Converting Dead Space in existing base cabinets to a L-shaped corner?

last year

I’ll preface this by saying we’re the seconds owners of our house, so we did not design the kitchen. It’s not old enough for an entire remodel, nor would I want to change anything else at the moment, but this one thing bothers me so much! We have a dead space where our base cabinets meet in the corner. I know some people prefer that, but our kitchen is smallish, and there’s limited storage space, so the fact that there is a 25” x 25” square being unused is insane to me, and totally wasteful! And I know that people have strong, varied opinions about corner cabinets, but I’ve had different corner cabinets in every other house I’ve lived in, from blind corners to lazy Susans, etc. and I’ve always enjoyed having them over not having the usable space. There are several things in my kitchen cabinets that I only pull out once or twice a year, so being able to shove a stockpot or a spiralizer in the back sounds great to me, and I don’t mind having to crawl halfway into a cabinet to retrieve it!

My question is, is there anyway to convert our existing cabinets to one big corner cabinet? I have no idea what’s back there, and can’t figure it out without removing the side wall from one of the existing cabinets to take a look, right? No idea if there are wall braces or a “frame” already built, but I’m going to assume it’s just a dark, empty, spider’s heaven!

So does anyone know if it would be possible to knock out the right wall of the left cabinet and the left wall of the right cabinet to create one big L-shaped corner cabinet, and build a shelf to span the whole area? Would removing those walls cause structural issues? Or could I add in some vertical supports to help brace the granite countertops? I don’t even mind leaving the existing cabinet base facings/frames, because I want to use the existing doors anyway…

My husband and I have done a handful of home improvement/construction projects, so taking it on isn’t very daunting, but I would need to feel pretty confident about a game plan before cutting into my perfectly good cabinets!

The main reason I’ve been thinking about this again is because the toe kick has somehow gotten broken, and as I was inspecting it to figure out how to fix it, I realized that corner is just open under there, which is why I’m constantly vacuuming spider webs from that corner! 🙈 It really freaks me out to know what could be under there, and also annoys me that the builder wasted such good usable space!

The left wall has only upper cabinets, and the right wall is all windows, so no corner upper cabinet to worry about matching. And these walls are both perimeter walls, so there’s no way I could create an access to this space from the other side of the wall/from another room, because the other side of the walls are the exterior of our house!

Photos added for context. Ignore the dirtiness. It’s mop day, and I’m waiting until the kids go to bed before I bother vacuuming, or else I’ll be re-vacuuming later, because, you know…KIDS. Also ignore the paint chipped on the cabinets. Also because of kids. Those riding toys are brutal on the cabinetry. Also probably the reason the toe kick is smashed in…

And advice/input from people who have done similar things are appreciated!

Left cabinet:

Right Cabinet:

Broken Toe Kick:

View of underneath, AKA Spider Heaven:

Mockup of what I’m imaging in my head:

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Comments (6)

chicagoans
last year
First, you don't need to feel sheepish about chipped paint or less than pristine counters, because any of us with kids gets it!

I haven't had them myself, but I took a look at blind corner accessories when I went to a cabinet showroom. A few vendors have them (click names for links): Rev-a-Shelf, Cabinet Parts, and Hafele to name a few. Here's a quick video of a R-a-S option (link.)
AnnKH
last year
I'm guessing your dead corner has supports along the walls to support the countertop, as we did in our previous kitchen with a dead corner:

I do think you would alter the structural integrity of the cabinets if you cut out one side of each - and it would be a pain in the neck job to try to do that from the inside. Then you would have to put in supports for shelves, and get them lined up with the holes in the existing cabinets - again, all while working in an enclosed space. I can't see how all that effort is worth it to house a few things you rarely use.

Your would greatly increase your storage space and usefulness of those cabinets if you got rid of the silly half shelf and added pullouts. I did this in our current house (after living in a kitchen with all drawers, I couldn't go back to base cabinets). These are from Rev-A-Shelf. I also built pullouts for my Mom's kitchen using Blum Metaboxes. Even a full-depth shelf would increase your storage by 25 - put your stock pot at the back of the shelf, so the things you use more often are more readily accessible.

As for things that you use twice a year? They don't need to be stored in the kitchen, if there's no room. I had shelves in the basement for storing large, infrequently-used things. That was much easier than emptying everything from a cabinet to get back to the corner.
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la_la Girl
last year
^agree - If it were me, I would get a handyman to help trim out the open areas and close those up - then as @AnnKH suggests use smart internal organizational systems/shelves so you don’t have to stack things (container store is a great resource) -
ci_lantro
last year
So does anyone know if it would be possible to knock out the right wall of the left cabinet and the left wall of the right cabinet to create one big L-shaped corner cabinet, and build a shelf to span the whole area?

Not possible.

Would removing those walls cause structural issues?

Yes.
partim
last year
If the corner backs onto a hallway or utility room maybe you could open it from the back and add a door.
ci_lantro
last year
last modified: last year
Nope. Exterior walls.

And these walls are both perimeter walls, so there’s no way I could create an access to this space from the other side of the wall/from another room, because the other side of the walls are the exterior of our house!