Kid art storage?

Foil and plastic wrap? Other things on rolls? Or take out the shelves for tray storage

If you can barely get your hand in it, it really does have to pull out. Or barbecue tools and skewers--long stupid items that you can grab just the tip of.

Agreed. Remove the door and shelf use it for cutting boards, cookie sheets, etc.

My mom has a narrow cab like that, I'll see if I can snap a pic tomorrow.

What the heck??!

That's just a really bad design. I don't think it's wide enough to be able to grab sheet pans. You have to have room to wiggle and get your fingers in there. And then you've got those hinges!

I agree the only thing is rolls of foil etc., and shoot the designer.

Thanks everyone for the suggestions. Would it be possible to retrofit the door so that it acts as a pullout? My wife agrees with SJHockeyFan that we should just shut it and forget it. I'd like to find some useful purpose for it though. The thing that annoys me is that open shelves probably would have been significantly cheaper & more useful.

We already have a 31" cabinet over the ovens for baking sheets & cutting boards, which should be more than enough space for those items. A step stool sounds like an interesting idea, but I'm not sure one would fit through a 3" opening. I'll try to measure one at the store (we currently use a chair for this). If a pull-out can't be retrofitted, then I think foil/plastic wrap/barbeque tools/rolling pins, etc all make sense.

Nightowl, there's a lot of wasted space like that to the right of the cabinet. The cabinets go around a bay window, so there's several corners like that. My GC didn't think it was worth the extra cost to get true custom cabinetry that would fill in all of those odd spaces. He also said that even if we did go for true custom sizes, that the additional space wouldn't be particularly useful.

I had a 5" space on the left of my sink base. The KD tried to get me to put a pullout or something that might work. My sink base is bumped out 3" just for a detail look. I just said, put a 5" filler in there, by the bump out it won't be that noticeable and it's not since the side of the sink is flat and plain anyway.

Edited to add, just leave it and don't use it.

I think this step stool folds flat enough but it probably will not fit all inside--I'm assuming you have 24 inch deep cabinets? I can't think of another step stool that folds this flat.

We have this step stool. very nice. we had it fit to a custom cabinet

This is from crate and barrel...

This is the spot we had made for the ladder .... very slim. I think you would want the two step ladder hiding spot

Did you ask the GC what HE thought it would be good for?

HE was the one who designed, approved and installed it.

I think these guys might be tired of the train station locker.

If you can customize it I would ditch the cabinet portion and permanently attach the door to the frame and put the frame on a hinge so that you end up with the entire (strange) space and the correct front...

make it a pullout:

Just an example, pretty easy DIY

http://www.build.com/rev-a-shelf-432-wf39-3c/s207526

I have one "useless" cabinet like that. I took out the (even more useless) shelves and started storing our three pizza peels in it. Worked out perfectly!

Take off the hinges, turn door into drawer front for a pullout.

One thing I forgot to add is that the cabinet is only 12" deep, so there's really only about 10" of usable space inside. I just checked and it's not quite deep enough for plastic wrap and certainly not deep enough for barbeque tools. It might work with sandwich bags and things like that, but we normally like to keep those with the plastic wrap & aluminum foil.

I met with the contractor this morning and he said that he could make it into a pullout, but wouldn't recommend it. His logic is that a 3" wide by 10" deep pullout wouldn't be particularly useful. I should add that the cooking area is on the opposite side of the kitchen, so this wouldn't be a natural spot for oil or spices.

One other option he mentioned would be to take the door off completely and stain the inside to match the wood on the outside. This would give you a bit more room to get your hand in it. I asked about cutting off the wood between the door and the inside wall of the cabinet to make it into a true shelf, but he was a bit hesitant about that. I guess I would be too, since there would be no going back once that was done.

I guess I'm starting to lean towards the "shut it and forget it" approach, but would be interested to hear what others think.

I don't like wasted space (hence my cutting board opening posted above which they initially wanted to cover up with filler.

You can always put your favorite cook books there for easy access after taking off the door. That would be the easiest solution.

I think shut it and forget it. That way it matches and is closed to dust and dirt. I think getting anything in and out of that would just annoy and remind me about it and make me angry every time I used it. Since it isn't very big, I guess it isn't too much of a loss. That's how I would try and deal with it.

