Lab Equipment Buying Guide for Schools in 2025

A lab equipment buying guide should clearly and simply tell you exactly what to buy for your school lab. Whether you’re setting up a new science lab or renovating an existing one, your lab equipment buying guide must align with the latest curriculum, include current trends, and explain the choices you can make for each subject, segment, and class.

This lab equipment guide will help you make all these decisions. To understand exactly how to set up your school science lab, read on.

Lab Equipment Buying Guide: Segregation by Board of Affiliation

The board your school seeks affiliation from largely determines the school science lab setup. The main components include lab furniture, equipment, consumables, and safety arrangements. While safety and furniture are mostly the same across boards, the equipment varies significantly depending on the board.

The official websites often list the experiments, but the exact number of equipment needed is difficult to list. It requires strenuous spreadsheet work to be able to list all the required equipment that goes into making the lab.

However, based on the class for which you are making the lab, you can get ready-made lab packages that will give you all the equipment you need. These packages are listed below.

For Class 10 ICSE or CBSE:

For Class 12 ISC or CBSE:

These packages also adhere to the syllabus requirements of the respective boards. The most important among them is the composite lab package, as mandated by CBSE. All schools under this board must comply with the composite lab requirements.

Lab Equipment Buying Guide: Segregation by Subject

physics chemistry and biology labs need separate equipment and furniture — Physics, chemistry and biology labs need separate equipment and furniture

Subjects like Physics and Maths require labs with dry lab benches, while Chemistry and Biology labs need wet lab benches. Therefore, the lab furniture may also vary when selecting packages for different subjects. The list of equipment needed for a Physics lab will differ from that of a Chemistry lab.

While Chemistry and Biology labs require beakers, subject-specific specimens, or chemicals, Physics labs need hardware like sonometers, tuning forks, and other apparatus.

But don’t worry about the type or quantity of equipment you need. You can simply contact Labkafe and share the student strength of your classroom. The lab experts at Labkafe will provide a customized list for you—completely free of charge.

FREE Lab Consultation

Also, don’t worry about the cost. The consultation and customization are absolutely free. You’ll only need to make a payment if you decide to purchase the lab package.

Lab Equipment Buying Guide: Segregation by Class

For Classes 10 and 12, different sets of experiments are required. Class 10 involves simpler experiments, so it only needs a basic set of equipment.

However, Class 12 experiments are more advanced, often requiring costlier equipment and more attention during demonstrations. These include the use of stronger acids and riskier procedures, which must be conducted with proper care and safety precautions.

For Class 10 ICSE or CBSE:

For Class 12 ISC or CBSE:

Choosing the Right Lab Equipment Supplier

The right lab equipment list is incredibly difficult to choose. The CBSE composite lab, for affiliation purposes, has to follow the NCERT science lab syllabus directly. While some schools choose to make slight adjustments to it, you shouldn’t practice this anyway.

Be that as it may, the syllabus has 36 different experiments (including variations or sub-work). That requires a whopping 272 different kinds of equipment! Further, as per affiliation rules, a CBSE composite lab has to cater to at least 30 students at once. That brings the total number of lab equipment needed to nearly half a thousand.

Why You Should Avoid Local Vendors

While you can choose local vendors, you can never trust that they will give you the complete list or fulfill the order according to the list. Thus, the best thing to do is to choose companies with lots of social proof and previous work.

Finding Trusted Partners

Labkafe has worked with IITs, NITs, and prestigious schools like St. James, the Don Bosco Group, and St. Xavier’s Group.
That’s why the best thing to do is to choose suppliers that have lots of experience. Labkafe has been trusted by thousands of schools, with over 1,800 clients across the country.
If you’re looking to set up a lab, they are the go-to people for this.

OEM Advantage – Quality and Affordability

The best lab furniture suppliers manufacture their own products. Labkafe is an OEM (Original Equipment Manufacturer) recognized by GeM (Government e-Marketplace).
Thus, it is extremely important to ensure that the OEM supplies your lab furniture—so you can depend on the quality. OEMs also sell at more affordable prices than resellers.

Budget Limitations and Their Risks

Saving money often leads schools to trim experiments or consumables. Most schools that are short on budget find it difficult to buy lab furniture and equipment in the needed quantity or quality.
As a result, schools tend to force students to work with limited resources, often fail to conduct regular practical classes, or provide poor-quality chemicals or glassware.

Imagine a situation where a poor-quality test tube bursts and a student is injured. The potential harm that could come to the student is unthinkable. Hence, it is always better to choose safety and good-quality glassware.

The Smart Solution: Buy in Bulk with Lab Packages

Complete lab packages by Labkafe with free delivery and installation

The solution is to buy lab goods in bulk. This way, the quality is better, and the price becomes more affordable.
For that, you can look into lab packages. These contain all the lab items required for a certain class and board, bundled together, so you can buy them in one go and get attractive discounts.

This is exactly what Labkafe can help you with. They offer lab packages for all classes from 9 to 12, and for every school board with free delivery and installation.

Contact lab experts to find the right lab package for you

Tags : lab equipment buying guide