Kitchen counters at room corners

[Stephen Tashiro]

Are there layouts for kitchen counters that make effective use of the space at the corner's of rooms?

The space under kitchen counters at the corners of a room is typically awkward to use. Things put there are often forgotten about for decades.

Other than the traditional layout of counters, the following plans come to mind:

1. Oddly shaped drawers that go diagonally into the corners.
I 've never seen this layout first hand. It might be effective, but I don' t know if the space to either side of the drawers is convenient to reach.

2.Put sinks at the corner of the room.
This has the advantage of putting the nasty, mostly wasted space under a sink where the mostly wasted space at the corner of the room usually sits. So you get only one mostly wasted area instead of two.

3.Lazy susan under the counter at the corner of the room.
I've never seen this layout first hand. If something fell off the lazy susan, I wonder if it would be lost for years.

[John Lanciani]

I've had one of these for years; https://www.wwhardware.com/kv-rotati...g-center-ferrc

[Lee Schierer]

We saw a variety of corner cabinets when we remodeled our kitchen. The one we decided on has a pull out double self that swings out of the way once it is pulled all the way out. Then there are two trays on slides that pull into the space previously occupied by by the double shelf. It works fairly well. There are lots of options, so keep looking around. Our cabinets are by Kraftmaid. The designer we had worked at Lowes and he spent a lot of time with us optimizing the cabinets for our kitchen. Visit several cabinet shops to see what options they can show you.

[Steve Schlumpf]

We have one of those lazy susan corner cabinets and have never had a problem with something falling off and not being able to retrieve it. There is a substantial lip on each of the two shelves and while things may shift position if you close it too quickly, things stay on the shelf. We use it all the time and can't imagine a better way to utilize the corner space.

[Robert Engel]

I think the lazy susan is the most efficient way to go. I usually just buy the hardware kit but you can build them yourself. I've never had a problem other than some stacked stuff like lids can fly off if spun too fast.

There are also square sliding/rotating shelves.

For me, the biggest issue is the bifold door hinges. Even with the best hinges the ones I've done tend to be a bit fiddly to align and some have gotten loose because either the screws get loose or the actual hinge mechanism gets sloppy. I think this is probably exacerbated by a person is leaning on the door while its open perusing the lazy susan (how do I know that? ;-)

[George Bokros]

We have the lazy susan and have never had a problem with stuff falling off. The only thing we do not like is the door that can on the cabinets the builder installed. It is one of those corner doors that has a hinging thing between the panels that go around the corner. Our new kitchen will have a front on a 45* angle so access is easier.

[Perry Hilbert Jr]

Had the lazy susan corner. Considered it a waste of space. Right now we have a large open corner cabinet with folding doors that hinge to match the corner. It has one partial shelf along one wall. It is used for those things that come out once a year. Christmas plates, Turkey roaster, large cookie sheets, jelly making supplies, etc. Kids are gone most of the time, and it works for us. We had a large surplus of kitchen gadgets and stuff at the old house. After the old house burned down, Mrs. put her foot down and we replaced the kitchen stuff with only quality items. We had an entire closet of salad spinners, crepe maker, cake pop machine, and other stuff we never ever even opened. No more. The seasonal kitchen stuff is all down under the corner. We also got some stainless steel racks for inside the lower cabinets to store pots and pans and lids, etc. Some folks would use it like a pantry for canned goods. We already have one in another cabinet that has better shelves.

[Yonak Hawkins]

My solution for the two such cabinets in our kitchen was to fashion access from adjacent rooms. One is a pull-out caddy for shoe storage in the back of my wife's closet (not yet completed) and the other, media storage drawers in the living room.

[David Bassett]

Nancy Hiller posted about this subject on the Popular Woodworking Editors Blog earlier this week. She discusses (some of) the alternatives and argues we should consider quality of storage, instead of quantity, more than we do.

[Jim Tobias]

This is what we put in a year or so ago when we remodeled our kitchen. Before we had a lazy susan but bending down seems to get more difficult as the years pass..

https://www.woodworkerexpress.com/re...ut-32-1-4.html
It brings everything out to you , instead of standing on your head to get to the back.
It does take up one cabinet door space. We have all of our pots and pans on it.......which opens up a lot of other cabinet space.

Jim

Corner.jpg

[Stephen Tashiro]

This is what we put in a year or so ago when we remodeled our kitchen. Before we had a lazy susan but bending down seems to get more difficult as the years pass..

https://www.woodworkerexpress.com/re...ut-32-1-4.html

That's an interesting piece of equipment. If something fell off of it, can it be swung out of the way so you can reach back into the cabinet to retrieve the misplaced item?

[Jim Becker]

Jim, I like that particular accommodation for corner storage like that as I've never been a fan of the "lazy Susan" type arrangement for some reason. It seems practical and as you note, brings things to where they are easily accessible. I prefer mostly drawers on base cabinets for exactly the same reason.

[Lee Schierer]

Jim, that is a really neat shelf system. I had to look at the instructions to see just how it works.

[Ken Fitzgerald]

My wife with assistance from the cabinetmaker designed the cabinets in our kitchen when we remodeled it 3 years ago. In the lower cabinets she elected to put in plain adjustable shelves. She stores little used pans, etc. in that space. As big as I am, I can get in there to move the pins for her when she wants the shelves adjusted. When she is gone, and she does travel a bit, I am able to get things out of there. On the upper cabinet, she and the cabinetmaker designed the cabinets to be 45º angle across the corner and she placed a large lazy susan in each corner. They work well for us and as stated, the lip on the rotating shelves minimizes any fall off.

[Jim Tobias]

Stephen,
You can get to the back area, but would need to lift off 2 of the shelves. The shelves are easily moved and changed to different heights. Having said that, We've never had anything fall off. I imagine if you put a lot of small items that could slide through the openings of the shelf wall, then it could happen. The metal shelves have walls as shown that are 3" or so high.

Jim,
I'm with you on drawers and pullouts. When we remodeled the kitchen a little over a year ago, we put pullouts on all of our lower cabinets and the pantry cabinet. Now , the space is actually accessible and also used constantly.

2nd picture is sideways....I rotated it before loading but it still shows sideways.

JimPull out.jpgpull out 2.jpg