Let’s Remove the Lazy Susans and Build Shelves!

Do you have Lazy Susans in the lower corner cabinets in your kitchen? How do you like them? We have been in this house for over 21 years and that entire time, I have not liked the Susans! I find them frustrating to use for several reasons. Below is the list.

Reasons the Susans frustrate me

• You can’t see everything that is in the cabinet at a glance
• You have to spin the Susan around to find what you are looking for
• Items fall off the shelves and are difficult to retrieve
• Since the shelves are curved, you are limited on what will fit
• There is a lot of space in the cabinet that is unusable
• You can’t clean under them

The Susans

Here are my corner cabinets with the Susans. You can see that only a few of the contents can be viewed at a glance. The door opening is also an issue, it is narrow; only 8″ wide. It was hard to determine how much space I would have if I removed the Susans. I searched Pinterest to see examples of corner cabinets that had shelves instead of Lazy Susans. After seeing how much more space that type of design provided, I decided to find out what I would need to do to get the Susans out of the cabinets.

Can I remove the Susans?

While I didn’t like the Susans and found them frustrating to use, I thought they would be difficult to remove so I just learned to deal with them. Recently, though, I came to the end of my patience, so I started researching You Tube to see if there were any videos that showed how to remove them. I only found a couple of videos and one of them showed a guy who was removing an old style of Susan and had difficulty doing it. Ugh! So, I went over to Google and researched how to Install a Susan. I figured I could just follow the steps but in reverse. After reading a few articles, I decided to try to remove them. I thought that if I ran into trouble, I could always use my reciprocating saw and cut them apart.

Step 1: Remove contents

Step 2: Remove Susans

As I was removing the screws on the plate, I noticed that it didn’t affect the pole, so I decided to loosen the set screw, (which ended up coming out with the drill) and the top section of the pole just dropped into the bottom! When the top of the pole slid down, I noticed that it sits in a groove in the plate that is screwed to the top of the cabinet. Once the pole is loose in the cabinet, the entire Susan is loose as the bottom of the pole just sits in a groove in the plate that is screwed to the bottom of the cabinet.

The next step was to loosen the set screws for the shelves (when I removed the Susan from the 2nd cabinet, I did this step first) When the shelf screws are loosened, the top shelf can be lowered to sit on the bottom shelf then the pole can be lifted up and out of the cabinet. Once the pole has been removed, all I had to do was turn the shelves on their sides and bring them out of the doorway. SO easy!!!

Step 3: Remove plates & clean

After the Susans were out, I removed the plates on the top and bottom of the cabinets, wiped them down with Clorox wipes (they were so dirty!), then filled the holes with wood putty.

Step 4: Install shelf supports

When I was researching shelf design for corner cabinets, the ones I saw were one shelf or two shelves, one on each wall. I considered doing just one shelf but after viewing the space, decided to maximize by installing 2 shelves.

To support the shelves, I installed 1″ x 2″ boards along all sides of the cabinet using 1 1/2″ screws. I decided on the height of each shelf and used a level to ensure the shelves would be level. When I started on the 1st cabinet, I installed the boards before painting them which made more work for myself because I painted them after they were installed. I painted the supports for the 2nd cabinet before installing them. I also pre-drilled the screw holes before installed the 2nd set of supports. To hold the support boards in place while I inserted the screws, I used a combination of boxes and wood. After the supports were in place, I added Contact paper to make clean up easy and quick.

Step 5: Installing the shelves

Since the shape of my cabinets is not square, I created a template for the long shelf using aluminum foil. Foil is a great material to use for a template as it can be easily manipulated, and it holds its shape. For the shelving, I bought Melamine boards from Lowe’s that are made to use in a closet above the rack used to hang clothes. It is 12″ wide by 97″ long. They sell for $17.98 and I bought one for each cabinet. I used the template to mark the shape of the shelf then cut two of the pattern from the board with my skill saw. I then cut two 18″ pieces from the same board.

I used a metal plate to attach the two boards to create a shelf that would wrap around the cabinet. I tried to get the shelf into the cabinet while the two pieces were attached but it didn’t fit. So, I unscrewed the short piece, set the large piece on the supports then reattached the short piece once it was in place inside the cabinet. It was a tight fit to get partially inside the cabinet to reattach the two pieces but I managed!

Step 6: Admire and fill

When I finished installing the shelves, I could not believe how much more space I had! The pictures below are from the two cabinets. They are each holding the items that were on the Susans. Look how much more space I have to add more stuff!

Step 7: Add light and more stuff

After seeing how much space I had, I was able to move things from other kitchen cabinets that were overloaded. Even with the extra items, I still have space. The last feature that I added was a battery-operated motion sensor puck light. The lights come with a Command strip making it easy to stick it to the top of the cabinet right inside the door.

Before, During, After

This project has made such a difference in the amount of storage we have in our kitchen! Removing the Susans was so easy, I wish I had done it decades ago! Other than the tight working space due to the small door opening, installing the shelves was pretty quick and easy too. If you have Susans and are looking for less frustration and more space, give this project a try. You will be so happy that you did! The total cost of the materials for both cabinets was under $50!

You Tube Video

Supplies Used per Cabinet

• 12″ x 97″ white closet shelf
• 1 1/2 8 ft boards that are 1″ x 2″
• 1 1/2″ screws
• Paint roller & pan
• White paint
• Small paintbrush
• Drill w/drill bit & screwdriver bit
• Level
• Skill saw
• Tape measure
• Miter saw
• 2 metal fusing plates
• Contact paper
• Kneeling pad
• Aluminum foil

Instructions

• Measure length of each wall
• Paint 1″ x 2″ boards
• Cut 1″ x 2″ boards to the lengths measured
• Use cardboard box that is the height of where the shelf will be, set 1 x 2 on box making sure it is level and attach to each wall with screws. Predrilling can be helpful
• Install Contact paper on the floor of the cabinet
• Make template for shelf using aluminum foil
• Cut shelf for one wall from template
• Cut shorter shelf for 2nd wall
• Attach mending plate to both shelves. Remove screws to short shelf leaving plate attached to long shelf
• Set long shelf on supports
• Set short shelf on supports & reattach mending plate
• Install battery-operated motion sensor light inside cabinet

For your convenience

This post contains Amazon affiliate links. If you choose to order through these links, it will be at no extra cost to you

Want more project ideas?

Send me all the Goodies!

* indicates required

Email Address *

First Name

Leave this field empty if you’re human: