Things to be aware of if you plan on using a BLS in inset or beaded inset cabinet applications

10 thoughts on “Base Lazy Susan When Used in Inset Applications

  1. Looking to use a pole lazy susan in the inset base, so the doors actually swivel inside the base cabinet. However wanting to use full overlay (shaker) on the adjacent base cabinets (drawers). Any ideas on how to accomplish a uniform look between the two types? IE , beading, applied molding,

    1. We don’t offer that option where the doors mount to a plastic Susan. This is also not advisable as the doors will pinch fingers. The only option we offer is with our 170 degree hinges. You would need to engineer your preferred method. We can supply the doors in whatever size you need.

      1. I beg to differ. My grandfather was a custom cabinet maker and back in the early 60’s we had a lazy susan where the doors were attached on the plastic lazy susan. You can still buy these from Rev A Shelf . Three young kids used that lazy susan and we quickly learned just to push it on one side or the other and remove our hands like any other carousel type thing. I was the oldest and I will tell you it was not a big deal about the pinched finger issue that is presented here. The lazy susan is weighted down by the things that you store on it and balanced and moved slowly so plenty of time to remove the hands and fingers. It is like other doors or drawers, kids learn to watch out for their hands and fingers. No difference. The thing with these type of susans is it takes a well made cabinet with minimum gaps to make this work. You really have to know what you are doing to make it work and all these RTA cabs are not set up to provide this level of accuracy. Realize this sector has had many decades to perfect this but still really can’t do this with RTA from what I can tell. It is too bad since these pull out doors are a big nuisance and also they bang into the other cabs next to it and dents and chipped paint will ensue. The hinges can become wimpy and limpy over time and makes it impossible to easily close and end up hitting the frame when it is out of whack. Big fail in my opinion. Inset doors and drawers really set the pros apart from the wanna bes. Also these inset doors and drawers seem to have very big frames so you have smaller drawers and smaller door openings. You don’t need such big frames for inset doors either. With smaller homes and kitchens in general being built today you would think this sector would really be finding better ways to optimize the space with this type of lazy susan. This is not rocket science either but accurate measuring, cutting and assembly.

        1. High-end cabinet makers/companies do not offer the ‘finger pinching’ version of the susan. There is a reason. In overlay applications, the doors don’t even line up with the adjacent full overlay doors and it looks cheap and ‘off’. This type of unit can work and stock box companies still sell it, but not based on performance…it is based on ease of installation. And it can work…until the susan, weighted down with tons of canned goods, etc, may tend to sag the cabinet bottom on cheaper cabinets and that causes the door to bind in the lower part of the opening. And the finger pinching issue is real. We get FAR more complaints on those ‘old fashioned’ types of susans versus the newer version where 170-degree doors are separate from the independently turning shelves.

          The Blum hinges have never sagged for us and are 6 way adjustable anyway, so if they do, a quick turn of the screwdriver brings them back where you want them. ‘Weak Hinge’ is not an issue unless you are using a Chinese imported knock off and not a quality hinge from the likes of Blum, Grass, Mepla or Salice. The issue with the heavy susan deflecting the cabinet bottom cannot be negated because there are no hinges. Therefore, it is much harder to do on the fly adjustments.

          Its a preference thing. If you prefer the old fashioned way, that is fine. We simply sell the customer the loose doors in whatever size they want and they can mount them themselves to a susan they buy elsewhere. We sell what the majority of users want, but we can accommodate other specialty items the customer chooses to buy elsewhere.

          As for cabinet frames, the standard face frame on a FRAMED box in the cabinet industry is 1.5″ (which is what ours are) and for inset, this is critical. Some cheaper cabinets may even use larger frames, but I have rarely if ever seen smaller on a quality cabinet. I would challenge you to find reputable face frame cabinet makers using a face frame narrower than 1.5″ The joint of the solid wood face frame needs to be strong and sound and have a good glue joint. Skinny framing would prohibit this as most face frames are made with either dowel or blind mortise construction, either requiring adequate glue surface. More importantly, on a face frame style box, the face frame is what is squaring the cabinet. The narrower the face frame material, the easier that cabinet will rack as it is being screwed to the wall. Very flimsy construction. Perhaps you are thinking of frameless cabinets where you are actually seeing the leading edge of the 3/4″ thick panels that the doors are laying on (or in your susan example, the doors are laying between those panels with the edge banded front edge showing)?

          Thanks for your comments.

  2. It would be great if there was a hinge video specific to the inset lazy susan cabinet, as you have for installing the hinges on the regular cabinets. The link above dead ends.

    Also, inset application of lift hinge video would be much appreciated.

    1. We have a few videos that may help. Since installing an inset susan hinge is exactly the same as a standard inset hinge (it uses the same bracket), there is no real need for a separate video. Here is the video link for the inset bracket install and also the soss hinge install. Between these videos, you have what you need to install the inset hinges.

      https://www.cabinetjoint.com/video-library/installing-inset-hinges-part-1/
      https://www.cabinetjoint.com/video-library/installing-inset-hinges-part-2/
      https://www.cabinetjoint.com/video-library/installing-soss-hinges-pie-cut-cabinet-blswcp/

    1. Hey William, thanks for your question. These hinges are made by Soss and their offering can be found on their website (www.soss.com). If you need them for a job that you purchased through us, you can reach out to your assigned Cabinet Coach directly, and they would be happy to assist you. Have a great day!

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