No pole for sure. In my super susan I keep large pots (wok, spaghetti, soup, canning, chili, crock pot etc.) plus odd things like a small coffee maker, the blender, and various strainers. If there was a pole, not all of those things would fit. For instance, my crock pot is oval and is turned long ways to the center pretty much. My corner isn't as large as yours and it holds tons of stuff. Because I have all large things down there, they don't fall off the edges. I really love that super susan as it turns out. Who knew?

P.S. I think the difference between a super susan and a lazy susan is whether or not it has a pole up the middle. Don't hold me to that, but I think that's the story.

A regular lazy susan is adjustable, so we decided to go with that in case we need height.

My no-pole super susan has adjustable shelves. The shelves rest on pegs, just like other cabinet shelves. (But do be aware that they are too wide from corner to corner to be removed or to add a shelf!)

They hold immensely more than a pole shelf. Especially fitting in bigger items is much easier.

If at all possible, have your cabinet maker make custom susans to the maximum size your cabinet can take. It isn't hard, and they can often be two or more inches greater in diameter than the pre-made susans. You only need an inch or so between the rotating susan and the wall, and the extra space on the susan is VERY useful.

Sandra

Pole for sure. The no-pole kind requires three separate movements--opening a hinged door, banging it into adjacent cabinetry and then turning the Susan. The one-piece kind requires you only to push the door, which swings into the cabinet while the Susan delivers the contents right in front of you.

Ah, except that the bottom shelf is less accessible. With no pole you rotate the bottom shelf, but the pie cutout on the top shelf stays put letting you easily reach into the bottom shelf. I also vote no pole.

Interesting...I had to look at mine to see if it had a pole. It does. Never noticed it. But the 2 shelves rotate independently and they rotate so the shelf is outside of the cabinet itself...the wedge comes right to the edge of the cabinet so I can grab stuff on both shelves from both sides without having to even rotate the susan. Works for me.

Much better than the old susan at the old house which was two round disks attached to the poles that was recessed inside the cabinet and both shelves rotated together.

No accessibility issues with the lower shelf. It's all right there in front of you. Plus you escape the scratches and gouging and banging of the neighboring cabinets, which are part of the bargain with a separate flapping door.

No pole!! Love my new Super Susan!!

I adore my super susan without the pole.

I have a pole only because it was the most accessible solution to the corner cab issue and I had too much else to think about. With the 2 rotating shelves it works great for me. I keep all my small appliances on there (and I have a bunch) using them all the time. They are super easy to get to and put away. All my other kitchens just had a corner with shelves so this is better. I never had a super susan but think they sound great.

I don't think everyone is even talking about the same thing.

This is what I am talking about:

You push on the door, and everything swings out in front of you. The no-pole versions sit on shelves, so you have one of these to contend with:

In order to access the lower shelf, you have to squat down to rotate it--much lower than you'd have to bend simply to pick something off the shelf.

Nah, Marcolo, you don't have to squat down to rotate it. You can just use your foot to give it a spin. (Now I'm sure a lot of people are hoping they never have to eat in my kitchen!)

I have a supersusan (no pole) in my new kitchen. I thought it was what I wanted.
It is fine, especially since I don't use it for much.
That is, I open it at most once a day.
But I think I would have prefer Marcolo's one-motion-with-the-pole kind.

My old kitchen had a lazy susan with a pole -- the new one has super susans on shelves with no pole. Both of them had the same kind of door, a separate one just like in Marcolo's second picture above.

I chose to use no-pole ones on shelves this time because it's an Ikea kitchen and I didn't care for their lazy susan with the pole. It seemed potentially wobbly and I wasn't sure about the weight rating for what I planned to store in it, which is all my pots and pans (including plenty of cast iron), slow cookers, and a few other small appliances. The one I put in is an aftermarket one made by another company and it's great. The shelf we installed is not adjustable, so when we were setting the height of the shelf I hauled out the tallest things that I was going to store in there and made sure they would clear. I keep the pots I don't use often right in the center where the pole would have been, so it does hold more than the pole version for me.

The attached-door style was not an option for me because it's Ikea and the doors are not configured that way. I never banged the door on the cabinets in the last kitchen and so far I haven't done it with this one either. I can see the appeal of the attached door as long as the door actually winds up where it is supposed to stop and doesn't sit askew.