You could only fit one cookbook!

greasetrap, I have a 6" space between my dishwasher and my sink. My cabinets are frameless. Initially, I planned on putting in a pullout for some purpose, but basically I determined that the pullout would be about 3" wide before you're done (taking all the hardware into account), and it would be a lot of money for something pretty much useless). I ended up using that space for a telescoping towel rack (often unused - while I'd like to use it, we tend to throw the towels under the sink, which is right next to that cabinet) and cutting boards. But that's 6" -- I think 3" of useable space isn't useable at all, so I still vote for close it and forget about it, unless you really, truly need the space.

i would do a small pullout. it is good for vitamins/pills, or tea or spices.

I agree that close it and forget it makes the most sense. I flirted with the idea of using it replace the junk drawer I had in the old kitchen, but I think it would be too hard to find anything in there. I also thought about giving it to our 5 year-old to put all of her little treasures in, but my wife vetoed that idea as well (she doesn't want here constantly running into the kitchen to retrieve items stored in there).

One other question: because the door is so small but has a standard hinge, it's kind of difficult to open (because a bigger door gives you more leverage when opening). So for those rare occasions when I might actually open the door, I don't think that a knob placed in the traditional upper corner spot would work very well. So we're thinking that a knob or (preferably) a handle placed along the outside edge midway between the 2 hinges would make it a bit easier to open. Here are photos:

Do you think putting a handle here would draw too much attention to this odd little cabinet? I'm not that concerned about it not matching the hardware configuration of the other cabinets, as we've already decided to put a handle on the trash bin pullout as well.

At the end of the day, I can't be too upset about this. The contractor probably should have drawn my attention to this spot before the cabinets were ordered, and we possibly could have saved some money either by covering over the space or by just putting in shelves. But he was trying to get as much functionality out of the other cabinets as possible, which left him with this odd little space to fill in. I'm starting to think of it as a bit of wasted money rather than a major screw-up that affects the functionality of the kitchen.

By the way, I also asked the contractor why he changed this from the original design. The issue is that the cabinet next to it is a full 24" deep, while the small cabinet is only 12". When reviewing the final production drawings, he decided that he could give us more functional space by making the 24" cabinet a bit bigger, at the expense of the 12" cabinet, which would become smaller. He apparently forgot that we had the inset doors, which just compounded the problem with the small cabinet.

It's unfortunate that you're basically left with an expensive filler. As is, you can't use this cabinet, but maybe the GC can get an overlay door? It won't match the inset style, but will be allowed access to the inside. Curious to see the rest of the kitchen and how this cabinet relates overall.

Anitamo, here is a (slightly blurry) overall view of the kitchen at the moment:

The small cabinet is behind the fridge enclosure on the left. There's a lot of wasted space in the corners where the cabinets go around the bay window. The cabinets are from Candlelight Cabinetry which I understand is among the group of higher-end, semi-custom cabinet makers. I had asked the contractor about getting true custom cabinets to fill in all of the unused space, and he said that it would be a lot more money to gain access to space that isn't really useable. Since we're already well into six figures for this job alone, with additional projects scheduled as well, I dropped that idea.

In retrospect, it might have made sense to get everything done in an overlay, but I thought that inset would give the kitchen more of a custom look. I think changing just that one door to an overlay would only draw attention to it.

On the bright side, at 10" deep you won't lose things in the back. I tend to think (based on regrettable experience) that junk expands to fill all voids, so this won't be unused for long. Pads of paper, boxes of envelopes, plastic bags awaiting recycling or reuse, overflow from Costco runs, extra extension cords, squirt gun arsenal . . . there should be lots of uses for that unique space.

I think I would center the knob or pull to make it look like a planned pullout, even though it's not. It doesn't look odd to me until you open it. The door is so skinny that with the knob on the side, I feel it draws attention to it looking like a mistake instead. Kwim? Well, on a positive note the cabinets themselves are stunning. As is the whole kitchen with that bay window! Hello?!!

Beautiful kitchen! I'd be shoving my five year old's endless "art" into it and recycling when she wasn't around to notice. Lol.

It's beautiful! It's big too, with a lot of storage space, so losing that corner cabinet doesn't seem to be a loss, but for the money you've spent, it would be a minor irritation to me. Hopefully, down the line you'll figure out a use for it.

