9 best outdoor storage boxes to keep your garden tidy

Although this box is plastic, it looks smarter than some of the other plastic storage boxes we’ve seen. It has a wood-grain effect, plus a contrasting lid and case, which helps it look a bit more interesting in the garden. There’s also a solid metal bracket that you can attach a padlock to if you want to make it secure.

This is a decent mid-sized box, with enough space for sofa cushions, scooters and other mid-sized items. We liked that it has hydraulic gas hinges to help hold the lid up while you find what you’re looking for. There are also moulded hinges on either side to make lifting it easier.

We were really impressed with this ingenious piece of garden storage. It’s a cool box, table and stool all in one. The dark-grey table has a lid that lifts off to reveal hidden storage, which is intended to be filled with ice and used as an ice bucket. When the lid is kept on, the stool kept our drinks cool throughout an afternoon. We liked that we could use it as flexible seating too, or a side table.

It’s made from weather-resistant rattan, and looked smart in our garden. It’s not completely water tight, but is useful for storing away a few kids’ toys when not in use as a cool box.

This rust-finish log store transformed a rather overlooked corner of our garden, taking it from shabby to stylish in one easy step. The metal log store comes in bits but took under an hour to construct and drill into the wall. You can then fill the compartment with logs, sorting kindling from bigger logs.

The reason we’ve marked it down slightly is that for a log store, it isn’t going to guarantee your logs remain dry all through the winter. You’ll need to invest in some sort of cover to guarantee your logs don’t become soggy. That said, this log store feels durable, and we totally love the look of it in our garden space.

We found this the perfect box if you want to store away one medium-sized item – for us it was a paddling pool – or perhaps a bunch of small bits and bobs. It would work well for potting equipment, lanterns and so on. What we probably wouldn’t store in it is sofa cushions or anything else that needs to be kept dry, as it won’t do the job. Nor would we store valuable garden tools, as there’s no way to lock this box to make it secure.

The lid is attached to the box, but we’d say the plastic hinge isn’t as robust as a metal one. However, this is reflected in the budget-friendly price.

It took a matter of minutes to put this box together, and it’s neat and discrete, meaning it’s small enough to fit in almost any outdoor space – yards, balcony and front steps are all fair game with this compact option.

On the smartness stakes, we really liked this solid-wooden box, which looked great in our garden, and is ideal if you’re plastic adverse. It also has wheels on all four corners (with brakes), so you can easily shift it around your garden.

Despite being wooden, we found it only took us about 30 minutes to put it together. The lid has hydraulic hinges, taking the hard work out of hefting the lid open.

While it feels durable in the most part and is weather resistant, it isn’t watertight. The bottom in’t solid but slatted, so you won’t be able to store small bits and pieces at the bottom of it, but the upside is that it won’t fill with rainwater.

We put this storage box in our front garden, and it worked brilliantly for storing large, bulky items like a double pram, scooters and kids’ bikes. It also has chain attachments for the lid (on hydraulics), so you can attach wheelie bin lids to it, if you’re using it as a bin store.

The front doors both open, and can be bolted shut (as can the roof), and have a padlock attached. You can also buy a kit to bolt it to the floor, so no one can lift it away wholesale.

With contrasting colours, this plastic storage box looks smart and it’s weather resistant, too.

If you struggle to always be home for deliveries, this metal parcel box is the answer to your prayers. Bolt it to the wall or floor outside your house, and it allows posties and courier drivers to leave parcels securely without you being home.

There’s a hatch to slide parcels into, which then drop down into the bin below, which is inaccessible unless you have the key to the door. Delivery drivers can scan the barcode inside the box, which shows that parcels have been delivered securely.

This box won’t accommodate large, bulky items like meal kit boxes, but it’s great for day-to-day deliveries and has been a game changer for us. It comes in a wide range of colours, too, whether you’re after a discrete box or something brighter.

As it’s heat treated, this wooden box store should last year after year in all elements. We liked the natural finish on this storage unit, making it more akin to a shed than a storage box.

There are adjustable shelves inside, so you can make the space work for you – we found this handy for our overflowing cardboard recycling box. The lid lifts too, so you can easily just drop items in if you want.

One thing worth noting is you can’t lock it, so you’re not going to want to store high-value items in it in a publicly accessible place. Other than that, it’s a versatile and robust storage option.

We reckon this is the best option if you’re looking for something incredibly hardwearing and water tight. It’s made from powder-coated aluminium, so it should look as good five years from now as it does new, while the waterproof zipper lining makes it ideal for storing away sofa cushions, outdoor rugs et al through the winter months.

We liked that there’s a hydraulic hinge, meaning it didn’t slam shut on our hands when we were lifting things in and out. There’s also a lockable fastening on it, so you can padlock it shut. There are wheels on one side, so you can shift it about on the patio if you need to.