I recently signed up for the Wilton Cake Decorating Method Course 1 at a local Arts & Crafts store with my best friend, who received the "Wilton 2109-0309 Ultimate Professional Cake Decorating Set, Purple" from her lifelong-on-the-side-cake-decorator mom as a birthday gift. After signing up for the course, I looked long and hard at the same kit, almost salivating over it, but was discouraged from buying it by her, as she knows how tight my schedule (AND budget) is, and of the distinct possibility that I won't have the time to take all four classes over the next few months, rendering many of that big-honkin' kit's contents unusable (at least in the short term).
Well, it was a bit too late at that point, and my craving for "STUFF" had been awakened, so I set out to approximate that Wilton kit with the best alternates I could find. Enter this ArtBin.
Being an Artist and Art Instructor, and having majored in Visual Arts in college, I was all too familiar with ArtBin from my college days, and the quality products that they've made since I first happened upon the brand nearly 30 years ago. I came across this storage cabinet online, and after seeing how so many other course attendees struggled with keeping those purple Wilton shelves in the white plastic housing, I knew that this ArtBin case was going to be a more than worthy replacement. I LOVE my ArtBin Baker's Cupboard cabinet!
I couldn't wait to set my cabinet up once it arrived to me, and it's SO much better than the far-too-pricey Wilton cabinet. Everything with this ArtBin is latched and secure, so there's no worry that your storage bins will just slide out on their own, as happens with the Wilton case.
The three center cavity trays each measure approximately 1 3/4" high x 10 3/4" wide x 7" deep. There are 2 little shelves built in to the interior of the cabinet to securely hold each of the internal trays. There are no other trays that come with the cabinet. Each storage tray also latches securely shut. Two of the three trays that this kit comes with are set up to accommodate about 25 piping tips (double that per tip case, really, as you can double them up, and the lid still fits securely enough to latch the case/s shut - three tips per stack are too tall for the trays to latch shut, though). The right half of each of these two trays has three rows that are just shy of about 1 3/4" wide (internal measurement/capacity) x about 7" long/deep, with grooves spaced about every inch or so to accommodate the separators that are included. The third tray has six of those 1 3/4" x 7" rows inside of it. The kit contains 36 separators, allowing you plenty of options for customizing your trays.
The upper compartment of the cabinet is about 3" deep. The lid is about another 2" - 3" deep, depending on where you measure, as it is more shallow at the ends than the center. It is also reinforced with something of a grid pattern, which restricts all of the things that you can cram into the upper compartment, while strengthening the lid for durability and longevity. I, myself, am more than satisfied with sacrificing a negligible amount of space for the strength of the lid, as the upper compartment is more than big enough to accommodate plenty of stuff. There is a mostly open channel on each side of the interior, however. These channels have small slots built in that make use of the space used to form the central compartment and its shelves that hold the smaller trays. You could fit your shorter Wilton spatulas in here (the longer ones protrude through the bottom, so they're pushed up once you set this cabinet down, just enough that an 11" spatula is about an inch too tall to close the lid). I have two of the small plastic easels (included with the Wilton Course 1 and 2 kits) nested in these on one side, and simply used the other side to accommodate the disposable 12" piping bags, which I rolled into tight coils and tucked into the grooves. 6" scissors fit in these grooves, as well.
If you have them around, as I did, a single tray and lid from the "Snapware Snap 'n Stack Craft Organizer, 9" x 6", Medium, Rectangle, 2 Layers" will fit neatly inside the upper compartment, with about 2 1/2" of space remaining around it, depth-wise, with another 5" or just under remaining to the sides of it, and a good 3 or so inches above it. Both of the trays from this particular set were too tall together to fit and close the lid, by about a half inch or less, but if you have the "Snapware Snap 'n Stack Craft Organizer, 9" x 6", Medium, Rectangle, 3 Layers", the shallow top layer and one of the deeper lower layers will fit just fine inside of the upper compartment.
Overall, I couldn't be happier with this ArtBin Baker's Cupboard! I have no question in my mind that this is far better made than the Wilton ultimate tool caddy, and at a lower, much more reasonable price! Once again, ArtBin comes through with a stronger, better option that lets ME choose where I want things to go! This was a case of money VERY well-spent!