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eustacem

Blind corner pull out

eustacem
13 years ago

Kayl, I was reading your question about the blind corner pull out in the GW kitchen thread and decided to start a new one, as I am interested in this also.

Our kitchen order goes in next week and we are having a blind corner pull out, as the size of our sink prevents us from getting a susan. I actually prefer this because I don't like the hinged-in-the-middle door that usually goes along with it--seems like something that would be the first thing in the kitchen to break.

Please share your experience with either of these corner solutions. Frankly, anything would beat what I have going on now, a large deep inaccessible corner sans pull out. TONS of space that is unusable.

Comments (30)

  • misplacedtxgal
    13 years ago

    Thank you for starting this thread! Yes, anything would be an improvement over the current "cave", although my kids enjoyed it when they were little. Apparently they make great hiding places for hide and seek! Alas, I'm taking my oldest to college this weekend, so no more hide and seek at my house. Boo Hoo!

  • fabbric
    13 years ago

    I had a pull-out and removed it as I lost too much space in the cabinet. It didn't go all the way to the end so nearly 6" were lost there and I found the shelves too small to be useful for the storage I envisioned. I'm going to live with it for a while and keep my lesser used electric stuff in there.

    Besides, my kids are still cave-sized so I can at least get that use out of it :-)

  • Buehl
    13 years ago

    One of the problems w/a blind corner pullout is that if anything falls off, you cannot close the pullout until someone climbs inside to retrieve the item. Fine if you have "cave sized children", but what do you do when they're adult-sized teens or they're gone?

    Our KD discouraged us from getting one b/c she said all her clients who put one in regretted it later. Not only was the "fallen item" an issue, but the very nature of the pullout does not lend itself to long-term reliability...the often unsupported components, etc.

    Corner susans, OTOH, are generally built quite well, are often built with back/side walls that follow the contour of the shelves, and lend themselves to easy access of items in corners. All you have to do is rotate the susan and your item is right in front of you! No worrying about anything falling b/c there's nowhere for anything to fall, etc.

    If you get a lazy susan (w/the center pole), you can have a door that is attached to the susan and rotates inside the cabinet when you turn the susan. This avoids those hinged-in-the-middle doors Eustacem mentions.

    In our 13-year old, builder-grade kitchen, the only cabinet that was as good as new when we demo'd was the lazy susan! It still turned smoothly and the door was the best looking one in the kitchen! We won't talk about the rest of the cabinets! (Tip: Don't get Aristokraft cabinets!)

  • avesmor
    13 years ago

    I have a horrible blind corner, and would love to see what you end up getting! Are any of these what you're thinking about, or similar?

    The issue of things falling might not be so immediate since they have the rails. But they are pricey!

    Tagging along to see others' suggestions. Blind corner owners - unite!

  • michiganrachel
    13 years ago

    My kitchen is not built yet - we are building/renovating a house and in the drywall stage. However, we are getting one of the above cabinets. Our kd (who owns his shop) says its best in class and will hold a KA mixer if that's what I want to put in there. I honestly don't know the brand as I hadn't spent much time on this forum and didn't think to ask.

  • misplacedtxgal
    13 years ago

    I never thought of the idea of things falling off and it not closing so thank you for sharing that! Avesmor, I had looked seriously at the ones you posted pictures of, but the price didn't allow me to consider it for too long. Over $1,000 on RevAShelf, I believe. Yikes!

    I have a lazy susan in a corner that I like already, but it is not a blind corner. Don't you lose the space in the blind part of the cabinet with a susan or and not understanding that there is a separate product for this application? If there is could someone please post a picture?

    My carpenter wants to cut out the other side for a door or bookshelf, but I think that looks awful. I've done without that space for 20 years, so I'm not going to add something that looks bad.

  • mfrog
    13 years ago

    I'm just working on this problem in our kitchen. I'm not redoing the kitchen, just replacing a really bad drawer unit the PO put in.
    My situation is like the 2nd pic in Avesmor's post. I'm thinking about the blind corner pullout from Lee Valley. We're going down to look at it in a couple of weeks.
    One kitchen place also talked about a half susan which pulls out, but of course he didn't have one there to show me. But it's not expensive he says, only about $600!

  • Buehl
    13 years ago

    One note about the rails...they only work if the items stored in the pullout are all bigger/shorter than the rail openings. If they're smaller than the openings, if a stack of multiple items is taller than the rails, or if an item is quite tall and top heavy, things will still be able to fall off. And remember, there's a lot of movement of the shelving b/c it's not just a straight pullout, it also rotates out...so movement is in multiple directions which makes tipping/falling more likely.

  • misplacedtxgal
    13 years ago

    Does anyone own the one that is similar to the one avesmor posted but without the door attachement? Link is attached. I don't think having it attached to the door is worth $500 more. Opinions?

