Hardware storage unit

[mklotz]

That's a good suggestion! I am envisioning 2 cookie pans for a top now.

Cookie trays are a good idea but they should be fitted out as sorting trays.

After dumping a handful of whatever in the tray and finding what you want, you need an easy way to put the remaining parts back in their assigned bin. Lots of ways to do it. If it were my problem I would think about a wooden insert for the tray that acts as a horizontal "funnel" leading to a hole the shape of one of the bins. Put the insert in place before dumping the parts in; then, when done, tilt tray to allow parts to slide into funnel and drop through hole back into their bin.

One problem I've had with the partitioned storage boxes that have the partitions fixed in place is the difficulty of dumping out the contents of just one compartment. I went so far as to make a thin plywood mask with a hole the size of the individual bin. With this in place over the target bin I could sort of dump out just that one. There were other problems with this scheme - I won't bore you with a description - so ultimately I switched to the HF boxes that have little removable bins.

Anyway, you may want to give some thought to how you are going to access and replace the contents of an individual bin.