Stumped on a double-blind corner, out of ideas
Hey everyone. I am fairly new to woodworking - only done a few serious projects but I have been lurking around LJ for a few months and you guys have been awesome, given me a lot of courage to try out new things. I have set up shop in our 300sqft ground floor and I plan to tackle my woodworking as a business, rather than a hobby. I won't be selling anything any time soon - but for me looking at it as a business first really pushes to look at the best possible options. Because every project I make for my lovely wife and our home, is a project that in my mind has to also serve as an example of my craft and a possible showcase piece.
So after we bought our first home half a year ago I have been slowly doing small projects like a bar top, wardrobe, TV cabinet, A king size bed and a computer centre. But these have all been a piece of cake in comparison to what I am now trying to do.
I now need to tackle a full size kitchen cabinetry, but instead of a regualr dreaded blind corner I have what I have affectionally called a double-blind corner. Basically our kitchen is an L shape which turns back in the end. See pic for reference:
So here's the thing, in the wood colours are the cabinets I am designing, in regular SU colours are the items that are placed, in the corner - standing proud at 50" is our refigertaor. It is the best place in our mind because we need to maximize our counter space. On the wall the in the corner the large box and smaller ones is our gas heating unit - this is the worst part, can't move it due to regulations, so this has to stay put, there are a lot of tubes running along the wall as well, but these are not important at the moment. The gas heater stands 57" off the floor. Extending from the wall is also our bar tabletop which I made, it is movable, but there is no other place for it in our house, so only place to move it would be a fireplace..
So essentially what I have in the corner is a double whammy, a very narrow space to move into and not much I can even put in the cabinet from the front - at best i would be looking at 10" from the front. So my plan was to actually finish the cabinets as you can see in the drawing, then make the end blind cabinet higher by a thickness of the tabletop.
Then I would make that last part slideable on rails onto the lower tabletop, which would allow me to reach in the counter from the top, because I still will have about 20" from the tabletop to the gas heating unit. In that way I could use the blind corner as a trash can/storage for things I use onyl a few times in a year.
But now that I have had time to think about it I am not so sure, maybe I should let go of the idea of putting the refigerator in the corner, and leave it on the left side of the cabinets - which means I won't be able to hide it and I will lose some counter top there. So I am truly stumped.
In short here are my options:
1. Make a sliding (or fold up of some kind) table top for the 2xblind corner, so I could still use the space form the top. (the blind cabinet would be 27" width)
2. Move my refigerator out of that blind corner into the beginning of the cabinets, lose some counter space, but compensate with being able to extend the cabinets to the end and making a pull-out table top into the blind corner, so I would still have room to work with, but culd reach the cabinet form the front.
3. Just frame the gas heater corner off and forget about it. (our kitchen is quite small, cabinet widths on pic are standard 24")
You guys have seen a lot has anyone dealt with something like this? Because I have searched high and low and I have not found anything yet. Any suggestions would be highly appreciated, I really need a fresh look on this thing, because I have been staring at it, drawing and redrawing designs for 3 weeks now and I have all my materials ready as of last weekend. I would really like to make a new year present fro my lovely wife with a finished kitchen.
If you need any more info let me know, I would be glad to supply it.
Hey everyone. I am fairly new to woodworking - only done a few serious projects but I have been lurking around LJ for a few months and you guys have been awesome, given me a lot of courage to try out new things. I have set up shop in our 300sqft ground floor and I plan to tackle my woodworking as a business, rather than a hobby. I won't be selling anything any time soon - but for me looking at it as a business first really pushes to look at the best possible options. Because every project I make for my lovely wife and our home, is a project that in my mind has to also serve as an example of my craft and a possible showcase piece.
So after we bought our first home half a year ago I have been slowly doing small projects like a bar top, wardrobe, TV cabinet, A king size bed and a computer centre. But these have all been a piece of cake in comparison to what I am now trying to do.
I now need to tackle a full size kitchen cabinetry, but instead of a regualr dreaded blind corner I have what I have affectionally called a double-blind corner. Basically our kitchen is an L shape which turns back in the end. See pic for reference:
So here's the thing, in the wood colours are the cabinets I am designing, in regular SU colours are the items that are placed, in the corner - standing proud at 50" is our refigertaor. It is the best place in our mind because we need to maximize our counter space. On the wall the in the corner the large box and smaller ones is our gas heating unit - this is the worst part, can't move it due to regulations, so this has to stay put, there are a lot of tubes running along the wall as well, but these are not important at the moment. The gas heater stands 57" off the floor. Extending from the wall is also our bar tabletop which I made, it is movable, but there is no other place for it in our house, so only place to move it would be a fireplace..
So essentially what I have in the corner is a double whammy, a very narrow space to move into and not much I can even put in the cabinet from the front - at best i would be looking at 10" from the front. So my plan was to actually finish the cabinets as you can see in the drawing, then make the end blind cabinet higher by a thickness of the tabletop.
Then I would make that last part slideable on rails onto the lower tabletop, which would allow me to reach in the counter from the top, because I still will have about 20" from the tabletop to the gas heating unit. In that way I could use the blind corner as a trash can/storage for things I use onyl a few times in a year.
But now that I have had time to think about it I am not so sure, maybe I should let go of the idea of putting the refigerator in the corner, and leave it on the left side of the cabinets - which means I won't be able to hide it and I will lose some counter top there. So I am truly stumped.
In short here are my options:
1. Make a sliding (or fold up of some kind) table top for the 2xblind corner, so I could still use the space form the top. (the blind cabinet would be 27" width)
2. Move my refigerator out of that blind corner into the beginning of the cabinets, lose some counter space, but compensate with being able to extend the cabinets to the end and making a pull-out table top into the blind corner, so I would still have room to work with, but culd reach the cabinet form the front.
3. Just frame the gas heater corner off and forget about it. (our kitchen is quite small, cabinet widths on pic are standard 24")
You guys have seen a lot has anyone dealt with something like this? Because I have searched high and low and I have not found anything yet. Any suggestions would be highly appreciated, I really need a fresh look on this thing, because I have been staring at it, drawing and redrawing designs for 3 weeks now and I have all my materials ready as of last weekend. I would really like to make a new year present fro my lovely wife with a finished kitchen.
If you need any more info let me know, I would be glad to supply it.