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A Utah-based company called Dash Modern has formalized the French cleat system into a series of modular furniture items.
The idea is that you purchase their Dash Panels in a size of your choosing, and add their accessories.
A question for you readers: Do any of you actually use a French cleat system? I never really got into the hype—I've watched it become a "workshop craze" multiple times on YouTube—and am wondering if you've found it delivers true utility over the long term. (In my own shop at least, I've always found it faster to screw plywood to the wall, then screw various fixtures directly into the plywood.)
I’m a lapsed industrial designer. I was born in NYC and figured I’d die there, but a few years ago I abandoned New York to live on a farm in the countryside with my wife. We have six dogs.
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Yea or Nay? Dash Modern's Gridded-French-Cleat-Based Modular Wall Units
I kinda love it. Count me in as someone that has a French Cleat wall in his workshop. Do I rearrange my tools often? No. I only rearrange when I've purchased a new tool and built a holder for the tool. For inside the home, this might get setup, rearranged numerous times until the right layout is achieved, and then left until either a new holder is acquired or a new layout is envisioned.
I think the whole idea of the French Cleat revolves around storing portable objects. People reconfigure things for a fresh look. Moving these units around doesn't really change the aesthetics of a wall. I am not fond of the grid look & prefer the horizontal rail. I use it for extension cords with their outlet boxes, mini compressors & outdoor placeholders for these & other portable items. It visually cleans up my otherwise cluttered workshop. French Cleat? Yes. Interior design? No.
I really like it! There are some obvious things to like about it: the aestheric, flexibilty, tool free changes, reparability. Mostly i love a good product ecosystem, they're much easier to buy into and i'm pretty indecisive. The only thing i don't like is their website. There are plenty of images of systems that are put together with interesting modules but i can only see a few of them in the catalogue.
It's interesting mentioning utility over the long term especially if you're using a versatile system that you never change. I wonder if just the possibility of change alone makes you place a higher value on a product in the same way that the 'Ikea effect' works? You might look at your shelving set up and think, "even if i buy a bunch more coats, i'll be fine, i can just buy another couple of hook modules" even though that kind of reassuring thought is very fleeting and probably sub-conscious, it has value, doesn't it? Isn't that's why we all put French cleats up in our workshops?