Ditch The Lazy Susan — This Corner Cabinet Solution Is Far More Functional

Lazy Susans are often recommended as a kitchen storage idea to free up space, especially in corner cabinets. While some people absolutely love this idea, others aren't so convinced. If you're in the second camp, we present an alternative: corner cabinet drawers. These look a lot like regular drawers, but they're mounted diagonally into the corner cabinet. Usually, they have a drawer front with a cut-out piece, so from the exterior, each side looks like its own drawer face. However, there's only one drawer on each level, and the faces match up with the line of each cabinet, meeting in the corner. This gives them the appearance of regular drawers.

If you already know you prefer pull-out drawers over rotating lazy Susans, corner cabinet drawers are the obvious choice. They have a few advantages over lazy Susans, most notably their improved accessibility and visibility. While lazy Susans are useful, you still need to get down to their level to see inside the cabinet, whereas you can look down into open corner drawers to get a bird's-eye view of their contents. Corner drawers also let you pull items towards you, rather than having to reach into a lazy Susan cabinet. Also, dawers tend to be shallow (though you can get deep ones made, if you prefer), so it's easier to see items at a glance. Their angular shape makes them less awkward to organize than round lazy Susan trays, too.

Now, while corner cabinet drawers are a worthy option to consider, they do have some drawbacks. Similar to lazy Susans, because of their angle, you lose a pretty noticeable triangle of storage space beside each drawer. Essentially, you're letting go of a bit of space for easier visibility and organization — a worthwhile trade-off for some, but not for others, depending on their storage needs. The shallow drawer height is good for visibility, but this configuration can't accommodate larger items that a lazy Susan might. This can be a notable con for those who use corner cabinets for stuff like blenders and pots and pans.

However, if these cons sound like minor tradeoffs for the convenience of extra drawers, corner cabinet drawers might be the right choice for your kitchen. Once they're installed, you can take advantage of a selection of great drawer organizers to tame clutter. This is compared to the rather limited selection of organizers for round lazy Susans. While the lazy Susan has a long and storied history and can be the perfect solution for some homes, if you think they'll get too chaotic and messy in yours, opt for corner drawers instead.