I'd make that the random plastic shopping bag drawer, and then forget about it.

it does suck that happened to you though.

Thanks everyone. Plastic shopping bags are a good idea, and I'm sure lots of random junk will eventually find it's way in there. After reading the horror stories here from people whose renovations have been dragging on for months, it's kind of hard for me to be upset with the contractor. He's kept things on track and has attended to lots of small details that I hadn't even thought of. Here's what the space looked like just 3 weeks ago:

Beautiful remodel. Love the cabinets and the windows! Oh, those windows. Yeah, shopping bags and kid's art, pull in the center, and call it good. And enjoy the rest of your lovely kitchen!

Good thing you don't live in San Francisco (or a lot of other California cities) - plastic shopping bags are banned here.

If you are going to shut it and forget it, why are you putting a handle on it at all?

Super nice. Wow. Beautiful.

Beautiful kitchen - I wouldn't worry about it at all. It looks very nice. Plastic bags, paper bags would be great, keys, iPhones, iPads, chargers, small tools, small cutting boards. Sooner or later you'll find something that'll fit.

I would lose the door and use the space as the tray storage others already suggested. Other considerations, put a drawer at the top when the door is removed, for pencils, tooth picks, junk. And last, have the door tilt out rather than be on hinges so the inside is more accessible.

I don't know. It's the inset door that's killing it. I actually purposely have a tall skinny cabinet - it's a frameless 6"... I used it to support part of my raised tier on the island instead of a pony wall. I store wraps on one shelf, bbq tools on another and a large cutting board on the bottom. I also ran into the "it's harder to open" problem. I kept the placement the same, but instead of the planned knob, I picked up another handle. In your situation, I think I'd just remove the door and use open storage.

sjhockeyfan, yeah, but it might be good for storing those reusable bags that stuff into their own little attached bags.

Late to the party but I have a 3" pullout as a result of a measuring error (not mine!) I didn't want a filler so I had the pullout put there and it's proved surprisingly useful. I keep all my extracts and food colors in there. Spice jars fit as do slim oil and vinegar bottles. In your case maybe one of those pull out towel bars would be handy.

They make filler pullouts that should fit that space. Shouldn't be hard to remove the hinges and attach the door to a pullout assembly.

I remember one creative idea on the bathroom forum. She used a pull out filler to hang jewelry. I don't think it had a handle but push to open. Someone makes a pull out designed to hang things such as pots and pans but another possible idea.

Beautiful kitchen so far except for this bump along the way.

I just found it- or a similar one. Pull out jewelry cabinet.

I would lose the door and get the face frame replaced with a face frame that is flush to the inside of the cabinet and use it as open storage. Maybe.

But since the cabinet is only 10" deep, it's useless for storing a step ladder, roll wraps, cookie sheets, rolling pins or most cutting boards.

I don't think there is much use in pursuing the pull-out idea as the rails on the pullout shelves are going to cause you to lose even more shelf width and add even more expense for negligible gain.

Someone makes a pull out designed to hang things such as pots and pans

The problem here is the width and depth of the cabinet won't allow for much.

Now that I know it's only 10" deep, I reiterate my opinion - close it and forget about it. It looks like you have plenty of storage, so it's not like you NEED this space.

I'd make it a small stash of emergency supplies. Candles, flashlight, batteries, etc. Or storage for warranties/instruction booklets. Or if you have seasonal kitchen decorations ... could take out the shelves and make it a spot for placemats. Maybe a tiny music system. Something will come up that will let you feel clever for having such a tidy little space for organization.

I agree with everything rebunky said. Make it look like an intentional quirky spot.

First of all, enjoy your new kitchen - it is beautiful; this is just a tiny little problem. it will be fine if you leave as is and never put anything in there. Having just gone through some terrible storms with potential for power outages, I would suggest store one good flashlight and perhaps one or two small ones for family members and several good pillar candles along with a lighter. Even if you have numerous emergency lights in other storage areas, this could be the IMMEDIATE go to place.

One other suggestion - one good small hammer and a couple of screwdrivers.:). We can spend ten minutes looking for things like that for a one minute job. I also like the idea of "shoving" plastic bags in there - who needs one of those cutesy little storage containers? I have a messy small cabinet beside my range and that is what I do (the candles are behind the bags) lol