Does Your Lab Actually Need All-Steel? Three Questions A steel-wood bench handles most labs just fine. But if you answer yes to any of these three questions, stop comparing — you need all-steel. The reasoning behind all three is the same: iron rusts, stainless steel does not. The frame on this bench — from the skeleton to the cabinet doors to the drawer fronts — is 304 stainless steel throughout. Knock a corner, scratch a panel, nothing. There is no iron underneath waiting to turn red. Powder-coated cold-rolled steel holds up under normal conditions, but daily disinfectant wipes eat through the coating. First the gloss fades, then the surface blisters, then the steel underneath starts rusting. Stainless steel does not care what you wipe it with. Sodium hypochlorite, ethanol, peracetic acid — none of them leave a mark. The worktop is 19mm solid phenolic resin. Most benches come with 12mm or 16mm tops. Those work. The extra 3 millimeters here give the worktop noticeably more rigidity. Set a centrifuge on it running at full speed — the bench stays still, the glassware does not rattle. Chemical resistance is the same as our standard tops: dilute acids, alkalis, and organic solvents wipe clean…