Corner Cabinets

[sworthen]

I'm looking for advice and experience with kitchen corner units. I'm particularly interested in any personal experiences in using Le Mans/cantilevered carousels in corner units, but any other options - lazy susans, pull-out chains of baskets - would be useful too. I really don't want to end up with blind corner units in which we never use the back of the cabinets.

Background:

We're about to buy our first house and are busy redesigning the kitchen so that we can get started on remodeling it as soon as possible after moving in. It won't be a big kitchen, but we can make it a lot bigger and more usable than it is by making it into a galley kitchen. (Also, gas instead of electric stove, and a more suitable countertop surface than lots of small tiles whose grouting isn't level with their tops. It looks a pain to clean.)

This will mean that we'll have 2 corner units of some sort or other. One could be an L-shaped cabinet, but if it did, it would have half the sink in it, with the rest of the sink cutting across another cabinet. Or we'd have to have a corner sink over one of them. We could do 2 blind corner units, with or without pull out or rotating units. But whatever we do, I'd like to maximize useful space in it.

[snowangel]

Back when Varmint remodeled his kitchen (here, he installed a Magic Corner -- if you click on the link, you can see a nifty little movie clip of the contraption in action. I had a lazy Susan in a corner cabinet at our old house, and didn't particarly like it -- it's dark down there!

[sworthen]

Back when Varmint remodeled his kitchen (here, he installed a Magic Corner -- if you click on the link, you can see a nifty little movie clip of the contraption in action.  I had a lazy Susan in a corner cabinet at our old house, and didn't particarly like it -- it's dark down there!

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Thanks. What kind of lazy Susan did you have? 180, 270, or 360 degrees? Wooden or wire?

I've been wondering about Magic Corners. They look like efficient use of space, but there are so many movable parts to them, I wonder how robust they are in the long run.

[Peter the eater]

Sworthen, congrats on the new house. Oooooh, a kitchen design question.

It won't be a big kitchen, but we can make it a lot bigger and more usable than it is by making it into a galley kitchen.

A galley kitchen is spatially the most efficient - I often recommend this arrangement to clients.

. . . . and a more suitable countertop surface than lots of small tiles whose grouting isn't level with their tops. It looks a pain to clean.

I'd lose the tiles. Some are better than others, but ultimately a bunch of grout lines on the counter will be a bother. They're also very brittle and cracks will eventually show up in the grout and possibly the tiles.

. . . . One could be an L-shaped cabinet, but if it did, it would have half the sink in it, with the rest of the sink cutting across another cabinet. Or we'd have to have a corner sink over one of them. We could do 2 blind corner units, with or without pull out or rotating units.

There are lots of ways to utilize that 2'x2'x3' dead space created by a counter corner. Why not simply slide a basket into the corner full of stuff you rarely use? You could save hundreds or even thousands on "magic" hardware. Spend it on groceries.

Having said that, there are some impressive contraptions available if you are willing to spend. Some are quite new so nobody really knows how they'll perform in a decade or two. Having designed, built, or at least specified over a hundred residential kitchens I'm quite sure simple is usually best.

Let us know what you do!

[tsquare]

If either corner backs up to a different room, I prefer to have them open into the other room.

The better option is a galley kitchen instead of a U-shaped kitchen - no corner cabinets! Two longer runs. If you have to use that third wall, a shallow wall of cabinets might work better as a tall pantry or display shelving.

[s_hustava]

Back when I had my corner cabinet, I disliked it greatly. We had a tiered lazy susan and God forbid if anything fell back there. I figured if it weren't perishable, it belonged to the cooking deity that lived behind the lazy susan. Otherwise, I had to send in the 2 year old. They don't stay 2 forever.

[sworthen]

If either corner backs up to a different room, I prefer to have them open into the other room.

The better option is a galley kitchen instead of a U-shaped kitchen - no corner cabinets! Two longer runs. If you have to use that third wall, a shallow wall of cabinets might work better as a tall pantry or display shelving.

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The third wall - the narrow one - is where all the plumbing is right now. It also has a lovely picture window. There are two large windows in this small kitchen, so very little room for wall cabinets. This is part of why we'd like to use the corners, even though corners are hard to use.

It doesn't back on to another room - just the outdoors (a patio) on two sides, and a party wall on the other. (The fourth is a door to the main room, a small radiator, and space for the door on the side wall to the patio to open, so rather unusable for kitchen stuff.)

Edited to add: If we gave up one corner unit, then there would be no countertop space to the left of the stove. If we gave up the other, it would result in giving up countertop right where we're most likely to be able to add sockets for small appliances. One of our big goals with the renovation is to maximize worktop space. The corner units help with that, even if we may end up with hard-to-use space as a result. Still, if they can possibly be made usable, that would be ideal.

Edited May 26, 2008 by sworthen (log)

[sworthen]

. . . . and a more suitable countertop surface than lots of small tiles whose grouting isn't level with their tops. It looks a pain to clean.

I'd lose the tiles. Some are better than others, but ultimately a bunch of grout lines on the counter will be a bother. They're also very brittle and cracks will eventually show up in the grout and possibly the tiles.

Based on the current countertops, I really don't think the current owners cook much. They could make do with small countertops, but not fiddly ones. We're currently thinking stone composite for its replacement.

. . . . One could be an L-shaped cabinet, but if it did, it would have half the sink in it, with the rest of the sink cutting across another cabinet. Or we'd have to have a corner sink over one of them. We could do 2 blind corner units, with or without pull out or rotating units.

There are lots of ways to utilize that 2'x2'x3' dead space created by a counter corner. Why not simply slide a basket into the corner full of stuff you rarely use? You could save hundreds or even thousands on "magic" hardware. Spend it on groceries.

What a wonderfully practical solution! Now that you suggest it, it's seems so obvious, in addition to robust, elegant, and practical.

Having said that, there are some impressive contraptions available if you are willing to spend. Some are quite new so nobody really knows how they'll perform in a decade or two. Having designed, built, or at least specified over a hundred residential kitchens I'm quite sure simple is usually best.

Unless I'm convinced that some other solution is better, or that Le Mans units blatantly won't last (which is part of why I asked in the first place for personal experience with them - hopefully someone here is using them), I'm currently thinking one Le Mans unit and (thanks to your suggestion) one blind corner with baskets.

Let us know what you do!

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Will do!