I'm having new countertops installed and once the old ones were removed
I see a good deal of wasted space. The tops (granite) are already
templated and cut and ready to install tomorrow so it's too late to
reconfigure from the top, so it would have to be from the sides. How
would you tackle cutting through the sides of either of the next door
neighbor cabinets and make use of this space?
Pic:
I wouldn't do it. You'd have to be a contortionist to make use of it.
The time is past. Just cuss out whoever didn't think of using a
corner cabinet, forgive, accept, and forget.
If you want some almost dead storage, you could use a drill to make a
pilot hole in the sidewall or either cabinet, and then use a sabre saw
to cut the opening. BUT, if you think you might want a shelf in that
space, build the shelf and do your cutting before they come to install
tromorrow. Mayvbe you could ask them to delay a day or two while you
cut the opening and build the shelf.
On 5/31/2012 10:14 PM, hr(bob) snipped-for-privacy@att.net wrote:
I'm starting to agree with Vic about the difficulty using that space.
But looking at the pic again it might be a good time to move the water
line to my ice maker-filtered water in the fridge before they put in the
countertops. That should be a 15 min job since the line has plenty of
slack.
Thanks for the honest answers.
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On 5/31/2012 9:47 PM, Cheryl wrote:
We have a space like that and we use it for items we don't use often.
Good place for party supplies, glassware, china, kitchen equipment,
etc, but since it wasn't planned I'd probably just forget now. You'd be
making a impromptu shelf in cabinets that are already installed. I'd
want it to be part of the existing cabinet work.
Looks to me like someone rushed into it without considering all the
options.
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On 6/1/2012 10:52 PM, dpb wrote:
If you look at her 1st picture, the cabinet on the right would extend to
the wall on the left. The opening on the right services the space under
the counter top. You have to reach in to use the space and there is
always something that has to be moved to access the space. That's why
there are odds and ends in there. It's a good place to put things and
basically forget you even have them. So in that sense, it might not
really be all that great to have. I have two cabinets like that. The
other one is at eye level so it makes more sense.
I donno. The space is there, why not use it?
It is possible to cut the cabinet side open using either a circular
saw or jig saw. Putting in a shelf is more difficult given the short
time.
Really a shame that the original designer was such a hack. There are
cabinets made just for the purpose of using that space. You can get
corner cabinets with a lazy susan, you can get end cabinets that
extend into the dead space.
If you do open the space, it is OK for large items like little used
pans that can be slid into place.
Hi Ed. Thanks, and thanks everyone for the ideas. It was fun to read
and get ideas for later, but this space is gone forever. There just
wasn't enough time before the counter top install to do anything with
it. Shame. In a small kitchen you need all the space you can get.
Forget about it. Even if the cabinets had been constructed to access the
corner space via a lazy susan it would be a PITA, Best thing is to avoid
butting cabinets at corners.
If you just gotta use it, make it into a hidey-hole for your valuables; cut
hole in side at bottom, remove bottom drawer when you want to access the new
space.
If they are both outside walls, then just add some insulation to them
& put a time capsule in there.
If one is an inside wall, then look into that room for a
cupboard/drawer storage space.
Sometimes you just lose space. I had a lazy susan corner in my
kitchen for 10 years. Last remodel [10-15 yrs ago] I took it out to
make room for a dishwasher. I don't miss the lazy susan. I
hated looking at that wasted space-- but I don't stay up nights [very
often] anymore worrying about it.<g>
I even considered a corner garage on an elevator that would go down
into that space to give me more counter space.
Jim
Just saw this thread--
Must agree w/ the others that to do anything useful would require
redoing the cabinets on both sides as well and there's not enough shown
in the picture to know if that is feasible.
This old farmhouse has quite small kitchen area also around a corner as
yours. I built cabinets for the folks when they redid the house and we
did fit one 30" cabinet on the side of the range and another on the side
of the sink on the other wall. That left an 8" opening on each side in
the corner and we then built a custom lazy susan to fit the hole. In
order to make it useful we maximized the diameter but cut a square
corner out of the shelves so the doors to it could fit in the same line
as the cabinet faces (overlay doors, face-frame cabinets).
We were unable to find a pre-fab unit that either
a) would fit the space as well w/o a 45 degree angle face or
b) wasn't so flimsy in construction as to likely fail in a few years.
This one uses a 1-1/2" black iron pipe as the center rail and Krause
one-way plow thrust bearings as the shelf supports. Each shelf will
easily support 200 lb so it can be loaded heavily. In this kitchen,
doing w/o that storage would be a major drawback...
I don't have any pictures at hand, but if the project isn't already
complete and want a layout, post back and I'll see what I can do.
The counter top you have would still work w/ this layout but you would
have to significantly alter the cabinets either side so you would have
to hold up in having the permanent installation of the counter while you
got the other pieces/parts ordered/built and fitted...that may or may
not be feasible to your project schedule/budget, no way to judge.
------------------------
| | / \|
| | | susan |
| | \__table /|
---------------| \___/ |
--- |-------|
susan || | Cabinets
doors | |
| |
|-------|
| |
| |
Terribly crude and you'll have to have a fixed-width font to make any
sense at all of it.
Note the two doors are separate and the right hand one (vertical in
drawing) overlaps the other, they're not hinged in the middle nor are
they a 90-deg single door.
--
...
OK, following up from the link of the other poster...
Idea is this although built much more stoutly and includes a "can"
surrounding the outside to keep stuff from falling behind into the void...
<http://www.magiccorners.com/pie-shaped.php
You have to make room for the front w/ this; the other sacrifices the
one cabinet you already have which overall may not be a win given the
limitations on the shelf size of the half-moon to make the bend.
IOW, you can't get something for nothing... :)
--
That I hadn't seen before...wonder how well it will last; how awkward it
really is to push if heavily loaded. Not inexpensive but looks at least
reasonably well-built.
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