My vote is for the lazy susan. It's just so much easier to use. It seems like you don't care, but it could be a potential turn off for a future buyer (since this sounds like a short-term kitchen for you.)

I love LS so much that I'd put one in however I could. You can't beat them for storage and efficiency.

I would also see if you couldn't work out the upper cabs in the corner to do a hinged opening so the corner cab is fully accessible too.

I can't tell from the drawing...is there enough room to make an island rather than a peninsula against the wall? I'm assuming there is a doorway by the peninsula and that forces a traffic flow right through the kitchen. If you live alone, that may not be an issue, but if not, it could be. It looks like there is room for an island if you turned it 90 degrees so it runs along the stove/fridge side and then there's room for an arch-shaped counter top to use as a sitting area to visit with people while keeping them out of the cooking side of things.

Also, look at symmetry in the cabinets. For example, on the sink wall, the single cab should be on the end and put the double cabs on either side of the sink for symmetry.

Also think about how you will operate in the kitchen. Where will you put your flatware? Dishes? and where are they relative to the DW...you may want a drawer base to the right of the sink instead of to the left of the DW.

It's worse than just two possible layouts--it's three possible layouts.

#3: You could close off that corner altogether from the kitchen side and use that new freedom to reconfigure the sink and range wall with drawer stacks all the way to the corner on both sides, in whatever combination of widths you chose. This would trade less efficient corner storage for additional extremely efficient drawer storage. Some people posting here did this and were extremely pleased with what this accomplished for them. Efficiency means not just very easy access but more storage in less space.

You'd also never ever have to dismantle a susan and climb into the corner to clean. Not a frequent task, fortunately, but still.

Depending on what's on the other side of the wall, you might also be able to access the closed-off corner space from there. Just frame up and hang a door.

We've never liked blind cabinets, as they are hard to access. There are some pullout shelves that you can get to make access easier, but I'd go for the susan instead.

We went with a Super Susan. No middle pole to get in the way. Each turntable is mounted on a shelf, so you don't have the issue of stuff falling off the upper level down to the lower and jamming up the works.

Thanks for your comments and feedback.
Annie: The BC layout has the upper cabinet that you're talking about. The problem with using it in the LS layout is the symmetry isn't there if used.
No, there is not enough room for an island. I've tried and it just doesn't work.
I'll take note of your suggestion regarding the upper cabinets to the left of the sink and the drawer base to the left of the dw.

Rosie: I thought about your idea about closing off the corner, but not sure of it.

Thanks again for your comments and feedback. It's appreciated.

I've spent more time on deciding on what to do with the kitchen this time then when I gutted and added on to my house back in 1992. Actually the kitchen was a bedroom when I started back then.

I like the lazy susan.

I would personally rather have some dead and not easily accessed storage than block it out completely though. But my kitchens tend to be really small.

palimpsest: I'm leaning towards the LS over the BC myself. There is about a $700 price difference between the 2 layouts which equates to be about a 8% to 10% which in the whole picture is not a large difference.

Still would like to hear other comments from others.

I have a u-shaped kitchen - 2 corners. One will have a super susan; the other will be closed off forever. I too have a small kitchen, and I never imagined I would "eliminate" space, but as Rosie pointed out, it is sometimes a matter or quality over quantity. I'm adding so much counter/drawer space in my new kitchen, I can afford to close off space that is difficult to access (no matter how much fancy hardware you put in). I didn't want or need 2 susans - and that would not have been the most efficient use of my small space.

I put in a 30" sink base, and drawers on each side of the corner between sink and range. I will use these drawers every single day - compared to digging into a blind corner once in a while.

Here it is, in progress (last Friday):

I'd contemplate the corner drawer cabinet. I've seen 2,3, or 4 drawers spec'ed in these cabs. go for it...

The power of a picture. That's looking really good, Annkh. It's hard to imagine you aren't going to love it.

I wish the couple who did theirs this way a few months ago would show up. They actually did measurements of effective storage space and felt that...I forget, they either actually ended up with a tad more usable space or lost very little.

Note that shelves require vertical room for arms to reach in over items to get others, which drawers to do not. Shelves also require empty space on the shelf to push items into as you look for others, which drawers do not.

IMO, Aries has two good solutions here. Aries, if I were you, before discarding the drawer idea, I'd redraw/rearrange my cabinet runs to see what might be gained in that respect too. It looks as if you'd trade some rather narrow cabinets for nice wide drawers, gaining space that way too.

You would need to leave a bit of space in the corner so the drawers clear the handles when opening, how much depending on how far handles would stick out. Like Annkh's picture.

