Blind cabinet owners - what do you store in them?

14 years ago

Our new kitchen may have a blind corner. We're still working on the details but it will be set-up (sink, DW and blind corner) similar to elizpiz's.

Since we've never had one before, I'm curious to know how others use this storage. Do you store regularly used items or stuff you seldom pull out?

One possibility that we're investigating is using it to store all 4 garbage cans (garbage, returnables, glass recycling and other recycling) so that we only have to open one door to drop it all. Has anyone done this?

TIA!

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Comments (9)

writersblock (9b/10a)
14 years ago
>One possibility that we're investigating is using it to store all 4 garbage cans

Wouldn't that make cleaning up pretty hard? I mean when you need to get in to wipe up the cabinet floor for drops and drips.
faleash
14 years ago
We used to have one and I stored my silver tea service (platter, coffee pot, tea pot, creamer and sugar bowl) in it and my silver cleaning supplies. Used it all the time-- NOT! LOL!! We avoided it in the new set up by (let's see if I can explain this!!!) having the sink cabinet incorporate that extra space instead of the perpendicular cabinet. So the sink cabinet is not a rectangle but more of a pentagon. Now we have that extra space under the sink off to the side. It was a great decision. It holds the instahot little tank, the gallon bottle of dish soap that feeds the NeverMT, the Jet Dry, the dishwasher tablets, stainless steel spray and dustpan and brush. Keeps the area under the sink clear for what I use all the time (rubber gloves, granite cleaner, microfiber cloths on one side with the disposal and trash/recycle on the other side. LOVE IT!
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I did the math once. There is very little difference in storage capacity between having a total lost space blind corner and having most corner solutions. The advantage to a corner solution is that it's easier to make it work with full overlay cabinet doors, and especially the knobs/pulls which tend to run into each other. Corner solutions include lazy susans/super susans, magic corner type pullouts, double half moon swing outs, etc. Corner drawers, comparing like to like, have a similar storage capacity to pie cut susans. They excel in convenience, however, and because they easily come in three or four levels, rather than the two you usually find in a corner, and since, if you don't demand full extension, you can make them go all the way back, they can, functionally, give you the most, and most easily accessible, storage solution. The completely open corner cabinet, such as Co-co showed above, is an exception. That does maximize the storage space, though, as you can see in Co-co's photo, people tend not to maximize their use of it, and usually only put in one shelf, if any. Intermediate solutions, in terms of storage ability (hold more than corner solutions but less than totally open), are the full circle susans that create a diagonal cabinet across the corner, and Arlosmom ROTS. Full circle susans have about 20% more storage than the total blind corner, partly because it grabs area from the floorspace of the kitchen. An issue with it is that the opening is fairly narrow compared to the cabinet, but people in tight kitchens like them a lot for storing pots, mixing bowls and small appliances. These larger things are easy to choose without seeing far into the cabinet, and don't try to fall off. If something does get stuck inside, however, it's a PITA to get in there and unstick it. The pie cut susan cabinets have the same issues, but a wider opening. Only a 5% or so advantage over true blind, however. Another way to handle a blind corner is the Arlosmom "Costco cupboard". That's where you have roll out tray shelves in the blind corner that pull into the cabinet, much like the shelves by Cloud Swift's sink, above, where ROTS wouldn't work because of the plumbing. The reason it's a "Costco" cupboard, however, is that whatever is right behind the door needs to be bulky enough to be moved easily to get at the pullouts. The newer corner solution, I think by Haefele, double pullout where pulling out the face cabinet trays pulls trays from the blind corner to the door opening, is based on this idea as well, while giving you trays to hold smaller things than sleeves of coke and paper towels. I haven't measured the storage space on the last. It looks like it might hold more than the double half moons. With anything of the sort, though, any pullout system, you have to be very careful about things falling off and jamming the mechanism. It's much harder to get into those kinds of cabinets, because of the tray mechanism, than it is to get into a susan cabinet or an Arlosmom one. I have two sets of corner drawers, and two Arlosmom cabinets. The latter two are where there is something other than cabinetry on the outside of the blind corner. My cabinetmaker made the ROTS in the Arlosmom cabinets run on the shelves instead of attaching them to the cabinet sides, so the shelves are adjustable height, which is very cool. One of them is an upper, and I don't remember if there's anything stored in that corner yet. It's definitely for the stuff you never want to see but don't want to get rid of. The other is in my laundry room, feeding into the cabinet where my laundry sorters are, so pretty easy to get to.
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lisa_a
Original Author
14 years ago
writersblock, good point. We hope to avoid this problem by having the cans top-mounted, not bottom-mounted. To clean the cabinet floor, we would pull the cans out and then we should have quite a bit of clearance for hopefully easy access. We don't plan for smaller than an 18" cabinet opening. Also, it should only be the garbage that is messy and that will be the first can. The recycling and returnables get rinsed beforehand.

