Corner bookcases with adjustable shelves?

I'm planning on moving my current bookshelves into a different room and will most likely have to get new cupboards constructed rather than being able to recycle the old ones. Either way, I'll be going from a straight run along one wall to a U-shaped layout which means that I will now have two corners to deal with. I don't want to lose those spaces but I'd rather not have to deal with having to stick my arm down the inside of a cupboard to get to any books there.

Does anyone have any good ideas for the construction of corner cupboards for books? I also plan to make the shelves adjustable since I shelve alphabetically by author and even when I think I've left enough space for future acquisitions, it turns out that it wasn't enough and I have had to reshuffle my books a few times - but if it's too hard to do adjustable shelves in the corner, I could live with fixed shelves in a smallish cupboard. I suppose.

>1 superboy: If you're OK with Ikea, there are corner fittings available for the Billy bookcases: try https://www.ikea.com/au/en/p/billy-bookcase-combination-crnr-solution-white-s893...

>2 haydninvienna: I have those, and they work for me. We don't use the corner pieces for books, but one has our booze and related items, the other serving bowls, platters etc.

>3 MarthaJeanne: We are (hoping) to move back to Australia soon, and all being well I'll be able to set up a library again. I plan to use the corner units for books.

>4 haydninvienna: But won't the shelves all be upside down?

>5 Crypto-Willobie: Possibly, but so will everything else. Or, looking at it from Down Under, all of you lot will be upside down.

>4 haydninvienna: There will be quite a bit of empty space behind the books. I think I would also want to make triangular pieces so that the books will be able to stay straight.

>1 superboy: You mentioned that you want to have book(cases) made.
About ten tears ago, my wife and I had 6 bookcases and a dictionary "stand" (it's actually a short bookcase with a drawer and sloped top) made, and they have held up quite well. Later I had a hanging corner bookcase made for my office; permanent shelves in the corner, though.

I just went to the website if the company that made them. They've gone out of business, but site is still up and there are lots of examples of the work they've done -- including a section displaying bookcases with both inside and outside corners. Perhaps there's something there that may inspire you.

http://bookcasestore.com/

>7 MarthaJeanne: Granted, but your choices are to either use the corner setup as linked to, or to just butt two ordinary bookcases together at a right angle. Either way you end up with a space behind. I’m not good enough at geometry to work out which setup makes better use of the space, but I know which I prefer the look of.

The IKEA setup I linked to is just 3 ordinary Billy bookcases connected by some special corner fittings. (The three bookcases and the corner hardware are sold as a unit, I gather, and IKEA sells the corner hardware separately anyway, so you could probably do it by buying the separate pieces if you wanted.) All of the bookcases have sides at right angles to the back in the ordinary way—no need for anything to keep the books straight.

Lots of good ideas here, thanks!

Thanks for all the answers and ideas.

>2 haydninvienna: Thanks. They look like they don't go all the way to the corners though they do seem to address the other issues. Worth considering buying or copying.

( >4 haydninvienna: Where will you be? I'm planning to visit family in Sydney soon.)

>8 WholeHouseLibrary: Thanks. I see some pictures there that could help. I'm no carpenter so I'm getting them made. Hopefully the carpenter I'm using will be open to ideas.

>11 superboy: Not utterly sure yet, but the intention is Brisbane.

The drawings came back and it looks like they're giving me an L-shaped cupboard for one corner.

The other corner is a bit awkwardly shaped, having a concrete beam down it so it sticks in instead of out. So they're giving me the old two different cupboards with a small section where the front of one is behind the side of the other - which is precisely what I didn't want but I suppose it can't be helped in this instance. I suggested putting glass there so I could at least see the books through the other cupboard and someone else suggested not putting anything, which would also be alright since it would be inside the cupboards and protected by doors (it gets very dusty here, amongst other challenges) but apparently the gap (once the support structures are accounted for) would be too small. Ah well. The solution, as it stands, is to put a (non-glass) mirror inside so I can see the titles.

There's an internal window (sorely needed because it's quite dark in the room even with it) and the original plan only had shelves going up to the bottom of it. I've requested bookcases up either side, too, and they guy sketched in a narrow shelf above it as well. I think he was kind of resigned to my mania for maximising my new shelves :0)

Fingers crossed, they come out as I'm imagining them.

(Superboy's mum)

>12 haydninvienna: I'll wave as I fly over, then :0)

>11 superboy: when I moved house I got carpenters in to build me bookcases and we had a few chats about handling corners with movable shelves. Ultimately I chose to go with the right angle effect as they didn't seem to be a lot of point doing the work for a cornered shelf - I would have ended up with curved shelves without much additional storage. They also sealed the triangular hole at the top so the cat couldn't accidentally fall in.

>14 snail: We have a retriever not a cat - so he'd better not get up there.

>13 humouress: Well, the cupboards are due to arrive tomorrow or day after. Unfortunately they are a minor addition to the contract for our kitchen renovation and we went with a different designer for that and they couldn't give me my L-shaped corner. On the other hand, they did repurpose one more of my old bookcases so it's a win on the environmental front.

I've been holding my breath so long waiting for it that I've nearly expired (ha ha) because my books are in storage and my study is in limbo under dust covers. I was excited about it but they were due a week ago until some last minute hiccoughs interrupted things. Will update you ... when they get here.