather save height and you have test-fit a tote.
Open the designer (it already starts on this bin), set bins across and bins up, and read the cut list. Assembly is the same pattern as every other preset: how the rack goes together.