Blind corner cabinet with a hidden pull-out (DIY)

In an L-shaped kitchen the corner behind the neighbouring cabinet is a blind corner: you can't reach it. This design turns it into storage without store-bought corner hardware. Main cabinet A is 1118 mm (44 in) wide and 500 mm (19 11/16 in) deep. In the corner, behind neighbouring cabinet B, sits a hidden pull-out (H). In front of it hangs a front pull-out (R), which pulls H into the opening. Everything is cut from 18 mm (about 3/4 in) plywood; you choose the height.

How it works: two moves

1. Pull R forward. R hangs on H with four 450 mm ball-bearing slides: two lie flat on the extensions of H (top and bottom), two stand upright on the front of H. R comes out 450 mm, past the front of the cabinets.
2. Slide R to the right. R takes H along: H runs out of the corner into the opening of A on its own pair of 400 mm slides. Now you can reach both.

Closing works the other way round: sideways first, then back. H runs like a pantry pull-out: at the bottom the slide stands upright against a 50 mm strip on the bottom of A, at the top it lies flat under the top of A. In the 3D view of the cabinet designer, the Open the corner button shows both moves.

Requirements

• Neighbouring cabinet B stands at a right angle in front of A, on the corner side. B is at least 500 mm wide; what is inside does not matter (doors, drawers or a pull-out), and the handle can go anywhere. The short front wall on A is as wide as the carcass depth of B plus its front plus 50 mm (with 500 mm and an 18 mm front: 568 mm). That leaves 50 mm between the front of B and the front pull-out for a handle. A 50 mm strip goes on the outside of the short front wall over the full height, with its front flush with the carcass of B; B stands with its side against that strip, so its front does not rub along the wall.
• Cabinet to the right of A: at least 500 mm wide. A gets the same depth as the carcass of that cabinet, so the fronts line up. In move 1, R therefore always comes 50 mm past that carcass; its front and handle sit within that space. So the handles do not have to be offset.
• Sizes: the corner cabinet scales with the neighbouring cabinets. In the cabinet designer you enter the carcass depth (without the front) and the front thickness of both neighbouring cabinets. The width follows from cabinet B: A is the short front wall plus 550 mm, so 1118 mm (44 in) in this example. The depth follows from the cabinet on the right (500 mm in this example). The front on the right also sets the thickness of the short front wall and the front of R, so all fronts are in one plane. You choose the height between 400 and 1000 mm.
• Shallower neighbouring cabinets, for example 400 mm deep: both pull-outs and their slides get smaller. H is 100 mm shallower than A and R the largest multiple of 50 mm below that, with slides 50 mm longer than R is deep. At 400 mm, A becomes 1018 × 400 mm, H and R 300 mm deep, and all slides 350 mm. Below about 350 mm the pull-outs get too small to store anything (less than 250 mm), and the cabinet designer tells you. Drawers in H work from about 360 mm deep (drawer slide at least 250 mm); below that, choose shelves. The other way round: if the cabinet on the right is 700 mm deep or more, R would need slides longer than 600 mm.
• Fixed limits: the wall side always keeps at least 100 mm next to the hidden pull-out (with a narrow short front wall, H gets narrower and starts at 125 mm). The extensions of H are never longer than 95 mm. The front pull-out stays 516 mm wide: it hangs on the two flat slides on the extensions, and much wider than 500 mm it may start to sag. That is why it does not grow with the corner cabinet.

What you need

For the example, with 500 mm deep neighbouring cabinets. With shallower neighbouring cabinets the slides get shorter; the cabinet designer works out the lengths.

• 1 pair of 400 mm (16 in) ball-bearing slides, full extension, for H.
• 2 pairs of 450 mm (18 in) ball-bearing slides, full extension, for R.
• 3 pairs of 350 mm (14 in) ball-bearing slides, full extension, for the three drawers in H.
• The hardware for neighbouring cabinet B (a pull-out in this example); the cabinet designer counts it in What do I need.
• Anti-tip hardware for A and B: a bracket or strap per cabinet, with anchors that suit your wall.
• 18 mm plywood and 6 mm panel for the backs (see the cut list).

Full-extension side-mount ball-bearing slides in 16 in and 18 in are store stock, for example Everbilt at Home Depot (16 in, 18 in). Mind the thickness: the design assumes 12.7 mm (1/2 in), the size of the Hettich KA 5632 (46 × 12.7 mm). If your slide differs, the sizes of H and R change.

Why not store-bought corner hardware?

Ready-made blind corner pull-outs such as the Magic Corner or LeMans by Kesseböhmer do something similar with baskets on their own mechanism. This design uses only sheet material and plain ball-bearing slides from the store, so you build it with what you can buy and cut.

Dimensions

• Corner cabinet A: width 1118 mm (44″), depth 500 mm (19 11/16″), height 600 mm (23 5/8″), adjustable from 400 to 1000 mm
• Short front wall: 568 mm (22 3/8″) wide, with a 50 mm strip for cabinet B
• Neighbouring cabinet B: 500 × 600 × 500 mm, at a right angle in front of A
• Hidden pull-out H: 400 mm deep, travels 400 mm sideways
• Front pull-out R: 400 mm deep, travels 450 mm forward
• 18 mm plywood, 6 mm back panel

Panel sizes (cut list)

This design is metric, because the sizes follow from the slide lengths. The cut list is in millimetres.

These are the cut sizes the cabinet designer computes at a height of 600 mm. Choose another height and it recalculates every part.

What the cabinet designer already does

Cut list, cutting plan, the slides and anti-tip hardware in What do I need, the 3D view with both moves, and checks on the sizes of the neighbouring cabinets, the 50 mm clearance on both sides and the limits of the scaling. The build guide covers the whole corner in 23 steps: first the hardware on the bottom and top, then the carcass, the strip on the short front wall, both pull-outs on the workbench, then sliding in, hanging and the wall anchors, and the drawers last. The neighbouring cabinet has its own guide.

Frequently asked questions

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