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Blacklane's avatar
Blacklane
Explorer
Feb 14, 2015

Making the Knife Holder Hold Knives

Like many campers, my rig has a panel behind the stove that the manufacturer calls a "knife holder." The trouble is, that the slots are too large and the panel too thin to hold anything securely. The knives were always leaning over and the short ones would just fall out.

I solved the problem by adding a small magnet next to each slot (on the bottom side) to hold the knives securely. I found these magnets with screw holes from American Science and Surplus, but there are many places to find them.

Now my knives stay in-place and are easy to store.
  • Brilliant!

    Now add a canvas "pocket" that encompasses all the knives below the surface as some have done to keep them clean and it will be perfect!
  • Very nice. I finally just purchased a wooden knife block to hold mine, but this looks great.
  • I had a magnet tool bar holder. Mounted under the cabinet over the sink.
    Works fine and everything is easy to get to, but out of the way.
  • Are you sure those are knife holders? I bought a new TT in Nov 2014 that has those slots. I was thinking they were to vent the oven heat. My smooth top slide in at S&B has slots in back for venting so I thought the slots were for same purpose. Great idea on with the magnets. I just hope it is a knife holder, cause you are not supposed to block a oven vent.
  • Actually, I think it's just a decorative panel to easily fill the space behind the stove rather than cutting a u-shape in the countertop. That way the RV manufacturer can claim a "shortcut" is a "feature".
    Given the size of the slots, it certainly looks like an air vent, however RV manufactures call it a knife rack, but it's not a very good one. The slots seem to be sized for gardening tools more than kitchen knives.
    The stove itself has a vent in the back, and the stove manufacturer does not require a vent behind it, so I'm sure it has nothing to do with the stove operation.
    I've heard some speculate that it helps ventilate things that are mounted below the stove, such as a power converter, however there is no corresponding cold-air inlet, so there can't be convection cooling.
    Honestly, my wife stuck some knives back there that were always falling and tilting, so I just made the best of the situation.
  • Doh, I too thought it was a vent for the oven. I'll put some knives in it next time I'm out to see if it really works (for knives).
  • We've kept knives in there the entire 10+ years we've had our TT. Never had a problem with them staying put but that's a great mod for those that do have issues.
  • Nice, I have one behind my stove and never used it. I wanted to put a stove cover on and it was in the way so I removed it and put a filler piece of wood in the gap and put my stove cover on.

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