Under Stairs Cupboard - Please Help

[Aidex]

Hi Everyone

I have to make an under stairs cupboard. The width of it is approx 1800mm and the height goes from approx 200mm under the second step to approx 1800mm at the highest point.

My plan is to build 3 X carcasses of approx 600mm following the angle of the staircase and fit them in place much like a run of kitchen cabinets. Then finish with trim all round.

The client really wants all 3 "cabinets" to be pullout. The two smaller ones should be ok with Blum tandems (I'll use the 40kg ones).

My worry is with the large cabinet. I've seen pictures online of what looks like tall under stairs cabinets on drawer runners but I'm worried that it's too much weight, especially at the front end. Also, I'm worried that it might want some sort of vertical stability. The cupboard is going to be used for hanging coats so the weight could also be considerable. I'm suggesting making this with a door on concealed hinges with a rail inside given my concerns. But I thought I'd ask to see if anyone had built or come across this before and could share their experience/ideas?

Many many thanks!

Aidex

 

[Roughcut]

Could you add small fixed castors covered by a plinth to the bottom of the carcasses?

 

[RobinBHM]

Have you looked at larder type runners from hettich or hafele that are like 2 set of runners joined by a steel frame?

 

[Aidex]

Hi Guys
Thanks for your help. I mentioned larder units to Blum tech earlier but didn't think to check larder type runners.

I've since seen a couple of promo videos on YouTube by American companies and they seem to use 3-4 side mounted runners. That prompted me to look at Accuride runners and they have some with huge load bearing capacities so I've left a message with them and hopefully they'll call back (their tech guys are on Germany) - what I've seen isn't cheap th
!

The castors is a great idea but would need a lot of preliminary work - theres a thic concrete screed under the stairs. This would need to be removed with a new level being made to match that in the hallway where the casters would open onto. Can't imagine the clients that keen on that.

Thanks again. And please anyone whos done or tried this or who has any experience with Accuride runners I'd be really grateful to hear from you.

Many thanks!

 

[mailee]

I have built some of those with some large tall pull out units. Here is the posting on them: more-under-stairs-work-t92930.html I used the Accuride runners from Hafele and as you state they are not cheap but are very good. the largest unit I fitted held a large mirror, vacuum cleaner, ironing board and a few boxes of various pieces which it handled without any trouble. HTH.

 

[Aidex]

Hi Mailee

Thank you so much for your post!

Do you remember which model of the Accuride runners you used? Also, did you use 4/pullout or just 2 at the bottom?

Thanks again!

 

[mailee]

Hello Aidex, These are the runners I used: Accuride 9301 extra heavy duty runner, full extension. I only needed to use two on each pull out as they are very heavy duty (the box they were delivered in weighed a ton) They are larger than the standard drawer runners made of much thicker steel and are designed for just this type of application. The largest pull out was almost 7' tall and there was very little 'wobble' at the top. I did attach straps at the rear of the pull outs as a safety precaution in case someone was a bit aggressive opening them as there would be a lot of weight once loaded up. They are expensive to buy but are perfect for the job and will take up to 227 kgs. HTH. :wink:

 

[paulrockliffe]

If you're worried about the capacity of the runners, you could add a second set so you end up with 4 taking the load rather than two. On quite a tall unit that could end up pretty heavy you'll end up with quite a bit of force anyway due to the lever effect on the centre of gravity, so you might be better with tracks top and bottom on all of them to limit twisting.

You could also split the units so you have three bottoms that pull out and then two tops if you see what I mean. It wouldn't be very much more work to do it that way and may be a better arrangement anyway, deep drawers to fill with the kids toys and rubbish at the bottom and shelves for jars and tins and cleaning products etc.

You haven't mentioned if you've covered it in your post, but I would start by getting the client to explain roughly what they want to store and start from there.

If you want to make it an easier job, I saw some pictures of understairs cupboards that had been done as childrens play houses, you could show the client those and avoid making drawers entirely!

 

[Aidex]

Alan /Paul

Thank you both for your help. I'm going to borrow Alan's strap idea and try it out with two runners. Accuride have cheaper runners that are the same mounting thickness so if I find that the cupboard is in any way unstable I can add some lighter duty runners up top for extra support.

The tall cupboard will be used to hang coats and keep shoes, boots, etc. on the bottom shelf. The other pullouts will have shelves for shoes as well. The triangle shelf at the top of the 2 tallest cupboards will be for gloves, scarves, etc.

I do expect that some other things might end up in them especially the taller one so I will test it with some heavy objects before I decide whether it needs anything extra.

Thanks again guys!