Yesterday I read a blog about Kitchen design and how important good kitchen design is in terms of the livability of a home. It got me thinking about my own past kitchen designs. For me, the rest of the house was always designed around the kitchen, instead of the kitchen being fitted into the design of the home. Today I just want to talk about one small aspect of the kitchen that came up in this other blog----the "Lazy-Susan"----or more politically correct the "revolving shelf."
It was always one of my pet peeves that commercially available revolving shelves for corner base cabinets were always much smaller than the total square footage of the inside of the cabinet. This is due to the fact that the largest diameter shelf that can be installed in a corner base cabinet is limited by the diagonal dimension of the opening of the cabinet.
Quite early in my cabinet making career I created a way around this problem that resulted in doubling the square footage of the shelf itself and thus covering more of the square footage of the inside of the cabinet. The diameter of the shelf could now be 1" less than the inside width of the cabinet. There is very little wasted space with this design, leaving plenty of room for all the things you want to keep in there from Olive Oil and Wolfgang Puck's "Chicken Noodle Soup"-----to Monster Spray.
The first key is to "diagonal" the front of the cabinet. This eliminates the 90-degree inside corner that is common in kitchens; and, it eliminates those funky folding doors-----or the even worse design where the shelves are attached to the door itself. Since the shelves themselves are larger in diameter than the diagonal measurement of the opening, the shelf has to be modified with a Pac-Man like cut-out. The dimension from this cut-out across the shelf is the slightly less than the diagonal measurement of the door opening to allow for insertion of the shelf----and then the Pac-Man piece is put back in place. In this next picture one can see the cut-out line and what it looks like installed in the cabinet.
I made hundreds of these shelves for the kitchens I built. The short dowels keep things from spinning off the shelves and allow for easy turning of the shelf. Also the shelf height is adjustable. My kids use to put each other on the shelves and spin each other around when they were little.
Perhaps one day---the "Pac-Man-Shelf" will be readily available from cabinet suppliers.
Charles Buell
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Charles, my inlaws are in the business and I got something like the pacman but two pieces fitted.
Darin, glad to see others think this is a problem looking for a solution
Charles, this could be a side business for you building these things. Very creative.
Gary, I think I would rather sell franchises----want to buy one?
Have you patented this yet?? :)
Lena, over the years there probably have been lots of things I should have patented. Would this be patented as a shelf or a circus ride?:)
Great design Charles. I can see this as the next big thing in kitchen cabinet design. Sign me up for one of those franchises!
Jim, my lawyer will be calling your lawyer:)
Charles, I hope you are overseeing Elizabeth's kitchen project. Have you seen it? She's a whiz!!
Barbara, I checked out the link----thanks. She posted some great pictures of what the old style plaster board looked like----the stuff that replaced wood lath. Looks like it is progressing along just fine.
I agree with Lena - go for the patent! If you don't, somebody else will. I had alot of marketing ideas get snatched up from me over the years. I have a good vision for what eateries and trendy shops will fit a community. I had thoughts which I shared with only trusted family, but others came along who thought like me and took action faster. And, I was left watching successful businesses thrive while I was kicking myself for never taking actions to develop or follow through on an idea.
Carol, I know I "should"-----no excuses I know:)
Good post Charles. We have a corner cabinet that is just useless! Who ever designed it should be shot at sunrise, hung, and flogged just for good measure. Idjet...
Michael, I think that most corner cabinets become some version of what you are talking about----and deserve your derision:)
Charles,
It looks like those of are WHEELS of FORTUNE with all those pegs. Only thing missings are the labels of what the prizes are! OK, lets spin the wheels and see what for dinner!
//Rick
Rick Bunzel, CRI
Pacific Crest Inspections
NPSAR Affiliate of the Year 2006-2007
WWW.PacCrestInspections.com
360-588-6956
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Rick, are you sure that is all that is missing? What about Vanna?