Does anyone on GW have the KornerKing? I've been wondering about this option for my one corner.

Here is a link that might be useful: KornerKing

Don't known about Ikea, but even in my still-unreno'd kitchen, the susan has no problem holding all of my pots, including cast iron, Calphalon, LeCreuset--all very heavy stuff. The door always lands in the right place.

I am fascinated with that KornerKing and may try one in my reno. I'd like to use the drawer that rotates on top of a susan.

Marcolo -- the pole susans in my old kitchen were very sturdy and I wouldn't have hesitated to put all that stuff on them -- I could be completely wrong about the Ikea one, but "wobbly" was my impression looking at it in the store. I thought about trying to fit my old susans into the new cabinets, but the heights were different and I ultimately decided to let them go to Habitat with the cabinets (otherwise whoever bought the kitchen would have been stuck with two black hole corner cabinets with no shelves...). So I don't at all doubt that your one with the pole works well too.

One advantage of the shelf version -- this is a very small thing -- is that I can store flat things like cooling racks beside the turntable on the shelf. If I didn't have that I'd find another place for them, so this is definitely not a make or break. If I had liked the feel of the Ikea pole susan I'd have bought it.

Wow, lots of great info here! Since I have full overlay doors and already have the cabinets, I cannot get the kind where the door swivels into the cabinet. I am going to go with the kind that sit on the shelves. Thanks all!

Takkone, you probably already know this, but for anyone else planning -- you have to install the susans BEFORE the countertops go on. They won't fit through the door opening.

Now, another related question. In one of my 36" L-Shaped base cabinets I need to have a gas line shut-off valve for my range. This would prevent me from installing a 32" diameter Lazy Susan onto the bottom of the cabinet. My questions is, should I get a 28" diameter Lazy Susan for the bottom which will probably clear the valve, or simply go with nothing?

Can you raise the lower susan above the level of the valve so you can fit in the bigger one? Or would you still be able to access the valve if you put in a smaller turntable at the same level? I am thinking this is a safety issue -- you want to be able to get at the valve and not have things whacking against it as you turn the susan.

As northcarolina suggested, I would investigate having essentially three shelves:
1. the bottom shelf with the least possible clearance above the shut-off, which you will have to use only very rarely.
2. the middle and upper shelves, spaced as you choose with susans.

BUT I would also investigate how close to the back or side you can install the cutoff. Better still, could it be recessed into the wall?
A. If the cutoff could be recessed, just space it so it clears the susan shelves.
B. If the cutoff can't be recessed but can be placed very close to the cabinet side or back, a slightly smaller susan could still be used on the bottom. And you don't have to waste the space between the susan and the wall.
C. Remember that because the susan is round, there is less clearance in the middle of the sides, but the corners have more clearance. Can your gas cutoff be installed in a corner?

Because I didn't know to have the cabinet makers make custom susans using the full width of the cabinet, my susans have about 1 1/2'' clearance on the sides. I slide my cookie sheets and other flat things like the double burner grill onto the shelves against the cab walls, thus clearing the cabinet I had intended for cookie sheet storage.

Hope this makes sense. I bet the gas cutoff can be recessed or located into a corner so that it doesn't interfere with the susan at all!

Sandra

Why is your gas shut off in the cabinet at all? Mine is a lever thingie right where the gas line comes through the wall at the back of the stove. When we reno'd the kitchen, the gas line came through the wall at a spot which wouldn't allow us to move the stove all the way back to the wall - there was about a 3" gap. We had the plumber come and move the line down about 4" so that it came in right where the stove has a recessed section for exactly this. Can you move your shut off?

Marcolo - I've never had a problem with the hinged door bashing the adjacent cabinetry either on the uppers or lowers. It is sometimes a surprise to guests, but it's never been a problem.

WindyCity - yes, yes, I confess. I have also used my toes to rotate that bottom susan as well as pull out the bottom roll-out in the pantry. Why else does one have toes if not to use them for such tasks?

The normal place for a gas shutoff is behind the range. This is not an emergency shutoff, it's a service shutoff.

