Help me design my kitchen (see pictures)

ddndoug wrote:
Will this also be used as a pantry, or do have other areas for that?

Doug

Actually my pantry is above the microwave, it's about 24"Wx24"Hx24"D
I also have a storage area above the cab 63"W x 20"H x 20"D with a slope ceiling tho.





I am probably going with two drawers and I will have this utensils organizer for the top drawer, the edges will fit on top of the drawer and will slide (without rolling slides) so I can access whatever I put underneath.





Right now I am wondering what drawer slides to buy, the standard 3/4 extension cheaper ones that I have in my kitchen that work very well or the full extension ones with ball bearings and about 6 times the price.
My main question is whether or not the standard ones will shake and be noisy when I'm on the road, I'm pretty sure the ball bearing ones won't make any noise at all.

evy wrote:
I think the sink is big enough, 16"x13"x6"deep and the faucet has a high arch neck with a detachable head, I don't think I'll have any problems fitting anything under there.

When I wrote spice rack I was thinking not the biggest one and I would use it for salt, pepper, steak spices, toothpicks and one or two other.

I might buy the trash can rack that you screw behind the door and maybe gain storage space?

Yes, 16x13 is big enough.

You're right about spice rack - my objections were against that full-length niche type that you see on factory-made RV cabinets sometimes. It collects dust and food crumbs, I don't need it for those few small items that I could put in there. Moreover, it wouldn't hold them well while on the road unless filled up tight to the limit. Dish soap is behind the stove, it's a wet item and belongs on the counter or on the rack above. Tea can is at the back of the counter (but you don't have any counter space, so it would have to be on the shelve somewhere). Yes, maybe some small rack or shelve, up high and out of the way if you find a good place.

Trash can on the door rack still doesn't resolve the problem of space. When you close the door, there has to be a space in the cabinet of proper height and depth.

I have to admit that the word silverware is not of my dictionary :), few measly items of that "ware" hardly deserve a drawer, not to mention two. Originally my kitchen had 3 tiny drawers, short and narrow, useless. I removed them and couldn't be happier. I "would" use one wide drawer if I had one, though for things other than utensils. OTH, knives I prefer to be accessible like any tools, and they need to be kept dry so they are on the wall knife holder.

evy wrote:
Do you guys think the heat from the burner will be a problem?

For what? There is nothing too close, other than your hands when you're messing with faucet.

Will this also be used as a pantry, or do have other areas for that?

Doug

I prefer drawers myself, so I would suggest either keeping both drawers and adding something like this . If you decide to go with only one drawer I would definitely go this route.

You appear to have a good mind for design so it shouldn't be too hard for you to make it yourself.

Doug

Here's the faucet installed, with 13-1/4" free space I think It's ok.

Do you guys think the heat from the burner will be a problem?

It seems you're on the right track here.

A GFCI breaker will turn a plain ordinary outlet (of either the residential or RV design) into a GFCI protected outlet. Likewise, a GFCI outlet can also protect other outlets further along in the circuit, so if the first outlet on the wire from the electric panel is a GFCI, the others can also be regular outlets and have protection (provided the GFCI one is wired properly...it has two sets of hot and neutral terminals, one set for the incoming power and one for the other downstream outlets).

Coachmen put the outlets for the kitchen on my RV on the front of the counter, between the lip of the countertop and the top of the drawers/cabinet doors. You can put it anyplace reasonable that seems convenient. I might be a little bit worried about splashing if it's directly behind the sink, but obviously options are limited when you have only a few square feet for a kitchen.

Any faucet will work fine. Many RVs come with about the cheapest kitchen faucets available. I don't think water flow is much of a concern, since quite often the desire is to conserve water rather than have it come out as quickly as possible. Any faucet will let you do that.

I don't quite follow how you're working the water heater vent, but it does sound like you've given it some thought. If there's a hatch that must be opened, maybe rigging up an interlock switch so it can't be turned on with the hatch closed would be a wise idea. I was thinking that it was wall-mounted with a flange like most RV water heaters are, at least partly, but I guess it must be fixed to the floor instead.

Either the roof fan or the muffin fan will help to get moisture and fumes away. A hood is a nicety but certainly not an absolute essential. My RV has a hood that just recirculates the air into the cabin through a little grease filter thingy. I rarely find it's worth the noise to turn it on for what little value that provides. If it vented outside, it would be much more useful.

DrewE wrote:
I would vote for two drawers. Silverware and knives and maybe some odd utensils in one, hot pads and dish cloths and dish towels and whatnot in the other, and then there's always plenty of odds and ends and whatnot to go somewhere.

Yes on the spice rack; very handy to have. I'm fortunate enough to have a nice long one, and besides seasonings I keep a recipe box, a timer, a bottle of hand soap, a tin with tea bags, and maybe a couple other things I'm forgetting at the moment there.

I would suggest a few cup hooks to hang stuff on. If your stovetop doesn't have a lighter built in, one thing that surely will be hung there is an aim-n-flame style lighter.

A shelf in at least part of the upper cabinet is good. A little ledge to keep things in place on the edge of the shelf (and the edge of the floor of the cabinet) is a grand idea.

I would suggest getting or making a cutting board with wire handles or clips or something that can fit neatly across the mouth of the sink. It will greatly increase your counter space when you don't actually need to be using the sink at the moment, and you need a cutting board of some sort anyhow.

A little hood, preferably one that vents to the outside, would be handy for the stovetop. Hood or not, definitely put a light of some sort under the upper cabinet.

I personally might leave out the soap dispenser and just stick a container of dish and/or hand soap in the spice rack. It's one less thing to get in the way on the countertop. That's more personal preference than anything.

A trash can somewhere in the general vicinity is indeed handy.

