Kitchen Unit Conversion to Corner Cabinet.

The range of kitchen units only had a right angle box design as a corner unit which did not suit me especialy as there was a conduit running up the corner.

I thought that I could change a linear 800mm unit into a diagonal style with one 400mm door

I think the work took 2.5 hours overall.

The tools and extra items that will be required other than those necessary to build the flat-pack unit are the following:

Tape measure and marker.

Box cutter knife

Sharp Saw!

6mm drill bit

2mm drill bit

15mm Auger drill bit, only if using flat-pack fittings.

2mm hard board panel for end-fill at ??? x ???mm.

Masking tape

80 grit Sandpaper

Extra dowels if flat-pack fittings are not used.

Paint

Glue

A little bit of math. finds the points for cutting as the door aperture would be 400mm -(2x18mm - the side material width) = 364.

Adding the two sides of the 320mm hypotenuse, 226 x 2 = 452 to the aperture width of 364 gives a length of 764; some 52 mm more than the top and base dimension so, by subtracting 26mm from each end means that the cut will start 200mm from each end of the front face.

The side panel is set back due to the 45 degree and I observed that using 18mm width rather than a calculated 25.4mm gave a good fit.

There are two compromises made using this method in that the new side mounting front edge will be set back at 45 degrees and also there will be a gap of about 10mm in the corner ends.

There are several options for the problem of the small gap in the corner ends (it appears smaller due to the back panel service void):

1). Ignore it 2). Fill it 3). Cut virgin sheet material

I was tempted by 1). but as a small triangle piece has also to be removed from the rear edge then 2). is achieved by glueing that in place.

The back edge is now 43mm diagonal to meet up with the right angle formed by the new side; this is the piece I use as gap filler.

The method is now as follows.

1). Measure out.

2). Score laminate.

3). Cut on face side.

4). Transfer fixing points.

5). Transfer dimensions to required shelves.

6). Build unit.

7). Score and cut shelves to suit.

The picture shows my cardboard cut-out test piece which was not very accurate!

Marking a 45 degree cut at the 200mm point gives the new side for the 320mm pieces with a front edge for the standard size door fitting.

The back edge is now 43mm x 43mm diagonal to meet up with the right angle formed by the new side; this is the piece I use as gap filler.

Score the laminate layer before cutting to give a neat finished edge.

Cut with a sharp fine tooth Saw on the face side up or on the reverse if using a Bench Saw i.e cut into the face side.

The pictures show the end gap and the back corner cutting that I glued in place to make up the length.

The dowel fitting points have to be transferred to the new edge and then drilled to suit.

As it happened, a fixing was in the missing area so I took the time to glue the corner piece in place before drilling.

I did not have a 15mm Auger Bit to use the supplied fitting so I used extra dowels and glue; 4 to each edge.

Unfortunately any shelves will also have to be cut to shape.

I used the base to align the shelf in place and marked with a pen to cut later.

Here is shown the gap remaining when the back panel is in place and the final finish.

The back panel was cut to fit the new back dimension and extra corner panel had to be cut from extra material.

This unit had a vertical support back and front both of which I used on the back to provide balance support for the shelves.

I only have to cut and fit the shelves, fit a door and then mount it on the wall ... wish me luck!