    Here is a link that might be useful: RevAShelf blind corner Optimizer

  • Gena Hooper
    13 years ago

    Mine is installed, but not in use (kitchen is still in progress). We got the Hafele Magic Corner I partly because of our cabinet maker's recommendation and partly because of our research. The Hafele seems very sturdy. Our kitchen is small, and the magic corner allowed us to have a small trash pullout. The lazy susan would have eaten up a lot more real estate. Hope I made the right decision!

  • cooksnsews
    13 years ago

    I have a U-shaped kitchen, so that means two inside corners. I've never seen a lazy susan I liked, but my KD recommended kidney shaped pullouts, which allow the top or bottom shelf to be rotated independently. (Sorry but I don't have a pic or even a link to one, but I know I've seen one here on GW in the past.) It's inconvenient if anything falls off the shelves of this style, but I don't store little short things like canned food here. Mine are really strong and robust, so they hold cast iron cookware, appliances, and large canisters of baking stuff. There is still some "wasted" space in the back of the cupboard, but nothing like my old blind corners with the limited access.

  • formerlyflorantha
    13 years ago

    I'll do you one better, cooksnsews, I've got 3 corners in our G-shaped kitchen. We decided that one lazy susan was sufficient, on the outside corner that has two exterior walls. The second corner abuts our new coat closet in lobby, so we're going to install a rolling double decker pullout accessible from the closet, for boot storage in off season. The third corner abuts our hallway running along the peninsula. We've installed a cupboard accessible from the stool side of the peninsula, which holds party supplies, posh silverware, trays and doilies, etc. It's chock full already, sigh, but it's great to have the silverware so easily accessible. It has 2 movable shelves and runs from under the countertop to just above the floor. I can see directly into it fairly easily. I could put roll-out units in if I wanted, but the things I'm storing are very square and it's nice to have the full shelf for them.

    DH has returned from some wandering and we've already used, washed, and put away the silverware twice in less than a week. Why not use the fancy stuff if you own it, I always say. The cupboard will help us do just that.

    I have seen a dishwasher installed in the backside of a blind corner, in a small 1950s house that was very well rehabbed without any addition of floor space. It opens into the kitchen seating area.

  • melissastar
    13 years ago

    I've got three blind corners in my kitchen-in-the-works...none of them potentially accessible from the other side. I'm opting for a super susan in one of them and blind corner pulls out in the other two, where susans wouldn't fit the needed cabinet configurations well.

    One of the reasons I'm not too uncomfortable with this arrangement is that i had one of the half-round lazy susans in my last kitchen and rarely had an issue with falling items. Of course, I largely stored big bowls and casserole pans on it, so they were'nt likely to fall off. It did waste space...but not nearly as much as the hidey-hole would have! I'm thinking about one of the pullouts this time though. Maybe I'll do one of each...full susan in one corner, half-round susan in another and pull-outs in the third. I can be the ultimate test case!

  • seapoem
    13 years ago

    I had a left hand Hafele LeMans kidney shaped pullout installed in my brand new cabs. When they arrived I saw that my cabs were much too big for this particular application. I ordered a half-susan that slides out and it fits my space much better.
    I think for smaller blind corners the Hafele is superior. The construction is solid and it slides like magic. The half susan does its job and fits my space better, but I don't think the Rev-a-shelf construction is as fine.
    Now all I need is to sell this brand new Hafele unit on Craigslist and get cooking!
    By the way, things DO fall off the half susan with small side walls, but the Hafele rails caught most things before they plunged off. Just FYI.

    Here is a link that might be useful: Hafele LeMans Blind Corner unit

  • cindyinct
    13 years ago

    I struggling with what do do with my corner as well. Not big enough for a super susan due to where the sink is going because of the window location. I'm debating on whether to leave that corner empty instead of putting in a blind corner. Blind corners seem so useless, the inserts just don't seem practical and appear to leave a lot of wasted space. Eliminating the blind corner allows me to put in one larger cabinet vs the blind corner and a smaller cabinet next to it. Any thoughts?

  • artemis78
    13 years ago

    They all waste some space---no way around it. Some waste more than others, though, and some of it depends on how deep your cabinet is (e.g., the Magic Corners, which are great if your cabinet is close to the minimum required depth---but ours is far deeper, which meant there would be 9" of dead space behind the unit).

    My favorite solutions are to:

    1) open up the "blind" space from the other side (only possible in a few situations, but excellent when you can do it cleanly);

    2) close off the blind corner and just make it a completely dead space (what you're proposing---works well in large kitchens; non-starter in our tiny kitchen where the corner space is a tenth of our base cabinet square footage); or

    3) use the Arlosmom solution (separate threads on this) where you have drawer slides in the blind space that pull out into the front. Magic Corner is a similar philosophy, and one of the cabinet gadget makers now makes an insert that's basically Arlosmom Jr. (shorter, but same principle). I'm not describing her approach well at all, but it's worth reading the threads on it.

