Powder Coated Steel

Steel frames and carcasses, for the pieces that take handling: modular storage that gets rebuilt, narrow sideboards in a hallway, anything moved often.

Powder coat is considerably tougher than sprayed paint and it takes knocks in a corridor without marking. It's also the heaviest option — worth knowing before you carry one up three flights.

Touch chips up promptly. Once the coating is through to the steel it will rust outward from that point, and a touch-up pen is a lot cheaper than a replacement.