I've always hated corner cabinets, and the lazy suzan is slightly better than useless. I once saw a video of a commercial corner cabinet that had drawers and I was instantly convinced that drawers would be immensely more useful. After getting permission from the boss, I set off to retrofit my cabinet with drawers.
Truth be told, I got more than I bargained for. Construction of the drawers turned out to be significantly more difficult that I had imagined.
With the door off, this is the existing lazy suzan hardware.
And then with the hardware removed. There is a thin masonite backing which is curved around the back.
Removing the masonite back reveals the drywall behind the cabinet.
Lookup up from inside the cabinet you can see the ledger boards that support the granite countertop.
Looking down from inside the cabinet.
I built a small frame to hold the rear end of the drawer slides. The 2x4 bottom will get screwed into the floor and the 3/4" top will get screwed into a 2x4 diagonal that is toe screwed into the ledger boards.
Dry fit of the frame in the cabinet.
Another view of the dry fit.
I cut some triangular stock to mount to the inside of the face frame.
I notched the stock wherever I intended to have a screw.
Installed in the cabinet.
After the first slide is installed. Note that I didn't screw down the inner frame at this point. I allowed it to float until I had all of the drawers installed and could properly align the frame left to right.
Another view of the same.
I had initially intended to dovetail the joints, but opted for the much easier box joints. These joints were cut with a dovetail jig however.
With the front and back of the drawer dry fit, this is the rough layout for the sides. Each side is numbered and marked so that I knew which edge was the top and which side is the outside of the drawer.
Here is a view of the box joint jig I made to accommodate the 45 degree box joints needed for the sides. The cradle for the wood is mounted on a small sled and fastened with wing nuts. Being able to nudge the cradle to the left or right is crucial during setup.
The operation is typical of table saw box jigs except that the placement of the work piece in the cradle will depend on the particular joint of the drawer.
With all drawers and drawer faces installed. I knew this project would be challenging for me, but I totally didn't expect that I wouldn't be able to match the finish of my 10 year old cabinets.