faleash, I'm intrigued. Sounds like a good solution. Thanks!

I'm okay with losing a bit of space if we gain a better solution. Right now our corner sink cabinet (42" cabinet) takes up a lot of space without offering a lot of storage. The face is 24" across with a 20 3/4" opening. Even though the cabinet is deep and wider than the opening, it's not easy access because of the sink and plumbing so much of the space is wasted.
faleash
14 years ago
Which sink are you using? Sure love my big single silgranit with the drain offset to the back corner. Tons more usable space under AND I really enjoy the single sink (big surpise-- was one of my big worries!!)
lisa_a
Original Author
14 years ago
I'm strongly leaning towards a single basin sink. So nice to hear you've been pleased with your choice. I didn't think hubby would go for a single over a double (the only kind we've ever had) but he's okay with it after all. Actually, he's being a really good sport about this whole thing.

We want to stick with white - neither hubby nor I are fans of SS - so our options are a bit more limited. The white silgranit isn't really white, unfortunately, so I think we'll end up with fireclay or cast iron.

Top runners are Franke Orca and Kohler Bakersfield (a cousin works there so I like throwing business their way) but I haven't decided for sure and others may make the mix. I know I'd like one with an offset drain, if at all possible. The Bakersfield doesn't have that but someone posted recently that there is a new single basin Kohler sink with an offset drain. It's not on their website so I don't know whether this is truth, rumor or perhaps a new sink that won't come out until later.

Do you hand wash your fine china? That's the only time I think I would miss a double basin sink. Our fine china has a metal edge so it shouldn't be put in the DW. I figure a dish pan in a single bowl would work but I haven't talked to anyone who's done this yet. This would only be necessary a couple of times a year so it won't be the deciding factor but I'd like it to not be an uh-oh surprise.

Thanks, faleash!
jsweenc
14 years ago
Faleash, is that a Blanco or another brand?
faleash
14 years ago
jsweenc- it is Blanco. It's awesome seriously! Is it said that this sort of thing excites me?!?!?

lisa- I entertain A LOT. My mom (RIP) entertained a lot. I use my gold trimmed Lenox and my mom's heavily gold trimmed (gold edging, gold leaves, etc.) and my grandmother's gold and silver trimmed old Noritake ALL THE TIME. When I got married 20 years ago and my mom passed on her set and her mom's set to me she told me that she hand washed everything for the first year she was married. After that she said screw it! Honestly I cannot begin to count how many times she and now I have run it through the dishwasher. You cannot tell. It is none the worse for wear AT ALL.

That being said, there are plenty of things I hand wash anyway (just because!) and the single basin works just fine for that too.
lisa_a
Original Author
14 years ago
Thanks, faleash, that's good to hear. Our set is Noritake, too, but silver edged. Sure would be nice if we didn't have to hand wash it. Not that it matters to me. I usually do the cooking so someone else does clean-up. But I'm sure the dishwashers would appreciate some relief. ;-)
lisa_a
Original Author
14 years ago
Bump. Hoping to hear from blind cabinet owners.

TIA!

Blind cabinet owners - what do you store in them?

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Blind cabinet owners - what do you store in them?

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writersblock (9b/10a)

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