Build your own pantry kitchen lazy susan.

Posted by Bruce Contryman

We built lazy susan shelves into the pantry storage closet.

We bought two 4 by 8 foot by 3/4 inch oak panels, and cut each panel into four 2 by 4 foot pieces. We needed six pieces to make the six shelves. We cut them to fit inside the pantry closet by using our template as a guide.

We transfered the template design onto one of the 2 by 4 foot plywood pieces. We used the center point of the door as the pivot point for the router to route out a 14.375 inch radius half circle out of the plywood to make the back shelf. We then shortened the radius of the router to 13.625 inches to make the half circle 3/4 of an inch smaller so that it would easily fit into the half circle of the back shelf.

We glued a 1.5 by 1/4 inch oak lip around the front of the back shelves and the half circle shelves to keep items from falling off as the lazy susan is being turned.

We then constructed the pivot post out of three 1 by 4 inch by 8 foot oak boards. These three boards were glued together as a 3 by 3 inch post 8 foot long. We drilled 5/8 inch holes in each end 3 inches deep for the bottom and 5 inches deep for the top. We placed a 4 by 5/8 inch steel rod in the bottom hole and a 7 by 5/8 inch steel rod in the top hole. The lazy susan pivots around these rods which are anchored in the floor at the bottom and to the inside wall of the pantry closet at the top.

We mounted three 70 inch double track standard rails to the 3 X 3 post on three sides. We set three sets of 11 inch double track brackets on these rails for the half circle shelves to sit on. We cut a notch the size of the 3 X 3 post and rails into each half circle shelf so that they would fit easily around the pivot post.

I sanded, stained and varnished all the pieces for the lazy susan pantry cabinet shelves. We then took them inside to the pantry closet for final assembly. We placed the back shelves in the closet first and then mounted the pivot post in the thrust bearing on the floor and attached it to the wall with a 5/8 inch pillow block bearing. We placed the half shelves on the brackets of the pivot post.

We tested the lazy susan to make sure it would rotate around the center post and not hit the back shelves. It worked and it is easy to get to all of the food items in the pantry including those items on the back shelf and all the items on the lazy susan swing out for easy access. My wife loves it and so do I.

Tags: Home and Gardening

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