Trying to hide casters on kitchen island

[Paul Greathouse]

I am buiding a kitchen island on casters for my son and daughter-in-law. DIL requested that the casters not show, I told her that I had never tried to hide casters before but I would see what I could come up with.

The casters will be the locking type on swivels with the lever that you step down on to lock or unlock. The casters stand 3 1/4" high when attached to the bottom of the island. Is there some way I can rig a flip up toe kick? The bottom of the island is flat so any position of the casters will be fine.

Any and all ideas or pictures will be welcomed.

[Sean Kinn]

Your flip up toe kick is what I thought of first. Only other thing I could think of is to have 4 "access cutouts" on the bottom of the inside so she could open one of the doors on the side, and reach through to lock the casters.

[Joe Chritz]

Leg levelers have snap on toe kicks. I would assume they would "snap off" just as well. Depends on how often it will be moved about.

Joe

[Jamie Buxton]

I had a similar request, but solved it a different way. I used regular non-locking casters. The skirts of the cabinet come down very close to the floor, and are fixed to the cabinet. To prevent the cabinet from rolling, there's a "handbrake". It is a separate foot which gets pushed down against the floor. You'd probably need two of them. The foot can be actuated by a screw with a knob on it, or by a lever like a DeStaco clamp.

[Greg Crawford]

I had a similar situation last year when a client wanted castors on their entertainment center. Instead of castors, I installed blocks of UHMW plastic (slick stuff). I got black, so it didn't show, and it allowed me to keep the skirt about 1/32" off the tile floor. The center moves easily, yet stays put unless it's intentionally moved. I don't know if this would lock in place well enough for an island, but it may be worth looking in to.

Good luck, and please keep us posted on your solution.

Greg

[Paul Greathouse]

So far I like Jamie's idea the most. The island will have doors on both sides so I can put the adjustable feet where they work best. I really couldn't figure out a good way to rig the flip up kick plates, its just all I could think of at the time.

I finished assembling the birch ply frame before lunch. This afternoon I'll start working on the quartersawn oak frace frames and exterior panels. Next time I make it into town, I'll see if the Borgs have any feet that can be adjusted from the top, if not I may look into making some myself. That is, unless somebody doesn't come up with a better idea.

Sometimes the simplest solutions are the hardest to see, Thank guys.

[Jim Becker]

When I built my kitchen island in about 2002, I made it mobile (for a variety of reasons) and intended that the castors would never show...and under normal circumstances, they don't. But I did have to cut some relief in the lower apron of the island to accomodate the swivelling action of the casters as for stability, they need to be as close to the corners as possible. Honesly, those "features" have largely gone unnoticed. Oh, and in most cases, it's really not possible to step on the locks due to the cabinetry being in the way. I lock them with a hand... ;) ...but since the island doesn't get moved very much (just for cleaning under it), that's not a big deal.

[Marty Barron]

How about attaching the toekick on the ends with a couple of hinges or some piano hinge. The toekick on the sides would be rigid and the miters between the end and the side could have rare earth magnets to keep the joints tight.

Marty

[Anthony Whitesell]

How about a different tact? Thinking off the cuff, could you come up with a way to use the toe kick as the stop/lock. Use some type of locking slide to lower the toe kick about 3/8". When the toe kick is down, the 3/8" gap would not be noticable under the cabinet.

Just an thought.

[Kevin Groenke]

Another idea.

Install threaded stem casters into T-nuts or similar threaded plates which are mounted below the floor of the island. The casters can be lowered (screwed down) to lift up the cabinet which is otherwise resting on the toekick.

The mechanism to lower the casters could be a knobs, cranks or jam nuts and a socket (like a router lift) depending on how often it has to be moved.

The image below is quick and crude, but should illustrate the idea.

If you felt like getting really fancy, maybe 4 stem casters could be tied together with pulleys and a cogged belt so turning a single stem drops all 4 wheels simultaneously (like a planer).

Alternatively, stem casters could be screwed into DeStaCo clamps: flip 4 levers to drop 4 wheels. Of course this gets spendy.

Sorry, I'm in the middle of designing an adjustable height desk, so all these ideas have been whirling about in my brain for a couple weeks.
For the first prototype of this desk we're going to try hydraulic cylinders actuated by a hand crank.

-kg

[Paul Greathouse]

Another idea.

Install threaded stem casters into T-nuts or similar threaded plates which are mounted below the floor of the island. The casters can be lowered (screwed down) to lift up the cabinet which is otherwise resting on the toekick.

The mechanism to lower the casters could be a knobs, cranks or jam nuts and a socket (like a router lift) depending on how often it has to be moved.

The image below is quick and crude, but should illustrate the idea.

If you felt like getting really fancy, maybe 4 stem casters could be tied together with pulleys and a cogged belt so turning a single stem drops all 4 wheels simultaneously (like a planer).

Alternatively, stem casters could be screwed into DeStaCo clamps: flip 4 levers to drop 4 wheels. Of course this gets spendy.

Sorry, I'm in the middle of designing an adjustable height desk, so all these ideas have been whirling about in my brain for a couple weeks.
For the first prototype of this desk we're going to try hydraulic cylinders actuated by a hand crank.

-kg


Kevin

I almost forgot I had started this thread, I'm glad I went back to it, to take a look. You posted after the last time I had looked at it. Your second picture is really the best and most cost effective answer to my question. I never thought about doing it that way, Thanks Kevin.