Some Corner Storage Options...both upper & base

Lazy Susan

• Pole in the middle

• Can be a full circle or pie cut

• Can have door attached to pie cut so it rotates in when the cabinet is opened (so no banging adjacent cabinets w/the cabinet doors)

• Most today have a wall that follows the contour of the shelves so closely that nothing can fall off (except maybe a hair...)

• Pole does limit the size of items that can be stored

• I had a lazy susan in my old kitchen and it held all my pots & pans, colanders, and a few serving pieces - the pole was not a problem for me. However, if you store small appliances in the susan, then I think the pole might get in the way.

• My mom has one in an upper corner...I don't like it. I think it wastes too much space...but it's a diagonal cabinet, so it's a little better than a diagonal easy reach

Super Susan

• No pole in the middle - the rotating shelf sits on a stationary shelf (sometimes, the stationary shelf is adjustable, sometimes not)

• Can be a full circle or pie cut

• Cannot have door attached to pie cut b/c only the rotating shelf moves, not the stationary :-); this means the door can bang into adjacent cabinets

• I have not seen one with the close walls, so things could fall off the rotating shelf and onto the stationary shelf...however, there may be ones with the tight wall out there...

• Lack of pole allows storage of large items on the entire shelf (like small appliances)

Blind corner

• Back 24" x 24" space is blind and not easily accessed (12" x 12" of upper cabinet with 12" deep upper cabinets)

• Can put in a pullout, but if anything falls off, you have to crawl inside to retrieve it before you can close the pullout and then the cabinet

• Depending on how installed, the door could either (1) bang into adjacent cabinets or (2) open on opposite side of corner and limit access to the opening (unless you have hinges that open close to 180 degrees)

• The best installation I've seen is with roll out tray shelves that pullout from inside the blind corner - nothing can fall off b/c the shelves take up the full depth of the cabinets. However, that means only things that can be easily removed can be stored in front of the roll out tray shelves.

Easy Reach

• Stationary but adjustable shelves

• Two kinds:

  • Pie-cut with doors on each side of the corner...see the thread Angie linked for an example in an upper cabinet

  • Diagonal opening with not very accessible storage in the back side corners

Corner Drawers

• Drawers installed to, hopefully, the full depth of the cabinet with either straight (on a diagonal) or pie cut drawer fronts.

• See the thread linked below for more info

Cabinet turned 90 degrees

• IF corner is a peninsula that opens on the outside of the kitchen, then the best use of space is to take a 27" to 30" cabinet and turn it 90 degrees so it faces out

• This gives you full use of the corner with little loss of space

• I did this in one of my two corners...the outward-facing cabinet...

Some Corner Storage Options...both upper & base

Lazy Susan

• Pole in the middle

• Can be a full circle or pie cut

• Can have door attached to pie cut so it rotates in when the cabinet is opened (so no banging adjacent cabinets w/the cabinet doors)

• Most today have a wall that follows the contour of the shelves so closely that nothing can fall off (except maybe a hair...)

• Pole does limit the size of items that can be stored

• I had a lazy susan in my old kitchen and it held all my pots & pans, colanders, and a few serving pieces - the pole was not a problem for me. However, if you store small appliances in the susan, then I think the pole might get in the way.

• My mom has one in an upper corner...I don't like it. I think it wastes too much space...but it's a diagonal cabinet, so it's a little better than a diagonal easy reach

Super Susan

• No pole in the middle - the rotating shelf sits on a stationary shelf (sometimes, the stationary shelf is adjustable, sometimes not)

• Can be a full circle or pie cut

• Cannot have door attached to pie cut b/c only the rotating shelf moves, not the stationary :-); this means the door can bang into adjacent cabinets

• I have not seen one with the close walls, so things could fall off the rotating shelf and onto the stationary shelf...however, there may be ones with the tight wall out there...

• Lack of pole allows storage of large items on the entire shelf (like small appliances)

Blind corner

• Back 24" x 24" space is blind and not easily accessed (12" x 12" of upper cabinet with 12" deep upper cabinets)

• Can put in a pullout, but if anything falls off, you have to crawl inside to retrieve it before you can close the pullout and then the cabinet

• Depending on how installed, the door could either (1) bang into adjacent cabinets or (2) open on opposite side of corner and limit access to the opening (unless you have hinges that open close to 180 degrees)

• The best installation I've seen is with roll out tray shelves that pullout from inside the blind corner - nothing can fall off b/c the shelves take up the full depth of the cabinets. However, that means only things that can be easily removed can be stored in front of the roll out tray shelves.

Easy Reach

• Stationary but adjustable shelves

• Two kinds:

  • Pie-cut with doors on each side of the corner...see the thread Angie linked for an example in an upper cabinet

  • Diagonal opening with not very accessible storage in the back side corners

Corner Drawers

• Drawers installed to, hopefully, the full depth of the cabinet with either straight (on a diagonal) or pie cut drawer fronts.

• See the thread linked below for more info

Cabinet turned 90 degrees

• IF corner is a peninsula that opens on the outside of the kitchen, then the best use of space is to take a 27" to 30" cabinet and turn it 90 degrees so it faces out

• This gives you full use of the corner with little loss of space

• I did this in one of my two corners...the outward-facing cabinet...

I think you definitely want to run all cabinets to the ceiling. I have a corner cabinet and love it, but many others do not. It just depends on what you want. If you have little storage space, maybe you'd value the corner cabinet. If you have a ton of storage space, maybe you can have a blind corner and not care about the loss of space. It just really depends what you're looking for and what you want your kitchen to look like.

Do you have inspiration pictures? Make sure to show the KD your ideas. What about drawers? Most swear by using all drawers and deep drawers for pot storage. I love deep drawers, even for plates and dishes.

