Brain Teaser - How Ingenious are You??

This one is a real brain-melter...unless there's some trick I don't know.

In our kitchen we have an inside corner cabinet with what I call a "lazy susan' rotating shelf. These kinds of cabinets are common in most residential kitchens. You know the kind, there is a 270 degree round shelf (usually two of them), and then the other 90 degrees of the cabinet is finished with a cabinet face which, when closed, forms the inside 90 degree angle of the cabinet face. Looks like a cabinet when it's closed, but looks like a couple round shelves when it's rotated open.

Okay, so here's the dilema: One of the shelves inside this cabinet is broken, and I can't figure out for the life of me how to remove this shelf, let alone put in a replacement.

Here are some of the challenges and the reasons why:

1. The cabinet itself is wider than the opening it goes into. In other words, because it sits in the corner, against two walls, the back of the cabinet is wider than the front. So, the cabinet cannot be removed without removing all the other cabinets on at least one side.

2. The cabinet sits underneath a continuous piece of granite counter top, so it cant come out vertically (even if you could remove it that way), without removing the whole countertop (which would involve removing a sink, etc.).

3. The shelf itself doesn't go all the way back to the radius point of the circle, it is a little larger, so there is a vertical post which goes through the shelf at the radius point, upon which the shelf rotates.

4. The shelf is also larger than the opening of the cabinet. Now, ordinarily this wouldn't be a problem, just angle the shelf down on one side and remove it that way, but you can't do that here...because of the vertical post which goes down through the shelf.

Now, I could easily remove the shelf by taking it out in pieces, so that's not really the issue. The real question is...how do you get a replacement shelf back into this cabinet.

Here is a crude drawing of the cabinet I'm talking about...



Any ideas???

Hmmmm...just drawing this out gave me a possible idea!

I just realized the cabinet door is attached to the shelf and nothing else (else it couldn't move), and it's the shelves which are attached to the post which keeps the cabinet door in place. I could remove the cabinet door. That would at least get that out of the way and free the shelves from the door. I wonder if I could then detach the post on the top and bottom and rotate the whole assembly out of the cabinet base, sliding it out at the same time??

Hmmmm... **thinking**

Only problem is, I can't get to the screws on the bottom of the post because there's a shelf directly above it. I wonder if when I remove the doors if the shelf would slide up out of the way enough to allow access to the bottom screws of the post??

Interesting!

a reply to: Flyingclaydisk



Is there a metal rod in the center of the round shelf?

Sometimes there is a set screw you can remove. Then raise the rod and shelf out of it’s retaining hole.

Remove the cabinet face from the rotating shelf.


From your diagram, pull the top corner of the round shelf out of the cabinet while the center of the shelf goes to the face frame. You should be able to spin the rest of the shelf out.

Think like you are bringing a table through a door sideways.

a reply to: Woodcarver

Yep! I'm thinking that's the way to do it!

Yes, there is a post running up through the center of the shelf.

And yes, there is some kind of a set 'pin' (not a screw) at the top, but I figured the collar at the bottom was too deep to just lift it out. I did notice there is a fairly deep collar at the top, so maybe that post is shorter than I thought.

Great idea...I think I was thinking along the same lines in my second post. Amazing how drawing something out sometimes helps. I must have looked at this thing 100 times trying to figure out how to get this thing out of there!

Thanks!!!

a reply to: Flyingclaydisk


Fire.

Solves all problems.

a reply to: Woodcarver

Heck, you know what? I'll bet I don't even have to remove the cabinet face (initially).

If I can get the post loose, I can just open the cabinet 1/4 of the way, and rotate the face of the cabinet toward the adjacent fixed face of the adjacent cabinet and slide it out that way.

Then I can detach the broken shelf from the cabinet face, slide it up off the post, and slide the replacement back down on the post and screw it to the face. Then just put the whole assembly back inside the cabinet the same way it came out.

Brilliant!!

P.S. Now if I can just find the replacement shelf, that might be a trick. I guess I could just make one out of wood I suppose. And use an ornamental pipe flange screwed down to the shelf for the center with a drilled-in set screw for the center post.

a reply to: Flyingclaydisk

Tell your wife you're redoing the entire kitchen. She won't have any problems with that. lol

This guy here goes through replacement of one.

a reply to: AugustusMasonicus

LOL!!! True!

But...but....what about all the other work I've already done???

I've replaced a few lazy susans.
Its surprisingly easy.

youtu.be...

a reply to: Flyingclaydisk

They sell them at lowe’s and homedepot

a reply to: grey580

We actually are remodeling the kitchen!

That guy got it out, but I think he made it harder than it needed to be.

a reply to: Flyingclaydisk

www.google.com... ourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8




tada

Christ, i see your problem. you have a Blue Pacman in your lazy susan. Put out some ghosts on the floor and leave the door open.

I'm not indigenous, I'm from Texas!!

The only way to fix a lazy Susan is to motivate Susan......

I’m not proud of that

You have to pull the countertop, the pole needs to be raised up to unhook the shelves. You cannot get it high enough with the countertop on to get the shelves out. I have changed a few of those, sometimes on the top cabinet there is a two piece steel center pole that slides into each other, but not on the bottom cabinets I have worked on. I have done one top corner cabinet like that and maybe two bottom cabinets.

I am thinking you have the door attached to the shelf, the video shown by someone has the other kind and they have the collapsible stem and hinged door. The more expensive cabinets seem to have the door attached to the shelves which makes it more difficult. You can check if it has the two piece bar, but I doubt it, I have not seen a two piece bar yet on the ones I worked on like that, I also have installed new cabinets in at least Twelve kitchens in my lifetime. and also about thirty exam rooms in a hospital job I worked on.