So, what is new?
There is a new and developing trend we are starting to see more of in people’s homes. Turning what is often seen as a dark and dingy cupboard under the stairs into a stylish and functional storage space. Probably not what Harry Potter would have liked, but for the majority of us, it is a great way to store the vast amount of paraphernalia that seems to collect around the front door.
Whilst we find it exciting to see Blum products used in this way, there are a few things to consider before taking this on.
If we start by looking at a normal door with concealed hinges, then the first thing to consider is the shape of the door and how this affects the opening, especially on recessed doors. Be careful not to hinge the door on the wrong side, or the door tip may collide with the underside of the stairs. We suggest using a wide throw hinge like the 155° hinge, but even this is often not able to create a big enough swing. So careful planning is key here.
Alternatively you can use drawers to provide storage for shoes and coats, like the drawer in the picture, which pulls out to offer rails or shelves to store these items. What we should bear in mind here is the weight of the drawer. Blum drawers and runners are designed to work in a normal domestic setting and have been tested to work in a format most recognise as a standard drawer, and they have set weight limits. If you use wooden drawers with a full height wardrobe behind, this can cause problems. With a runner system like MOVENTO you can fit a 750mm NL runner which will give a nice deep drawer, but when you then add the weight of a drawer, and possibly a tall housing, then you could exceed the maximum weight load of 70Kg or leave very little capacity to actually store anything.
Blum drawers have not been designed to work to wardrobe height and they could be unstable if you use just a lower pair, so you may need to be creative and add a further runner at the top to act as a stabiliser.
Blum also offers handle free doors and has several different ways to achieve this, but all are designed to work in a standard height drawer. For it to work there must be a 2.5mm gap between the back of the door and the carcass, the “trigger path”. This is measured at the runner and is normally constant across the height on normal drawers, however TIP-ON will not work once you have 500mm high fronts or greater, as the gap needed to trigger starts to get really large, and the doors will need to lean forward to work. It may be that SERVO-DRIVE would be a better option in these cases, and yes, it is easier to control the trigger path with SERVO-DRIVE, but you will need to have power under the stairs.
Last, but no means least, is the actual installation. It is incredibly difficult to maintain a perfectly square and parallel installation if you have to place runners direct on to 80 year old floorboards, or to uprights that are really anything but, so I would urge you to consider working in a way that echoes a standard carcass. Create a large cassette if you like, this can be created off site using perfectly dimensioned boards and with accuracy, this can then be installed in the premises as a single item, just adding trim pieces to cover any joins or gaps.
We really love working on these clever solutions, so feel free to come to Blum Technical if you want to talk about creative ideas or if you have any other Blum questions.
Written by Peter Sharratt - Blum Technical Team
Matthew Glanfield
Author