Ikea kitchen Rationell Corner base cabinet pull-out carousel

Description

The former IKEA Corner base cabinet pull-out fittings from the series Rationell tend to sag under the weight of the pots.

In my case, the front corner hung more than 7 cm lower than the center bearing, and the pots slid toward you when you pulled out the carousel shelf. 

The new Utrusta pull-outs have a different mechanism which could be more stable, but may not. From the Ikea website pictures I suggest that the bracket will also work with the Utrusta pull-out.

The solution is a support structure with ball bearing guides for the pull-out shelf, which give a stable guide even for heavy loads. I decided to use a common 608 bearing for the direct contact with the shelf, because the pressure of the shelf excludes a sliding guide. So I now have a round guide underneath, it was just another step to use it for a stop block to fixe the shelf inside the cabinet. This is the second part you have to mount under the shelf.

To fix the shelf in the correct position, the bracket must be installed, the shelf moved to its resting position and the stopper screwed into place at exactly this point. The easiest way to do this is to mark the position and then screw it in place with the shelf pulled out.

There are two versions of the bracket. The first one (M6) holds the bearing on a spacer sleeve, where it can also slide to the side and follow the shelf. You'll need more hardware for this version, but I prefer this on, because the bearing does not slide on a thread.

The second version uses only a M8 screw for the bearing, where you can decide having the bearing fixed with a short screw or let it slide on the thread with a longer screw

Find the hardware list at the end of this description

Assembly Version M6 (recommended)

1. slide the first washer, the spacer sleeve with the bearing and the second washer on the screw and screw it into the bracket - done

Assembly Version M8

1. slide the bearing on the screw and screw it into the bracket - done

Mounting

1. measure the hight of the shelf at the middle bearing

2. mark the middle hight at the cabinet side

3. For the bottom shelf (if used at the lowest position) the bracket can easily mounted set to the base of the cabinet - the size is adjusted

4. unmount the pull-out shelf - if you can't lift it easily to the marked hight. It's hard to push the shelf while mounting the bracket

5. mount the bracket with the top of the bearing at the marked height - use the two lower screws which allow some adjusting thank to the slot holes

6. mount the shelf to the cabinet and test it

7. unmount the bearing and use the hidden hole behind to fix the bracket with the third screw, which is the most important one

8. the fourth screw at the top isn't really necessary, it fixes only the spacer which prevents the shelf from  grinding the cabinet side every time you pull the shelf out.

9. snap the stop block between the bearing and the shelf, mark position

10. pull-out the shelf and screw the stop block at the marked position

11. test the shelf snap into the right place - you're done

12. Maybe someone in your household ask you to clean up the cabinet from markings, clean up the kitchen floor from dust and drill chips and remove all the used tools, but after that you're really done 

Hardware List

• Version M6

  • M6 screw - flat head M6 x 30 (depending on spacer length)

  • 2 pc. washer 6.4 x 12 mm

  • Spacer tube aluminium 12 mm length (inner diameter 6mm, outer diameter 8 mm), cut it from a common aluminium tube from your hardware store

  • ball bearing 608 (sealing of your choice)

• Version M8

  • M8 screw - flat head M8 x 40

  • ball bearing 608 (sealing of your choice)

• Cabinet Mounting (for each version)

  • 2 pc. Universal Wood screws half-round head 3.5 x 25 mm (bracket)

  • 1 pc. Universal Wood screws half-round head 3.5 x 40 mm (bracket)

  • 2 pc. Universal Wood countersunk head 3.0 x 20 mm (stop block)

  • 1 pc. Universal Wood countersunk head 3.5 x 20 mm (if you want to secure the shelf spacer)

Note

On some pictures you'll see an early prototype. It was still working, but left something to be desired in terms of perfectionism. The downloadable versions are the last evolution and work perfect.