Corner Cabinet Ideas

[Pat Barry]

I have been working on a couple ideas for a corner cabinet, actually a stacking pair of cabinets. I would appreciate getting feedback from the folks here about these two concepts. What do you like and not like? What changes would you consider? If anyone has built something similar and could provide a picture or two it would be nice to see. Dimensions planned are a total height of approx 66 inches. Total width is approx 32 inches. Lower unit would be 28 inches high. The corner it would fit into would be 24 inches on a side. Here are a couple sketches of what I'm thinking about. Material would likely be oak with a medium / dark stain or possibly painted with something like chalk paint (all the rage according to my bride!) Thoughts?
CornerCab6.jpgCornerCab5.jpg

[Sam Murdoch]

I like the door cab best. Don't care much for what appears to be a curved bottom rail - there is nothing to support that curve element in the otherwise straight lined piece with sharp angles. Good start with the sketches. Here is a recent design of mine of a single plane rectangular cab, similar to the proportions of yours. The client ultimately went for a more 3/4 scale hutch like version, with a deeper base relative to the top and with 4 doors in the relatively same proportion as the 2 panel door shown. I prefer this version and will likely build one someday. You can see why I like your door cabinet

[Jamie Buxton]

Drawers don't fit very well in a corner cabinet. If you make them rectangular, they can't utilize the full depth of the cabinet. If you put a break in the drawer back to use that depth, the sides are still short, and that's the size of slides you can use, so you can't really make use of that extra space back there.

[Todd Burch]

The drawers you have there will either be shallow, triangular shaped, or both. I would go with doors. Also like Sam - if you use the arched bottom rail - you've created a dust cavern.

Are you showing about a 1" "counter top" on the top of the base unit?

You upper doors don't seem to be wide enough - and I can see the inside of your cabinet. Will the doors be wider, or, will the fixed stiles be wider?

I personally prefer a larger crown.

How will the interior be configured?

[Sam Murdoch]

A few more thoughts since you ask . As you are building an upper and a base I suggest that you make each more distinct. I was reminded of my one plane cabinet because your drawing suggested that, but I'm guessing now that that is not your intention. Perhaps the base could feature 1 drawer above the doors. It would not be a deep one but still useful. Also add a thicker looking counter top that would suggest visually that the base can support the taller upper. This could be a 3/4" or 1" counter top with a molding detail under or the entire "c-top" could be just done with moldings. And I agree with Todd that your detail at the top of the cabinet is too small. A crown would be nice, but as I suggested for the base top, the upper top could just be a 1" to 1.5" cap with a freeze board and profile below to add some depth. That entire arrangement could be as much as 3" tall -even for your 66" tall cabinet. So just a few ideas...

Have fun, Sam

[Pat Barry]

Guys - thanks for the feedback so far. This is just what I was hoping for.
To answer some questions -

I just put something together quick with the sketch-up so like Todd mentioned you can see inside the cabinet. I didn't take the time to add the details needed to close it up, but the intent was to be the same as the lower cabinet.

I like the idea of a larger crown at the top, and then making a thicker countertop for the lower cabinet. I will work on putting both those things in.

I also agree with what you guys are saying about the functionality of the drawers. The drawers will be relatively small - that is true. The advantage of the drawer though, is the convenience they provide as compared to getting down on your knees to reach into the lower level shelf area if there were doors. I will probably keep both ideas alive for a while considering the relative merits of each.

The arch detail at the bottom matches some of the other furniture in the room so I wanted to complement that style. What I did on another cabinet I made was to add the same type of arch on the top door rails, and then again under the crown. That adds to the theme. I will put that into my next sketch and post it here for your continued feedback.

Thanks again for all your comments.

[Dave Richards]

I'm interested to see your next sketch. It sounds like some good ideas.

We need to set you up with a better texture than that bamboo flooring, too.

[Pat Barry]

I was using cherry but it was too dark for the pictures. Is there a way to get more choices?

[Dave Richards]

You can import as many as you want. See this for ideas.

[Dave Richards]

Here's an OK cherry texture. You could edit it to make it lighter if you wish. I could e-mail it to you if you want to use it.

[Sam Murdoch]

Thanks for your link Dave. I love finding more SU stuff .
And Pat - I'm eagerly awaiting your next sketches

[Dave Richards]

You're welcome, Sam.

When you're hunting up images for wood textures, it's best to look for images of long boards like this piece of pine.



They make much better textures than the typical tiny square ones.

[Pat Barry]

Dave, thanks for the tip. I copied one of your hickory images to try out the method. I need more practice but get the idea . This works great but very monotonous coloring with only one image. I'll add more variety later.. Didn't have much time to work on the cabinet design today but here is what I got so far. I worked on the design with top and bottom doors and added a couple curves. I removed some detail on the base that was making it look heavy and closed up the top by adding two trim pieces to fill a couple gaps.
CornerCab7.jpg

[Dave Richards]

You also need to rotate the material 90°. At least on some of the parts. That would help the appearance.

[Todd Burch]

The "toddler's eye view" pictures aren't helping it any.