WHOOPS!

[OFWW]

On one wall of my kitchen where the new stove sits I had only one temporary base cabinet for some storage, and in the corner on the other side of the stove there was an open area where the hidden space was. So there was my first cabinet to be designed, it was a 4 foot base cabinet, with sliding shelves for full access to the hidden end, plus full extension slides for the drawers covered by the cabinet door. For simplicities sake I followed Karl's advice and made a flat panel door for it, at least to be used until I tried a cathedral door with raised panel.

SOOOOOoooooo, I moved the dishwasher which covered up the "hidden corner" cabinet, installed the cabinet into the corner with the stove sitting beautiful right next to it. Then I slide the dishwasher back into its space, then walked back to look at my first Kitchen Cabinet installed and,.............

WHOOPSIE!!!, The door was covered up by two inches of the dishwasher, rendering the door and any space in the cabinet entirely useless. :(

Well, harrumph! Bah.

So I then deleted the cabinet from the floorplan in Sketchup and went back to the original cabinet drawing and corrected the situation.

Am I ever glad that Karl and Leon insisted that I used Sketchup and stick with it and learn to use it. It took me the better part of a week to maneuver around comfortably, learning tricks along the way, found new and better ways to do old things, and WOW! is it ever slick. Sketchup v16 has a free version with some reduced features, but the 3d working platform is still in operation and I have only begun to learn all its features.

They were absolutely correct, it is well worth it, and much less expensive to see your mistakes on the drawing first.

[Leon]

LOL... Once you understand Sketchup it is hard to imagine not having it.

I have often considered upgraiding to the Pro version simply because it is CHEAP, compared to upgrading AutoCAD LT. Not cheap but AutoCAD LT is priced like a Festool tool and is like entry level compared to Sketchup.

AND yes, make your mistakes on the drawing not on the wood.

AND really better at changing things to "what if" instead of building prototypes.

[Swingman]

Preach it, Brother ...

Leon will tell you the same thing ... it's rare that I ever walk out to the shop to do anything without a SU drawing in hand.

Sketchup soothes the savage beast ...

[Leon]

Hey! Did I send you that drawing of the, brilliantly engineered in Sketchup, "stick"? The stick that propped up the end of our kitchen sink? LOL

[John McCoy]

OFWW wrote in news:pckpbb1ncutr696rssnejk9frirobt1jr2@

4ax.com:

Going off on a tangent, but what do you anticipate storing on the shelves in the hidden end? I've been considering doing something similar (if and when I ever get around to kitchen cabinets), but I keep thinking whatever gets put back there will just be forgotten about (and in that case it might as well go in the trash instead, and save me the effort of making shelves).

John

[Swingman]

Elegant solutions for blind corner cabinets has always been a thorn in the side of the kitchen designer.

I tried every thing from lazy susans to Korner King type solution, but they all have drawbacks.

This one caught my eye. Haven't had a chance to try it yet, but I'm definitely going to push the next kitchen client to take a look at it:

[Leon]

That is pretty slick and seems to make use of most of the corner space, assuming your cabinet door opening is wider than the section that tucks into the corner.

I wonder how difficult it would be to build one...probably not worth the time involved.

[Ed Pawlowski]

Good point. We bought a new refrigerator 24 years ago. There is a cabinet above the refrigerator. I opened it last December when we bought a new refrigerator. What was in there was tossed and it now sits empty. Would make a good safe to stash cash, burglar would not easily get in there either.

[OFWW]

We have some things that are either used infrequently, or seasonal, or when we are in the mood. You know, like when you get on a Asian kick, or Mexican, or Italian kick. That plus my wife prefers much lighter pans and I use the good old cast iron stuff, that said,...

there are my cement mixer, the Kitchen Aid, with all the attachments, the electrical stuff like waffle irons, sandwich pannini press, rice cooker, popcorn maker, various blenders, fruit juicers, coffee makers, Wok's and accessories, pressure cookers, pizza and bread stones. Various thermos' and picnicking stuff then the normal pots n pans.

This way certain things get put in one cabinet, lower frequency stuff put away in the back hidden sections.

Plus, closest to the stove are things we both use, and as my wife has a habit of just finding a space, I sometimes find things in the back of a shelf, and getting down on my hands and knees and pulling things out just to get a particular pan is not my cup of tea. She is short and to her it is no big deal, yet even she would like sliding drawers so that all the stuff is easily accessible. We are both hitting the age thing, but I like to think that because we are wiser, we should just do the wiser things today, rather than put up with things as in the yesteryears. :)

I am also tired of messing with carious spice racks, carousels, and things so I'm building my one near the stove and work center, plus a smaller overhead one at the stove with the most common used ones there.

Needless to say, our next home will have a much larger kitchen and pantry.

Oh, and under the corner wall cabinet I am making a swing down bracket for my wife's small screen TV, (flat screen) and we will also be able to put up recipes on there to use while doing what we do. Beats having to keep a book open or spill something on a favorite old recipe.

[OFWW]

They do have some for 48" cabinets now as well.

[Puckdropper]

Swingman wrote in news:TqydnWz9heul8SPLnZ2dnUU7- [e-mail]:

I'd like an elevator. Empty space at the top, push a button and the entire shaft of cabinets raises up or down and gives you access to what's hidden underneath. It would be cool enough to make it on to one of those This Old House type programs. :-)

Puckdropper

[Leon]

A lift would be cool but almost always there are upper cabinets and typically they are about 18 higher than the counter top. It would not be able to raise very high out of the 36" tall bottom cabinet. :-(

[krw]

Hate to rain on your parade but that sounds like one of those cool but completely impractical ideas. The lift would mean breaking the countertop which gives less counter space but just as important a place that you don't want messes to go (with all that entails).

[Leon]

My parents used that area of the kitchen cabinets to hide their coin collection. You guessed it, they called me to come over for supper when they wanted to pull all of those boxes of coins out to look at. And of course I was the one to put those heavy boxes back into that corner.

[Puckdropper]

Leon wrote in news: [e-mail]:

The solution is to lift the uppers too. Naturally it's not for every home but if you've got an attic above, no problem. The whole column of cabinet, counter top, uppers, etc just slides up into the void space.

I know it's not practical. Still doesn't make it any less fun to talk about. :-)

Puckdropper

[John McCoy]

Ed Pawlowski wrote in news:PKGdnZ1QadXiCSPLnZ2dnUU7- [e-mail]:

Yeah, I have a cabinet like that too. If and when I redo the cabinets, that one is going to be replaced with an open shelf. That way whatever gets put there at least won't be forgotten.

John

[krw]

That's where we put the booze. Have no idea what's up there now.