Make sure the drawers have some sort of latch (such as a gravity catch) and likewise the cabinet doors also are held shut as firmly as practical.

How are you planning on venting the water heater through the van door such that it isn't destroyed when the door is opened--or are you going to make that half of the door inoperative? (Or is this an electric only water heater?)

Hi DrewE

Thanks again for the info.

For the exhaust hood, For now I was thinking of just opening the top hatch with the fantastic vent and using that (see lower pic)
BUT! I have another idea, after using the camper a few times I'll see if I need better exhaust when cooking, as you can see in this other picture, I've put a window right behind the stovetop, it's not installed yet, I just put it there to see what it would look like with all the other components, but if I install it I was thinking of also installing a clear 5" computer fan hidden behind the counter (there's a gap) I would install it on some sort of rail and I would pop it up when cooking, it would pop up right in front of the window opening, these things can blow from 40 to 90CFM and pull around 0.25AMP, good idea or not?

As you can see in this latest picture, the sink cover is a plastic cutting board.

I was thinking of making a stovetop cover myself, with the same Formica material I will be using on the countertop, for when I'm not using it.

I planned on installing either a LED strip under the top cabinet or a round LED fixture.

I was planning on buying a regular kitchen faucet, is that ok or I have to buy a model specially made for RVs? is there a magic number for the gpm flow?

What is the best place to install the kitchen's AC outlet? for the toaster, mini magic bullet, etc... I was thinking of installing it behind the sink on the outside wall, not sure yet but the AC breakers will probably be GFI, instead of buying GFI outlets any regular outlets will be protected by the GFI breaker right?

For the water heater issue, it's a Girard tankless water heater, actually it's almost like a regular install except that where it would normally rest on the outside straight wall it's a curved side panel (van's side door) so I'll cut some metal sheeting that will fit perfectly, to access it I simply open the van's side door and voila, I will an exhaust hole and an air intake on that van's side door and either add the Girard access hatch on it or just 2 metal air vents. I don't know if you understand it's hard to put in words and english is not my first language :-/

I would vote for two drawers. Silverware and knives and maybe some odd utensils in one, hot pads and dish cloths and dish towels and whatnot in the other, and then there's always plenty of odds and ends and whatnot to go somewhere.

Yes on the spice rack; very handy to have. I'm fortunate enough to have a nice long one, and besides seasonings I keep a recipe box, a timer, a bottle of hand soap, a tin with tea bags, and maybe a couple other things I'm forgetting at the moment there.

I would suggest a few cup hooks to hang stuff on. If your stovetop doesn't have a lighter built in, one thing that surely will be hung there is an aim-n-flame style lighter.

A shelf in at least part of the upper cabinet is good. A little ledge to keep things in place on the edge of the shelf (and the edge of the floor of the cabinet) is a grand idea.

I would suggest getting or making a cutting board with wire handles or clips or something that can fit neatly across the mouth of the sink. It will greatly increase your counter space when you don't actually need to be using the sink at the moment, and you need a cutting board of some sort anyhow.

A little hood, preferably one that vents to the outside, would be handy for the stovetop. Hood or not, definitely put a light of some sort under the upper cabinet.

I personally might leave out the soap dispenser and just stick a container of dish and/or hand soap in the spice rack. It's one less thing to get in the way on the countertop. That's more personal preference than anything.

A trash can somewhere in the general vicinity is indeed handy.

Make sure the drawers have some sort of latch (such as a gravity catch) and likewise the cabinet doors also are held shut as firmly as practical.

How are you planning on venting the water heater through the van door such that it isn't destroyed when the door is opened--or are you going to make that half of the door inoperative? (Or is this an electric only water heater?)

Almot wrote:
Mount the faucet in "normal" location, between the sink and rear wall. It looks awkward as it is on the picture.

Replace the sink with the biggest one you can, and make the counter an inch wider front to back, if you have to. People who spend a lot of time in their trailers often find that they need a decent size sink - single but big enough to put something in there. This has been discussed recently - it doesn't have to be an "RV sink".

Shelves in top cabinet are a good thing.

Drawers in bottom cabinet - not so sure. They steal precious space, dividing it into barely usable chunks. If your wife isn't in a habit of spending a lot of time in kitchen, I don't know what you would keep in small drawers - two spoons? :)... Put them in an empty bowl or a small box. It would be difficult to spend a lot of time in a kitchen that small anyway.

Same for spice rack - do you really have a dozen small bottles with spices that you need all the time all of them? It will collect dust when not in use. You are over-thinking this project. Things like towel hook, paper towel holder etc you can add later (or never).

Trash can door - yes. Think what size of trash can you'll put in there, considering the height of the door. If not installing drawers (I wouldn't), you can put a shelve above the trash can, going across to the under-sink area. And 2 tall doors or equal height - one for the trash can and upper compartment above the water pump, and one on the right side.

My suggestions are coming from semi-permanent living in RV. A weekender style is different, some things become less crucial.

I think the sink is big enough, 16"x13"x6"deep and the faucet has a high arch neck with a detachable head, I don't think I'll have any problems fitting anything under there.

When I wrote spice rack I was thinking not the biggest one and I would use it for salt, pepper, steak spices, toothpicks and one or two other.

I might buy the trash can rack that you screw behind the door and maybe gain storage space?

A lot of the design will be how you use the kitchen and what you need to store for your cooking needs.
A few installations in mine---

Racks for plates and cups:



Range hood microwave cabinet with fan below (I have added a door to the left side:



I have other shelves and cubbies for different storage solutions. The under counter area below the sink holds plastic bins for general storage. I used three wooden wine boxes underneath another counter top (they act as big drawers). Pans and cookie sheets have there own storage nook. I'll be adding more shelves this Spring.