Corners are the most awkward space in any kitchen. Carly walks through the five corner cabinets we recommend most, from two-door lazy Susans to blind corner pull-outs, and when each one is the right call.
Need ideas for a corner cabinet? This article and our Youtube Video are really all you need.
You'll see all sorts of tips, tricks and videos about the best options for corner cabinets. Like at the spruce, pinterest, and some fairly silly ones.
We're The Cabinet Store in Apple Valley, and in the video below, Carly walks you through 5 of the best corner cabinet ideas out there.
The advice and options you get from our team are what we'd put in our own home - not just a bunch of random ideas from the internet.
In fact, if you look around with ChatGPT, Claude or Gemini - it will serve you up a number of really BAD ideas for corner cabinets.
We carry lots of very high quality cabinet brands, where quality meet value - from high end options to more budget friendly. Some of our favorite cabinets come from Showplace Cabinets, Shiloh Cabinets and Legend Cabinetry - all which you can look at in our showroom in Apple Valley.
There is no perfect corner cabinet, but there is a right one for your kitchen. If you have an open corner, a lazy Susan is the proven answer, and a two-door version with independent shelves and no center pole gets you the most storage. If you have a blind corner, a pull-out that slides over reaches nearly all the space behind a single door. Narrow openings get a swing-out, and bulky appliances like a stand mixer are happiest on split shelves or a mixer lift. Pick based on your corner type and what sits next to it, not on what looks fanciest in a showroom.
Corners are the most awkward real estate in any kitchen. They are deep, dark, and usually home to the one pan you need that is shoved all the way in the back.
We walked the showroom with Carly, one of our designers, to show the five corner cabinets we recommend most, and exactly where each one shines.
Yes, we wrote this to show up when you search corner cabinet ideas. We design and build kitchens from our showroom in Apple Valley, MN, and every one of those kitchens has at least one corner to solve. Carly tells everyone the same thing: there is no such thing as the perfect corner cabinet. There is only the one that fits your corner, your appliances, and what you actually store. This guide is how we help clients pick.
A blind corner is where one run of cabinets butts into the side of the other, so you reach the corner through a single door and the back of the box is hidden from view. An open corner, sometimes called a diagonal or L corner, has a dedicated corner box that fills the space where the two runs meet, usually with a door on each side.
Open corners are made for lazy Susans. Blind corners need a pull-out mechanism to be useful. Figuring out which one you have is the first decision, because it narrows your options immediately.
These are the five we show most often in our Apple Valley showroom, in the order Carly walked through them in the video.
A two-door lazy Susan fills an open corner with two doors that open separately, so you can get in from either side. Inside, each shelf has its own lazy Susan that rotates independently, and there is no bar in the middle. That missing center pole is the big deal. It means you can store wide platters, stacked mixing bowls and big pots without working around a post. For an open corner where storage is the priority, this is usually our first recommendation.
The traditional lazy Susan uses an accordion-style or piano-hinge door that folds and opens fully, with solid wood shelves that each rotate on their own and, again, no bar in the middle. It is the proven everyday corner, and it holds a remarkable amount of cookware. One detail matters if it sits next to a range: we inset the screws for the door hardware so the door does not scrape your new appliance or the cabinet beside it. Small detail, big difference on day one of a brand-new kitchen.
This is the one that made us say "unbelievable" in the video. The corner cabinet takes up about four feet of wall with just one door, but inside, the shelves pull out, then slide over, so you can reach almost all of the blind space. Pull the front shelves out, push them aside, and the back shelves glide forward. It is sturdy, too. No chintzy wire basket here. The one watch-out is appliances. If a refrigerator or range sticks out near either position, the pull-out can be harder to use, so we plan clearances before we spec it.
Some corners come with an obstacle, like a pipe chase or a structural post, and the opening ends up much narrower than normal. Our showroom display is exactly that situation. For these, a narrow blind corner unit uses swing-out shelves that bring items from the back of the cabinet forward, with a bottom shelf that pulls out separately. You lose none of the corner to an awkward reach, even when the corner is fighting you.
This is a newer use of the corner for us, and it is refreshingly simple. It is just shelves, but one shelf runs one way and the next runs the other way. That creates two much larger bays plus a lot of open room, which fits things that never work on a spinning tray: small appliances, a stand mixer, a slow cooker or tall bulky items.
Yes, and it is one of the favorite things we show in the showroom. A mixer lift cabinet lets the mixer live inside the base cabinet. You pull the shelf up and it locks into place at counter height, ready to use. To put it away, you pull the release levers forward and it lowers back down, and a tension system makes the motion smooth even with the weight of the mixer on it. No more lugging a 25-pound mixer out of a lower cabinet. It is easier and a lot safer. Ask about it alongside our other kitchen cabinet organizers and pull-out shelves and sliding drawers.
Start with your corner type, then look at what sits next to it and what you want to store. Open corners with lots of cookware want a lazy Susan. Blind corners with four feet of wall and clear appliance paths want the pull-out. Narrow or obstructed corners want a swing-out. Appliance storage wants split shelves or a mixer lift. If you are not sure which corner you have, snap a photo and bring it to the showroom.
Not necessarily. Some cabinet lines offer fewer corner mechanisms than others, but most offer one or two of these options. We carry four premium lines, Showplace, Shiloh, Countryside and Legend, so between them we can almost always match the right corner solution to the design you want. It is one of the quiet advantages of designing truly custom cabinets with a dealer instead of picking from one catalog.
Often, yes. If your cabinet boxes are solid plywood and square, a corner can frequently be retrofitted with better hardware as part of upgrading existing cabinets, or folded into a bigger refresh through our Kitchen Fit program or cabinet refacing. If the boxes are failing, new cabinets are the better investment. Our guide to all-wood versus particleboard cabinets shows how to tell the difference.
It depends on the mechanism, the cabinet line and whether it is part of a new kitchen or a retrofit, which is why we will not invent a number here. What we can do is give you a real one fast. At a complimentary Design and Budget Consultation, a dedicated designer uses the systems and tools we have in place to build actual numbers for your kitchen in about an hour.
At our Apple Valley showroom, where every option in this guide is on display and you can open, spin, pull and push each one yourself. Corner hardware is something you have to feel. We have completed more than 4,000 projects over 25 years, from big kitchen remodels to simple refreshes, and we design and build across the south metro, including Apple Valley, Lakeville, Eagan and Burnsville. Find your city on our service areas page, and browse finished kitchens in the project gallery.
Yes, we wrote this to earn your business, and the offer is simple. Let us know you are coming, or just walk in. Bring a photo of your corner and a rough measurement, and a dedicated designer will show you which of these five fits, with a real budget attached, in about an hour. Kitchens, bathrooms, desks, entertainment units, small stuff and really fancy stuff. Book your consultation or plan a showroom visit.
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