Stacking Really Useful Boxes

Really Useful Boxes is a UK-based company that manufactures plastic storage boxes for homes and offices.

The boxes are made from semi-transparent polypropylene, and have blue or yellow hinged clips to keep the lids shut. They’re really sturdy and solid, and I appreciate how, well, useful they are. I have nothing to do with them other than being a reasonably satisfied customer.

Stack 'em

One of the useful things about the product line is stackability. Many of their boxes can stack neatly since they have the same area but different heights. (most other brands of plastic boxes have highly tapered sides, making stacking impractical)

Stackability is super useful for organizing even if you don't physically stack up the boxes. You can standardize your shelves into specific widths and depths, then vary shelf heights to accommodate the appropriate boxes! I do this a lot with the 18L and 35L boxes, for example.

Sadly Really Useful Boxes' website is, to be brutally honest, pretty awful. It’s like something from 25 years ago - crudely made, and hard to read and navigate. Worst of all they don't tell you what box sizes stack together! Seriously. How are you supposed to know what to buy, without wading through tables of box measurements?

The closest they get is a low-resolution JPEG showing the boxes stacked. It's tiny with nearly illegible writing.

A couple years ago I emailed them with a simple zero-cost suggestion that will help customers and probably sell more boxes - just put up a page listing the boxes in stackable groups. They didn't reply. Oh well.

So I worked out the stacking groups for my own use. And, in case it's useful to you, here is my list. I've grouped them into simple letter groups, from small to large.

The numbers are the capacity in litres, outside dimensions in millimetres, inside dimensions, and weight in grams. XL means a box with a tall lid.

Really Useful Box Stacking Groups

STACKING GROUP A

0.2 L box 120 x 085 x 045 mm 090 x 065 x 032 mm 46 g

0.3 L box 120 x 085 x 065 090 x 065 x 055 54

STACKING GROUP B

0.35 L box 155 x 100 x 040 120 x 080 x 035 67

0.7 L box 155 x 100 x 080 120 x 080 x 070 90

STACKING GROUP C

0.75 L box 195 x 135 x 055 150 x 110 x 045 143

1.6 L box 195 x 135 x 110 150 x 110 x 095 200

STACKING GROUP D

1.75 L box 245 x 180 x 078 205 x 150 x 060 306

3 L box 245 x 180 x 160 190 x 143 x 120 500

STACKING GROUP E

2.5 L box 340 x 200 x 70 290 x 160 x 50 365 

5 L box 340 x 200 x 125 285 x 160 x 105 540

5 L XL box 340 x 200 x 150 285 x 160 x 135 570

8 L open front box 340 x 200 x 175 290 x 165 x 153 590

STACKING GROUP F

0.8 L box 355 x 100 x 040 320 x 080 x 030 155

1.5 L box 355 x 100 x 070 320 x 080 x 060 195

STACKING GROUP G

4 L box 395 x 255 x 088 348 x 220 x 068 700

9 L box 395 x 255 x 155 335 x 210 x 140 900

9 L XL box (7" small) 395 x 255 x 205 335 x 210 x 180 1000

14 L open front box 395 x 255 x 210 336 x 214 x 190 950

19 L box 395 x 255 x 290 315 x 205 x 270 1200

19 L XL box (LP small) 395 x 255 x 330 315 x 205 x 310 1300

25 L box 395 x 255 x 360 330 x 220 x 345 1362

STACKING GROUP H

6 L box 465 x 270 x 085 400 x 225 x 070 890

12 L box 465 x 270 x 150 415 x 235 x 140 998

24 L box 465 x 270 x 290 380 x 230 x 270 1450

STACKING GROUP J

18 L box 480 x 390 x 200 395 x 335 x 170 1300

18 L XL box (7" medium) 480 x 390 x 230 395 x 335 x 200 1500

35 L box 480 x 390 x 310 370 x 310 x 280 2100

35 L XL box (LP medium) 480 x 390 x 345 370 x 310 x 310 2300

STACKING GROUP K

20 L box 710 x 440 x 120 610 x 370 x 090 2150

33 L box 710 x 440 x 165 605 x 370 x 145 2233

50 L box 710 x 440 x 230 605 x 370 x 200 2700

64 L box 710 x 440 x 310 605 x 370 x 280 3100

64 L open front box 710 x 440 x 310 605 x 370 x 280 3100

84 L box 710 x 440 x 380 605 x 370 x 355 3300