The No Corner Kitchen

With a little bit of planning, you can enjoy a kitchen with NO CORNER CABINETS. Corner cabinets can be awkward and an often mismanaged bit of real estate when talking about precious cabinet storage space. In the example above by Whitten Architects, yes there is a corner, but it is inside a walk in pantry. I LOVE this layout! A pocket door hides your shelving, and the fridge has been built into the wall portion. See, neat and tidy!

OR, you could have your main cabinet run fit between two side walls, this is also a clean and efficient use of space and works well with an island in front for prep and as a gathering place as in this above example by Jason Ball Interiors.

Now if you must utilize a corner here are some suggestions:

A corner sink. This also requires planning ahead as you will want to have windows at the corner preferably. Examples above by Paragon (left), and HGTV (right).

Another way to use a kitchen corner is to not use the corner at all in the lower portion, and focus on a smart shelving or full height cabinet above. This frees up the lower portion to each side of the corner to contain wider drawers.

If you do opt to use the corner space for a corner cabinet my absolute FAVORITE way to use the space is the pie cut super susan (pictured above). Each tray sits on a turntable bearing and can handle impressive weight which means canned goods, or pots are not too heavy. It does not even compare to the lazy susans you have seen before which pivot on a single rod and are incredibly flimsy.

Because the turntable of a super susan is supported on the floor of the shelf it means there is no need for a center pole so you can fit larger items inside and can use the whole space. They run about $400 and are worth every penny. My favorite trays have the raised metal sides, they keep everything on the tray without getting in the way of labels. Note that they usually come with a small catch underneath to help stop the tray and keep it in position once you’ve given it a spin.

On a fun note; I had a client who was named Susan, and when I showed her the “super susans” her face lit up and she ordered her kitchen to have 3 pairs installed in her kitchen in each of her corner cabinets. She hated the nickname Lazy Susan that she had been called in childhood, and this was a small victory for her. All the more power to you Susan! -And your awesome new kitchen too.