I'm doing the same thing in my upcoming kitchen remodel. It's a U-shaped kitchen, so I have 2 corners to deal with (and no access from the back side).

I never imagined that I would close off a corner, losing that space forever. But having drawers on each side of the corner, as you have, will give me very functional, easily accessible space that I will use every day. Anything stuck back in a blind corner - no matter how innovative the hardware used to get it out - is not as convenient as drawers.

I also agree with you about the upper angled caverns - I'm getting rid of 2 of those! It will be interesting to see what I find in the back of those things, when I start emptying them this weekend.

I'm replacing the uppers with easy-reach corner cabinets, and I look forward to seeing how that works for me. Even if I don't put anything in the actual corners, I gain usable space on each side of the L, compared to the angled cabinet.

Have you ever tried lazy susans? I haven't been crazy about them before, but now they come without the upper post, or something. Supposed to be better use of the space. That's what we're getting in our new kitchen. We have two of those corners - susans seemed like the best use of them.

I'm putting a lazy susan in one corner, and blinding off the other.

After pulling out the graph paper and doing some math, I came to the same conclusion: Losing the space in that corner is a great idea! A lazy susan doesn't give as much storage space, AND it costs more.

donaleen, I look forward to every update--I took a tour through your blog, too. Just recently I posted a pic of one of your unfinished bread board cabinets, to illustrate a point on another thread. Even in its unfinished state, your kitchen is a favorite--I'll be watching for pics of the counters.

Your current cabinetry also is more pleasing aesthetically with the drawers and lovely upper cabinets on each side, so it sounds like closing off the blind corner was a win-win.

However, I will say that I have one blind corner with a heavy-duty wooden lazy-susan on ball bearings that works perfectly for me. I have my pots and pans, big stock pots, electric skillet, etc. in there, and they all fit and are easily accessible. I have a few smaller things toward the front corners, i.e., hand mixer, kitchen scales, etc., as well. I think, when making this determination, it depends on what you want to store there. I would put in another corner cabinet like mine in a heartbeat, if the layout were similar to my current kitchen. However, you've given me a different perspective to consider if I was starting with a brand new layout---because I know how functional drawers are for storage and I really like the look. I'd just have to consider what exactly I'd need to store.

Thanks for your comments, especially you, mama_goose. That warmed my heart. I relayed what you said to my DH, who was pleased to have his workmanship admired.

I am loving our kitchen. The cabinets look (to me) like cabinets from the 20's, the era I am drawn to.

I am nervous about the counter top...something that big is going to have a big color impact on the kitchen. Hopefully good. It is hard to know from a sample how exactly how it will be. I can use the backsplash tile color and lighting if I have to "adjust" it. And we could repaint, which my DH would hate. Monday will be the day of reckoning...

What great input, Donaleen. It's obvious why you love all those fantastic drawers.

There's nothing like doing the math, like MrsPete, although the new-design susans are good enough to be a desirable choice too.Especially for those who'd find it hard to let go of the "lost" space. Now, if only there were a way to access that space from the other side of the wall...

My wall is an outside wall and although it could be useful on the little balcony, we hesitate to open an outside wall like that. It remains an option.

Just remember, when you get access to that dead space from the inside corner, you lose 24 inches of easily accessible storage. We had a susan in that corner and I hated it. I was always losing thing in it and once a potato fell off and rotted and was very hard to remove. Boy did it stink.

I finished the time capsule yesterday...

Oh, I should make a time capsule! What did you put in it? Pictures of the old kitchen?

I put things in the time capsule from today and here... grocery receipts, some kitchen work receipts (paint, lighting, etc.), some local catalogs like Rejuvenation, a print out of the saran wrap counter top thread because I thought it showed the support and humor of this forum, a flash drive with a copy of my blog and lots of photos from our life here, some memorabilia from local events like plastic beer mugs from the beer festival.... a brochure from the Columbia Gorge...things like that. I used boxes from local businesses such as an egg carton with a cool label and a Portland Nursery box (local garden center). I put three boxes of stuff in.

Folllwing on Donnaleen's lazy Susan comments: those of you who are fans, how on earth do you keep things from flying off the back? I have had all types, including a nicer custom solid wooden super susan on nicely-clacking ball bearings, but have NEVER been able to use them without cursing silently.

Do those of you who love them just store big heavy appliances in them? I always seem to wind up needing them for things like tupperware, and cannot count the times I've had to spend a half-hour trying to crank my arm into three bends to remove errant lids.

I have one in our apartment; I use it for bigger things, like our blender. Things too large to go any place else. I don't think I'd find it convenient for plastic containers or food.

I'm not crazy about susans, although I think the super susans that we'll have in our new house will be better. For us, I think they're the best way of dealing with the corners in our lower cabinets.

My mom has always had a lazy susan as far back as I can remember, and things flying off hasn't been a problem. She used it to store heavier items, like her handmixer but mostly it's pots and her Corningware.

(I'm closing off the blind corners in our reno for reason that I am cheap and would rather put the funds towards nicer backsplash tile).

CIrcuspeanut, In answer to your question, yes, I mostly store larger items. They are mostly pots, pans, stockpots, electric fry pan, wok, etc. I think too many smaller items, whether heavy or not, would introduce some access issues where you're reaching behind/over other things to get to them. The only smalelr items we have on our super susan are kitchen scales, a small hand mixer (with the beaters next to it, and a stick blender next to the hand mixer. I have never had an issue with anything falling off or with being able to easily reach and pull out an item from that cupboard.If it's a good, solid lazy susan, I think it's just a matter of what you store on it.

I had a blind corner in my previous home and hated it. I coped by putting larger items in front and then putting seldom-used items in a large plastic box in the blind corner. Then when I needed one of the seldom-used things, I would remove a few big items and access them.

I think, from a practica point of view, choosing between blocking off a blind corner and putting in drawers versus a lazy susan would largey depend on what you plan to store in that area of the kitchen. Of course, aesthetically the drawers are wonderful and we all know how useful a multitude of drawers in a kitchen are, so if it works in your kitchen, it's a great option. With my smaller kitchen and layout, if I had put my pots and pans anywhere else, I would be constantly shuffling them to get to the pan(s) I wanted; so, for me, the lazy susan, even if it results in some loss of total square feet, is the best solution.

Amazon sells a super susan shelf liner. They say its diameter is 31 inches, but part of the circle is missing so that gives this area

3.14*15.5*15.5*0.75=564.8 sq inches per level.

You give up almost that much area in the 12 inch opening on each side of the corner. My drawers are 20 inches deep so 12*20*2=480

So I gave up 84.8 inches by closing off the blind corner. That is about 9 inch square that I gave up. And I get convenient storage versus that weird corner access.

Of course it depends somewhat on what you do with that 12 inches on each side. I made wider drawers so there is no additional loss for drawer sides and drawer hardware. Big drawers are good.

How it looks and how it functions is very important to me. That corner fold out door just doesn't look good to me and it sure wasn't convenient.

They have drawers that are angled to fit in and use that corner space now. We are doing that instead of a lazy susan.