Converting lazy susan to shelves

16 years ago

Hi, I have a corner lazy susan base cabinet that I would like to convert to just shelves. Can anyone give me some ideas on how to do that? If you would take the lazy susan out the inside would be L-shaped and the door is a hinged door.

When we put the new kitchen in I originally did order the corner cabinet with shelves but it wouldn't fit inside any of my doorways so I had to change it to this one and I really don't like it at all and it takes alot of valuable storage space away from my small kitchen that I call a "kitchenette".

If anyone has some advice on how to convert this lazy susan cabinet, I sure would appreciate it.

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katiescarlett71
Original Author

16 years ago

Well, I did it (well, acutally my son-in-law did it). I am so happy with my new shelf. We took out the lazy susan and my son-in-law measured the cabinet and we dropped by Home Depot and bought a sheet of melamine. Got home, cut it, drilled holes, inserted the pins (by the way we got a kind of pin that you can screw into the shelf so it won't teeter)and there ya go. Love it. We did have to buy a large sheet of the melamine so we had plenty left over and he wants to do their base cabinet too. It costs nearly $30 but I had a coupon of $10 off of a $25 purchase from Lowe's and HD honored it. But it was worth it to get the lazy susan out of there and besides my daughter will also have a nice shelf too and be able to use the wasted space.

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Comments (8)

flseadog
16 years ago
My old kitchen had 2 corner cabinets with lazy susans that I replaced with different types of shelves. I have no pictures and both are long gone but I'll try to describe them.

In one cabinet I used white laminate shelves that I think I found at Target, if I remember correctly, that were meant to be stackable closet shelves for shoes. It took a bit of effort to manuever them in but the end result was much more usable space than the lazy susan ever provided. All of my bakeware fit into this cabinet.

In the other corner I also used stackable shelves but they were the wire shelving with white coating that hooked together. This cabinet had all of my tupperware, trays and miscellaneous baskets and plastic items that were too big to fit anywhere else.

I'm sorry not to be able to describe this better but with a little ingenuity you can find a way to make your corner cabinets usable if you can't get rid of them. Our family joke was always that I didn't need to take Yoga classes because all my bending to get something out of the corner cabinets was both a physical and mental exercise.

The design for our new kitchen, two hurricanes later, does not have even one corner cabinet and this was at the top of my wish list when we had to rebuild.
katiescarlett71
Original Author
16 years ago
Thanks for your idea. I did have to do that with our linen closet in the bathroom - had to install a plastic (?) shelving unit (shelves with tube-like connectors) and put it in sideways!

We are going to remove the lazy susan to get a better idea on what we can with this much needed space.
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holligator
16 years ago
I'm curious about why you think shelving would be a better use of space than a lazy susan? In my experience with both, I have found quite the opposite.

One caveat here, though. The lazy susan my cabinet guy originally ordered would have been a waste of space because it was so small. The one we ended up with uses nearly every inch available in that corner, and I can get to everything without yoga.
raehelen
16 years ago
Seadog,

(I'm guessing your name is Florida seadog- not fleas on a dog like I originally thought!)

If you look under previous posts, I'd asked a similar question, and I got a couple of really good photos showing corner lazy susans with shelves.

I have a lazy susan that'll I'll keep in one corner (though eventually when the rest of the house is finished- MIGHT change it to a larger one that utilizes more space), and in the other, I am going to put a shelf that is not the full width of the cabinet insides. Right now I have several big appliances including a honking big bread maker that I don't think I could get in there, even if I had the largest LS that would fit. Being big and bulky, they are simple enough to reach and pull out,but if I put a second shelf the whole width, I think it would hamper my ability to reach everything on the bottom.
katiescarlett71
Original Author
16 years ago
Holligator- you asked why I would prefer shelving over the lazy susan. I can't really stack all my items on the lazy susan like I could with shelving and I am loosing lids galore when they fall off the dang thing. I would like to be able to store items of all sorts of shapes and sizes without them falling off behind the lazy susan. Right now I just have plastic tupperware-like storage containers in there. Guess I am "set in my ways" and just like good ol'fashioned shelves.
katiescarlett71
Original Author
16 years ago
raehelen - Thanks for letting me know about your previous posts. I did find it helpful. My corner cabinet with the LS looks very similar to yours. I want the shelving like "ckstjamij22" posted a picture of.

I am now wondering if someone can give me a brief outline of instructions on how to do this shelving. I would need to drill holes for the pins and then how do I measure for the shelving? I plan on going to the local HD or Lowe's for the material.
It will be so wonderful to have enough do-able storage space for my large items as well as for my Tupperware-type storage containers in my tiny kitchen.
PRO
J.A. Nessralla
3 years ago
Hi! Do you have a picture of the completed cabinet? I have this same issue with an upper cabinet & really want shelving.