Reduced Depth Corner Cabinets

[Jack Pinkham]

Our kitchen remodel contractor just delivered our cabinets yesterday. He built them at his shop.
The concern we have is that the corner base cabinets are not the same depth as the other base units. The sides are about 19.5 inches deep.246613246614

When questioned about this he replied that he had worked in 5 cabinet shops and that's the way they are done. He also mentioned the AIA standards for commercial casework recommend this.
He said that out of plumb and out of square walls require this tolerance. He said that the units barely fit through the doors and that was another reason for this design. I sense that he goofed and is bluffing us.

Comments?

[Sam Murdoch]

I make the corner unit ONLY big enough to house the Lazy Susan. In this case looks like you have plenty of room. A huge LS can become an awkward and useless thing. Also, you don't want the cabinet so deep that you can't reach into the back corner (when things fall off your turn table). I would have built it like this too.

Alternatively though, I often do not make the corner cabinet that much smaller than the adjoining cabs - I don't always use LS - but in that case I do clip the back corner 45° to avoid any issues with the room corner and to make the reach to the back less of an issue. Big upcharge for that design. :D

[Jim Foster]

We have a custom made corner cabinet with full depth cases and it's DEEP. I think the one you have is good, and I think the builder's story sounds believable

[Kevin Bourque]

I install lots of kitchen cabinets and what he did is pretty much standard.

PS. I've had to take apart and reassemble a few corner cabinets in my day that wouldn't fit through the kitchen door.

[Matt Meiser]

I built a huge one for my kitchen but it doesn't have a lazy susan. The out of square walls caused minor problems but you'd never notice. The bigger issue was that we had to remove both the sliding and fixed panels from our sliding door to get it into the house. It was worth it for my own house. If I was doing this for a living I wouldn't want to deal with that.

The lazy susan I ripped out was not full depth. Really, the space behind the lazy susan would be wasted so why build cabinet there?

[scott vroom]

It depends. For large lazy susan's you need a deeper cabinet. What you should really be asking yourself is whether the lazy susan you got is big enough to fit your needs....if so then the 19" deep base is perfect. Did the contractor sit down with you and review the plans prior to construction? If not then you get what he typically builds.

What your contractor is telling you about out-of-square walls is true.....but I've never seen a nominal 90 degree corner so out of square that a 19" deep cab was required so I think he's stretching it there (by a lot). I build corner bases 23" deep (1/2" less than adjacent bases) and cutoff the back angle at about 22" from each side, leaving a 45 degree back corner panel. This has always been sufficient to compensate for out of square corner walls...and large enough to accomodate a 31" lazy susan.

Unless you have other reasons to not trust your contractor, relax and enjoy your beautiful new kitchen.

[Jack Pinkham]

Thanks for the replies. I feel much better about the cabinets now.

[Jim Andrew]

At the shop I worked, we built lazy suzan corners with the kick removed, so it would fit through a 32" door.

[Michael W. Clark]

I just built one for my wet bar. I have 24" cabinets on the left and 18" cabinets on the right of it. (18" cabinets are in front of the high bar top, to make it easier to reach it). I did make the corner full depth with a 45 clipped corner in the back. The 24" deep side is quite large and difficult to reach the back, the entire box is a beast out of 3/4" ply. Our cabinets in the kitchen upstairs (store-bought) are like the one you were supplied with a lazy susan and offset from the back wall. It functions very well.

Mike

[johnny means]

The depth of lazy Susan cabinets is determined by the width of the cabinet faces.

[Mike Hollingsworth]

less likely for stuff to pile up in the back.
And the Susan needs an edge to keep stuff on.
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