Another option is to get a regular corner cabinet, remove the shelves and install a Korner King unit. It gives you drawered and shelf storage in a turntable unit. They offer a few different configurations. Here's one of them:

Here is a link that might be useful: Korner King

This post was edited by gpraceman on Tue, Aug 13, 13 at 15:33

Is the blind corner cabinet going to have some type of pull-out such as those little half-moon swing out shelves or a magic corner? If not, I think I'd go with the lazy susan rather than lose things in the back. But I like how the blind corner gives you a little more space between the range and the fridge.

I'll respond to responses later tonight. I will also do a quick mock up of the the kitchen closing off the corner and using drawers on either side. I played around enough with the software for the layouts that making changes are done rather quickly.

annkh: Nice kitchen. Thanks for the visual.

rosie: Thanks for the complement on the 2 layouts that I have. I've redrawn the floor plan with a closed off corner and drawers on either side which is at the end of this response.

gpranceman: Thanks for the link of the Korner King.

controlfreakecs: Yes, the blind corner probably would have the magic corner. The bc only gives an additional 3" between the range and fridge. Goes from 18" to 21".

Here's the floor plan redrawn with the corner closed off:

What are you using to make these beautiful drawings? I wish mine looked this good!

I think the bottom line is this: what will you put in the corner (or drawers) in each situation?

As I was planning my kitchen layout, I wrote down what was in each cabinet (or stored elsewhere, that I wanted in the kitchen). Then I went through the new layout, putting things away where they made sense - dishes near the DW, utensils and pot holders near the range, glasses near the sink, etc. I measured my crock pot, mixer, largest mixing bowl, etc and figured out where each would go.

My super susan will hold things like crock pot, rice cooker, waffle iron, hand mixer, possibly a couple of cast iron frying pans.

In the drawers around the closed off corner, I have things that I will use practically every day: dish towels, bags and wraps, cooking utensils, plastic containers, and dry good (flour, sugar, rice, etc). My old kitchen had 30"-tall upper; the new ones are 42", so I have an extra shelf all the way around. That is where I'll put things I don't need often - so I don't need more space for that purpose in the corner.

Good luck with your decision!

Yup, you gotta think about where you are storing what and then the answer becomes obvious. Form follows function in the corner space arena...

annkh: Forgot to ask you 1 thing. What size are your drawers on either side of the closed off corner?

swfr: I've put a link at the bottom to the software that I've been using. A little bit of a learning curve, but pretty easy to use when you get the hang of it. Also, I use another program to print to a .jpg so I could post pictures to this site. Let me know if you want that one too. I can post the link for that one later tonight if you would like.

Here is a link that might be useful: Software used for layout and drawings

I closed off my corner so I could have two functional drawer stacks. I have 24" to the right of my stove and 16" around the corner on my fridge wall.

Rosie is right that someone compared the usable space in a LS versus drawers with a closed corner, and the drawers had more space. Your uppers are better with the blind corner layout since it gets rid of the 15" cabinet. But I do hope you won't have to get rid of your pull-out trash. It's so much nicer in its own cabinet rather than under the sink.

My dilemma was finding a spot for small appliances. I realized that everything except the crockpot was lightweight, so I used the deep storage over the fridge for small appliances. No problem at all to reach up to remove them or to get out a step-stool for things in the back that I seldom use.

Sink side - cabinet is 18" wide, not counting the 3" filler. Range side is 25" wide, plus 3" filler.

The deep drawers are actually wrong - I specified the bottom drawers surrounding the range to be deeper than the middle ones. As I said, I measured my things, and needed more height. But they came out the same - which means my things don't fit. The cabinet guy is in the process of fixing them.

Oh, and if you look closely, there's a built-in cutting board on the range side.

Yup, you gotta think about where you are storing what and then the answer becomes obvious. Form follows function in the corner space arena...

swfr: I've posted a link to this post for the program that I used to save files to jpg's as I noted earlier. Pretty nifty program, it installs as another printer. You print as usual and select this as the printer and it saves it as a jpg.

As for everyone's suggestions about thinking for what's going to be stored in determining what corner solution is going to work best. Anyone will work since I don't have a lot of stuff to store and currently about a third to half of my cabinets are empty.

Thanks again to everyone comments and suggestions. They're appreciated. Hopefully in a couple of month, I'll have something to show.

The cabinet layout is probably the hardest decision to make, then the counters, flooring, back splash and appliances are going to be next. Can't wait!

Here is a link that might be useful: Program to save files as jpg's