36" Corner Base Pie Cut Kitchen Cabinet - Momplex White Kitchen

Back to kitchen cabinets today!!!

The first cabinet we actually built for the Momplex Unit Sewing Mom Kitchen was ths corner base cabinet.

So this corner cabinet is totally overbuilt.

I'm a big fan of doing something right the first time, so when I set out to build the kitchen corner cabient, I wanted to make sure it would last forever.

Well, you could probably drive a truck over it.

We once bought a corner kitchen cabinet, with a pie cut front, one of those off the shelf ones, and when I took the packaging off and realized the back was just a thick cardboard stapled around, I felt cheated.  So when it came time for us to build a corner base cabinet for the first Momplex kitchen cabient, I decided to put 3/4" plywood on the back.  

It's overkill - unless the cabinet is freestanding (for example, turns a corner into a peninsula) - and I'll be adding a more simplified version of this plan when we do the cabinets for the other Momplex kitchen.

In our kitchen, we have an "easy reach" pie cut corner base, but it is anything but easy to reach in there.  So I insisted this time around to put a lazy susan in.

We could definitely have DIYed a lazy susan, but these are so cheap, easy to clean, and adjustable, we ordered a kit.  It was definitely the right decision.

So no shelves to be placed inside, just a giant, odd shaped box, with a pie cut piece removed from the front.

We started with two side panels, that EXACTLY matched the other base cabinets in this kitchen.

With the exception of no shelf pin holes because there are no shelves in this cabinet.  

And then we just constructed the cabinet (see lots more details on building base cabinets here and also the exact plans for this cabinet are below)

We used a Kreg Jig for all joinery, keeping pocket holes on outsides or undersides to make sure the inside of the cabinet is finished.

We cut the toekicks out with a jigsaw to match the rest of the base cabinets.

The bottom shelf height is consistent with the rest of the cabinets.

Told you I was crazy - that's the 3/4" plywood on the back.  

We built the face frame out of poplar 1x2 boards, but waited until after the cabient was finished and the face frame pre-painted to attach it.

We added the lazy susan kit during construction because it's much easier to reach inside a partially done cabinet than a fully finished one.

The instructions came with a pattern that you just line up with the front pie cut of the bottom shelf,

Then you just predrill holes as directed in the pattern,

Attach the bottom hardware piece,

And then the center rod that holds the two shelves,

And then slide the two shelves on, with the top shelf hardware piece under it,

Use the pattern again to drill holes for the top and attach the top hardware piece on the underside of the top (we did this before attaching the top plywood piece)

And then it's just a matter of finishing the cabinet assembly (we actually added plywood to the top of the cabinet to support the center rod, but boards could be used as well) and securing the adjustable center rod,

And lazy susan is in!!!

Much easier and more functional than shelves!

For the face frame (I'll do a more detailed post on how we painted our face frames and attached them in a bit), we already have the sides drilled with pocket holes, so just added some glue to the sides,

And attached the face frames to the cabinet, keeping the same 1/4" overextension as the rest of the base cabinets.  For the spots where we couldn't drill pocket holes, we nailed the face frame on.

And guess what the hardest part of building this cabinet was???

Yep, getting it up the split level stairs!!!  We ended up having to take it out the garage door, remove the front deck door, and barely get it in.  Barely.  We were within a 1/4" of having to disassemble the cabinet!

If you don't have a french door to access your kitchen - beware!  You may wish to build this guy in place - it's huge!!!

I'll be adding a post on doors, and will include detailed instructions on how we installed doors on this cabinet, so stay tuned for that!

The plans follow.  Happy Building!  XO Ana