    All that said, I'm pretty sure we're getting the LeMans at this point, now that they make one that can be used with a drawer above it. It's far less costly than the Magic Corner and wastes a comparable amount of space, but it's a lot more accessible if you're planning to use the corner for things you will use regularly. My husband is still grouchy about it, and periodically volunteers that we should just put shelves in there, reconcile ourselves to digging in the back, and call it a day. So who knows...

  • toddimt
    13 years ago

    Another potential option with custom cabinets is to use the Blum spacecorner drawers.

  • desertsteph
    13 years ago

    here's an idea used by another gw poster in a small kitchen redo.

    Blum corners drawers are like plllg's corner drawers.

    Here is a link that might be useful: blum corner drawers

  • artemis78
    13 years ago

    Yes, that picture above ^^^ is the "Arlosmom Jr." solution I was thinking of. I can't remember which company makes it (not Hafele and not Rev-a-Shelf) but it seemed like a handy variation if you don't want to go the DIY route. The downside I found to it is that the section that shifts out is pretty small (and not sure what the weight load is, but the pictures from the manufacturer show it filled with spices and other lightweight items).

  • cindyinct
    13 years ago

    Does anyone like the blind corner without any of the pull-outs?

  • lolauren
    13 years ago

    cindyinct .... I do. I wouldn't say I "like" it, but I don't mind it. We have a traditional blind corner cabinet in our new kitchen.

    I don't like the rotating/susan options nor do I like the pull-outs. I have a lot of space in my kitchen, though. I have the room to only use that corner for very rarely used items (like a glass cake stand.) I also like having a large, roomy space so I have more flexibility in what I could put there...

    (I think I am in the minority here.......... I haven't seen anyone else mention having a blind cabinet in a new build. ha ha.)

  • missmuffet
    13 years ago

    I really hate my current blind corner without a pullout. Things get lost back there and will never be found again. If you need to do a blind corner - do yourself a favor and have some type of pullout/lazy susan.

  • cpartist
    13 years ago

    I just put in the rev a shelf one. I'll let you know how I like it once I have a functioning kitchen but it seems to be very well made and sturdy. but yes you lose space in the way back.

  • limom_2bts
    13 years ago

    cindyinct and lolauren:
    Right now I have one bc cabinet that has no pull-out...had it for 25 years and I managed just fine. With the new cabinets I'll have 2 (yes, TWO!) bc's, just the nature of my kitchen size. One of them, tho, will have the pull-out lazy susan just because my KD thought it would work good in that corner. Personally I don't think it's too hard to make use of these cabinets w/o any pull-outs, etc. One could always just put in baskets or plastic bins that are easily moved around.

  • sh_murray
    13 years ago

    Both of our blind spaces open into the adjoining rooms, with a set of drawers in the dining room and another set in the family room. It's a great use of the space as they are well used, more so than they would be in the kitchen itself.

  • gbsim1
    13 years ago

    I'm on the fence on whether to put a BC pull out in our new build.

    My current blind corner houses some rarely used things. I think the key is putting things there that have a specific purpose so it doesn't matter if you forget about them. In other words, the items will "tell you" when they're needed. When the time arises to use one of your blind corner items then you'll know. I've got my chafing dish, a huge roaster pan, a big tupperware cake transporter, punch bowl and a couple of other biggies all with specific purposes.

    If I put things like pretty trays or serving dishes back there then I might forget about them and never use them. On the other hand, when the need arises for the punch bowl, chafing dish, etc then I know right where it is.... nothing is back there that I have to remember to use..... if that makes any sense!

    I'm wondering in the new build if I'd be more irked by my big things not fitting in a pull out unit than having the occasional inconvenience of having to fish back there for something a couple of times a year.

  • cindyinct
    13 years ago

    Here's my dilema...if I go with the blind corner, then I'd have that (the one they included has an 18" door and drawer), and a 15" trash cabinet, and then my refrigerator. If don't put in the blind corner, I could put in a 33-36" cabinet or drawers and then the refrigerator, leaving the corner unused. The trash cabinet could be relocated someplace. Any thoughts?

  • cindyinct
    13 years ago

    bump....

  • formerlyflorantha
    13 years ago

    Are you using a custom cabinet shop? I have a photo which I can't document so I won't post, but it shows a vertical storage unit (for trays, folded stoole, etc.) adjacent to one of the doors of a blind corner, with piano hinge to cover both openings with a single jointed door. When open, this door gives a larger access to corner because vert. storage divider-separator is recessed back a tad from front of corner unit. Easier to get your shoulders into the lazy susan unit and it eliminates the surface mullion between the two spaces, so you get more useful space for the corner or for the vert storage. If only I had seen this idea before we planned and built our corner unit!

  • missstella
    13 years ago

    florantha--PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE post the picture. I have been looking for it all weekend and can't find it! I want to do that in my corner and want to send a picture to my cabinet maker to explain what I am looking for.

    Stella