Installation Drill/driver
I use mostly 12-volt cordless tools in my shop. Modern technology helps you do a lot with lighter, more compact tools. But it wasn’t until I needed to install hardware in a kitchen full of kitchen cabinets that I realized how much that compactness and flexibility was essential to these tasks.
Milwaukee Tool’s brushless installation drill/driver comes with four different heads: a standard 3/8" chuck, a 1/4" hex quick-release attachment, an offset attachment and a 90° attachment. The offset and 90° attachments have gotten me out of a few different jams (with cabinets and countertops that were already installed). There’s onboard bit storage in the handle and an LED that does a good job of illuminating dark corners of cabinets. It has plenty of torque and an adjustable clutch for delicate hardware screws. The only thing that takes a bit of getting used to is the top-mounted button to change between forward and reverse (an OK tradeoff for a sleaker design).—andrew Zoellner