"The normal place for a gas shutoff is behind the range. This is not an emergency shutoff, it's a service shutoff."

This has been a subject of debate with the plumber. My understanding is CODE requires a shutoff behind the range. However, my plumber argued that in an emergency situation, nobody is going to pull the 500 lbs. range out from the wall and jump back there to shut-off the gas. Therefore he recommended having two shut-offs, one in an adjacent cabinet for emergency and another behind the range for code/service.

No cabinets have been installed yet, however walls have been sheetrocked and new gas line was already run to the planned cabinet location and a PVC pipe put into the wall so a flexline can be snaked thru the wall from the back of the cabinet to the rear of the range.

I am very tight on time, the window of opportunity for doing something different with the gas line is closing because new hardwood floors are going in soon. Taking out some sheetrock and drilling a new hole in the subfloor is one thing, but cutting/drilling brand new hardwood floors, I would like to avoid.

I think the 32" lazy Susan will fit, even with the gas shutoff in there. The base cabinet is 36" x 36" L shaped. I believe the internal dimensions are 34.5" x 34.5". That gives me a 1.25" minimum clearance on the sides, and of course a good amount of empty space in the front and back corners. So as long as the gas line can come up in a corner, we can strap the flex line a little higher up and make the valve handle vertical open/close and keep it out of the way.

This is all speculation, but it sounds like a plan.

actually the more I thought about it there will NOT be any room in the front corners, only the rear corners. See the link below with a top-view sketch...

Here is a link that might be useful: {{!gwi}}

You need to overrule your stupid plumber. In case of a gas leak you do not get down on your knees next to the range, stick your @ss up the the air and crawl into a corner cabinet looking for a shutoff. You get the eff out of your house and call 911 from the outside. The only possible place for a true emergency shutoff is in the wall or a cabinet that is immediately accessible--as in, 40" off finished floor like a lightswitch.

You are doing more harm than good using all that flexible line--which btw is now illegal in many jurisdictions except for immediately behind the range.

I agree in a gas leak situation. However I think he was more concerned if there was a fire on the stovetop and was hard to get at the knobs on the stove, or if there was a malfunction with the range itself. I don't know I'm kind of speculating here.

When we had a range top, our shutoff valve was in the back wall, under the range top in the cabinet below. When we put in our new range and oven, the contractor put it in the wall, next to the range in the lazy susan cabinet next to the range just as takkone's diagram shows.

> However I think he was more concerned if there was a fire on
> the stovetop and was hard to get at the knobs on the stove,

To paraphrase marcolo: "In case of a fire on the stovetop you do not get down on your knees next to the range, stick your @ss up the the air and crawl into a corner cabinet looking for a shutoff."

Instead, you call the fire department and then either run like h3ll or grab your fire extinguisher and try to put out the fire from a spot where you'll be able to run like h3ll if necessary. If you do end up having to run, you get bonus points for knowing where the main gas shutoff for the whole house is. (Usually attached to the gas meter, and it probably requires a wrench to operate.)

Laura

Absolutely in case of fire do not go crawling around looking for a shut-off valve 6" from the flames! Even if you could turn this hypothetical valve off, it wouldn't stop a fire already burning and moving from the stove to cabinets.

Takkone, I think this second valve business is for the birds. It just isn't something you would ever need or be able to use under any emergency circumstances. Your homeowner's insurance can replace a kitchen, but they can't replace you. Given the choice of crispy kitchen or crispy Takkone, I don't think your family would have any trouble choosing. Become familiar with the outside shut-off valve and make a place for a fire extinguisher in the kitchen, and that's pretty much what you can do to deal with this sort of emergency that we all hope will never come knocking at our door.

I just thought of one more thing you can suggest to your plumber. Over on the Appliances forum there was recently a thread about an automatic gas shutoff valve that will turn off the gas if the flow gets above a certain level, e.g. if there's a fire and the stove's valves melt down. This sounds like a useful safety device that your plumber could add, and they're fairly cheap. I think it would be much more useful than a valve hidden in the back of a corner cabinet.

Laura

Regarding the Kornerking. I have one in my kitchen and didn't have to take the counters off. It was very simple to install. I got the cookware version, because the cabinet is right by my stove..Works really well.