Have you done an analysis of what will need to be stored in your kitchen? Once you get a preliminary layout from the KD, you'll want to put everything conceptually in its place to make sure you have enough of the right kinds of storage. Hope that helps! Good luck!

I have different level cabinets. Didn't ever think about 8' ceilings not using them.

I hate corner cabinets or any cabinet I can't see into. That's why I have lazy susans and drawers.

I'd plan the installation of under cabinet lighting, too. Sometimes it's easier to run that before the cabs are in place.

Are you right or left handed? Which side do you want the DW on? Shud your fridge open left or right? Stuff like that, too. Do you want glass cabinets? Are you neat enough to have your stuff show? (I"m sure not!)

Durability with your life style. Kids?

Most of all, get what you want. YOU want. Not the KD or someone who decides install would be easier if...

Have a good time with it!

Personally I hate blind corner cabinets, but like diagonal corner cabinets and or lazy susans. If you have neither you will have wasted dead space.

If we are talking upper cabinets, many here like the "easy reach" corner cabinet, which is L-shaped but doors open on each side. There can be one door with two sections with a hinge in the middle, or two doors as in the thread below.

Here is a link that might be useful: easy-reach corner cab

Thanks!

This is very helpful already! The KD I met with today mentioned doing lazy susans in the corner cabs. I've never had one. Actually I think it was diagonal with a lazy susan. Does that work?

Here are a few inspiration pics. Some say the cabinetry is a little overdone but something like this anyway : )

What's the difference between a lazy susan and a super susan?

A lazy susan has a pole in the middle where it turns. A super susan doesn't. You get the entire surface to put things on. I'd never do a lazy susan but loved my super susan. Examples:

lazy:
{{gwi:2109697}}

super:

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Lazy susan and super susan- one is a complete circle with a pole in the middle. The other has a cut out shaped like a piece of pie. I'm not sure which is which. One thing I forgot to mention- My KD had specified a lazy susan in an angled cabinet for my upper, but I changed it at the last minute. I didn't like the fact that the circle blocked access to the corners inside the cabinet which would have been virtually unreachable if something fell off the round. I also didn't like how unadjustable the shelves on the lazy susan were. Instead I went with adjustable plain shelves and I am so glad I did. I use that area for wine glasses and its great. You don't need to see whats in back unless you're having a huge party and are using all of the glasses anyway. On the bottom, I went with a pull out that only has access from one side. The piece that pulls out is a half round. I love it. I've also had the super susan before and I really liked that for the bottom too, but space wouldn't allow for that in this kitchen.

{{!gwi}}

Angled lower cabs are kind of frowned upon here. If you get one, be aware that the door opening is smaller than if you get right-angled lowers. So an angled cab is OK for pantry items, but if you want to store pots and pans or small appliances down there (which super susans are great for), a right angle cab opening is far more accessible.

Angled uppers aren't that popular either, but if you're short on space you may need them, again depending on what you have to store.

Wow! Thanks! I'll have to study that : )

I looked for pics of my last kitchen and now I do recall I had the lazy susan on the bottom cabinet with one opening.
What would the top be called? It was diagonal and very deep with stationary shelves.

Other things to consider...

• If you must have filler, consider filler pullouts. Rev-A-Shelf, for example, has 3"/6"/9" base filler pullouts and 3"/6" upper filler pullouts.

Consider deeper upper cabinets. Even an extra 1" can make a difference. Keep in mind that cabinets are measured based on overall measurements, that means the exterior measurements, not interior space.

So, a 12" deep cabinet is really 12" on the outside. Once you factor in the thickness of the back wall, you now have only 11.25" to 11.5" interior depth. If you have framed, the interior depth is reduced again by the thickness of the frame.

However, if you have overlay, you only lose depth due to the frame along the walls, the rest of the cabinet can use the frame space b/c the door sits in front of the cabinet.

If you have inset cabinets, OTOH, you lose that space b/c the doors & drawer fronts sit inside the face frame, so those 12" deep cabinets are now down to 10.5" to 11" deep (depending on the thickness of your back wall & frame).

So, a 12" diameter plate will not fit in a 12" deep upper cabinet. If you add an inch to the cabinet depth (13" deep), you now have that 1/2" to 3/4" back. 15" deep uppers are even better.
If you have the space, consider deeper counters either with deeper base cabinets or by pulling the cabinets out from the wall a few inches.
Staggered-height cabinets are personal preference, even with 8' ceilings. If you like them, get them.

One thing to keep in mind, however, is that dust does accumulate on the tops of cabinets that are not to-the-ceiling. One way to make cleaning easier - line the tops with newspaper. When it's time to clean, just remove the newspaper with the dust that collected on top of it (and not on the cabinets themselves) and replace it with clean newspaper.

If dust allergies or asthma are a concern, I recommend all cabs to the ceiling.
Double-bin trash pullouts...love them!!! Dogs cannot open them! (Our dogs learned how to open the step-on ones in our old kitchen!) With two bins, one can be used for recyclables and the other for trash.

However, put it in the Prep Zone...and, if possible, near the Cooking and Cleanup Zones. If you only have one sink, your Prep Zone will end up on the side of the sink closer to either the range/cooktop or refrigerator. So, put the trash pullout on that side. Put the DW on the other side...it will also keep the DW out of the Prep Zone (and the DW will not be an obstacle to work around while prepping.)

Oh, and consider getting a foot pedal so you can open it hands-free.
Keep in mind aisle widths should be measured counter edge-to-counter edge, not cabinet-to-cabinet.
Strive for adequate aisle space, seating overhang, etc.
Measure your space 3 or 4 times (or 5 or 6 or 7 or....)!!
Measure from at least 3 different points vertically when measuring wall/space width...a foot or two off the floor, 4 or 5 feet off the...