Abstract:
An under cabinet knife storage arrangement provides a knife storage board with elongated magnetic strips for holding the knives on the storage board and with a mounting arrangement that permits the knife storage board to be moved from a retracted position underneath the cabinet to an extended position which is forward of the cabinet and at an angle to the bottom surface of the cabinet in order to permit the user to have easy access to the knives.

Description:
BACKGROUND 
       [0001]    Various arrangements are known for storing knives. A popular arrangement is a knife block, which is a large block of wood that has a separate slot for each knife to be stored. This takes up counter space and requires the user to pull out each knife until he finds the knife he wants to use. Alternatively, knives may be put into a drawer, where they typically rub up against other knives or other utensils, which dulls or otherwise damages the knife. 
       SUMMARY 
       [0002]    The present invention provides a knife storage arrangement that protects the knives against being damaged by rubbing against other utensils, allows the knives to be readily viewed by the user without having to take each knife out individually, takes up no counter space, and is not visually distracting in the kitchen. 
     
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
         [0003]      FIG. 1  is a view of the under cabinet knife storage unit in the extended position; 
           [0004]      FIG. 2  is a view of an alternative arrangement for the knife board of  FIG. 1 ; 
           [0005]      FIG. 3  is a view of the under cabinet knife storage unit of  FIGS. 1 and 2  in the retracted position; 
           [0006]      FIG. 4  is a perspective view of the knife storage unit of  FIG. 2  in the extended position when removed from the cabinet; 
           [0007]      FIG. 5  is the same as  FIG. 4  but from a different perspective; and 
           [0008]      FIG. 6  is an enlarged view of a portion of the arrangement of  FIG. 5 . 
       
    
    
     DESCRIPTION 
       [0009]      FIG. 1  shows one embodiment of the under cabinet knife storage unit  10  in the extended position, and mounted under a cabinet  12  by means of a hinge arrangement  14 . The knife storage unit  10  includes a knife board  16 , which is generally rectangular and defines a planar top surface. (There may be recesses or other irregularities in the top surface as well, if desired.) A front edge lip  18 , which extends upwardly above the planar top surface of the knife board  16  defines a central recess  20  that serves as a handle, to enable the user to grasp the knife storage unit  10  to pull it downwardly from the cabinet to the position shown in  FIG. 1 . 
         [0010]    The knife board  16  has a plurality of elongated magnetic strips  22 ,  24 . Two of the magnetic strips  22  extend in a front-to-back direction, and two of the magnetic strips  24  extend in a left-to-right direction. The magnetic strips  22 ,  24  preferably project upwardly above the generally planar surface of the knife board so that they contact the blade  26  of a knife when the knife handle  28  is lying flat on the planar top surface of the knife board  16 . 
         [0011]    As shown in  FIG. 1 , there is a large space in the left-to-right direction on the left end of the knife board  16 , which provides a place for the handles  28  of left-to-right-oriented knives to rest, while the blades  26  of those knives contact the magnetic strips  22 . The front edge lip  18  provides a stop for the blade and handle of the lowermost left-to-right-oriented knife. 
         [0012]    On the right side of the knife board  16  of  FIG. 1 , to the rear of the front-to-rear midpoint, are two left-to-right magnetic strips  24 , which contact the blades  26  of front-to-back-oriented knives, while the front lip  18  provides a stop for the handles of those knives. Since this knife board  16  is longer in the left-to-right direction than in the front-to-back direction, the longer knives are oriented in the left-to-right direction, with their blades  26  contacting the front-to-back magnets  22 , and the shorter knives are oriented in the front-to-back direction, with their blades contacting the left-to-right oriented magnets  24 . 
         [0013]    When the knife storage unit  10  is in the extended position shown in  FIG. 1 , the planar top surface of the knife board  16  preferably is oriented at an angle of between 30 degrees and 60 degrees from the bottom surface of the cabinet  12  and is moved forward so that its front edge lip  18  lies at least four inches forward of the front edge of the cabinet  12 . This enables the user to have a good view of the knives and to be able to reach all the knives to remove them and replace them from the storage unit  10 . When the knife storage unit  10  is in the retracted position shown in  FIG. 3 , the knife board lies parallel to the bottom surface of the cabinet  12 , and the front edge lip  18  is no farther forward than the front face of the cabinet  12 . 
         [0014]      FIG. 2  shows an alternative layout for the knife board  16 , with the large space for the handles of the long knives being on the right side of the board, and with the left-to-right-oriented magnets located on the left side of the board  16 . (The center of the handle  20  lies at the left-to-right midpoint of the knife board  16 .) In both cases, at least one of the front-to-back-oriented magnets lies on each side of the left-to-right midpoint of the knife board  16 , while the left-to-right-oriented magnets lie only on one side of the left-to-right midpoint of the knife board  16 . 
         [0015]      FIG. 3  shows the knife storage unit  10  in the retracted position, where it is stowed under the cabinet  12 , nearly out of sight. 
         [0016]      FIG. 4  is a view similar to  FIG. 2 , but with the knife storage unit  10  removed from the cabinet to more clearly show the hinges  14 . This view also shows a ferrous metal plate  30  and a magnet  32 , which help hold the knife storage unit  10  in the retracted position, where the metal plate  30  contacts the magnet  32 . Other types of known cabinet latching hardware could alternatively be used, if desired. 
         [0017]      FIGS. 5 and 6  show the hinge  14  in more detail, with an L-shaped cross-section upper plate  34  extending in the front-to-back direction. When the knife storage unit  10  is installed under the cabinet  12 , the top surfaces of the left and right upper plates  34  abut the bottom surface of the cabinet  12 . Two hinge legs  36  are pivotably connected to each upper plate  34  at pivot points  38  and extend downwardly, where they are connected to a respective lower plate  40  at pivot points  42 . The left and right lower plates  40  support and are secured to the bottom surface of the knife board  16 . 
         [0018]    This hinge arrangement  14  has an advantage in that it brings the knife board  16  forward and angles the front of the knife board  16  downwardly when it is moved from the retracted position to the extended position, making the knives very accessible to the user. 
         [0019]    While this hinge arrangement  14  is shown as one preferred example, there are other known hinge arrangements that alternatively could be used. For example, the board  16  could be mounted to the cabinet  12  by means of a front-to-back oriented track, which allows the user to bring the board  16  forward, and then a hinge or hinges could be provided to enable the user to move the knife board to the preferred angle. 
         [0020]    It will be obvious to those skilled in the art that various modifications may be made to the under cabinet knife storage arrangement shown and described herein without departing from the scope of the present invention as claimed.