Designing an L-shaped corner cabinet that actually opens
The corner is where built-in wardrobe projects go wrong. Two runs of cabinets meet at 90°, and suddenly doors collide, a dead corner appears, or a 30 mm gap stares at you at eye level. None of this is bad luck — the corner follows a handful of geometric rules. Once you apply them, an L-shaped layout is just another cabinet.
The corner problem in one sentence
Two cabinets meeting at a right angle share the corner volume — one of them runs through, the other butts against it, and the fronts of both need room to open without hitting each other or a handle. Every corner solution is a different answer to who gets the volume and where the clearance comes from.
Depth overlap: let one run through
The cleanest approach for wardrobes is the butt joint with depth overlap: one cabinet runs fully into the corner, the perpendicular one stops against its side. The through-cabinet keeps its full width usable; the butting cabinet loses exactly the depth of its neighbour. Decide the through-direction based on which doors you want unobstructed — usually the wall you face when entering the room.
Corner clearance: the space that makes doors open
Between the two runs you need an operating clearance so the fronts clear each other — including their handles. In practice this is a vertical filler strip in the corner, commonly dimensioned in steps like 18, 36 or 54 mm depending on front thickness, hinge geometry and handles. Too small and doors touch; unnecessarily large and you give away storage. Handleless fronts get away with less; a protruding handle on the butting run demands more.
Close the corner: fillers, plinth and top
The clearance strip leaves openings that a fitted wardrobe should close neatly:
- A vertical corner profile — filler strip plus infill panel — closes the gap at front level and hides the recessed junction.
- The plinth continues around the corner, with a corner infill so no black hole appears at floor level.
- The same applies to the top filler against the ceiling: both runs meet with a closed corner piece.
These corner pieces are real parts — they belong on the cut list with sizes and edge banding like everything else.
Let the geometry be computed
Corner geometry is exactly the kind of thing software should own. In KWAL Cabinet Studio you place both runs in the room, snap them into the corner, and the depth overlap, the clearance strip and the corner filler pieces for plinth and top are generated automatically — visible in 3D and present on the cut list, in the DXF files and in the PDF dossier. Change the corner clearance and every affected part updates.