Before we got our latest TT (our 3rd TT), a 2014 KZ Spree (262RKS), I could tell from the manufacturer's floorplan on their website that there was a large, empty cavity between the bedroom wall and the end of the shower wall in the bathroom. It looked like it would be a great spot to increase storage. Sure enough, when we got it, on the bedroom side they had an access panel and looking inside confirmed a large empty space. Not sure why they have an access panel as there's nothing in there that ever needs servicing. My goal from the beginning was to make the new cabinetry look like it was done at the factory.
After walking through every KZ Spree on our dealer's lot, I found some stock cabinet door sizes that would work. I ordered 3 doors and also 3 8' lengths of 1x2 in the "smart cherry" finish in the TT.
I spent a lot of time measuring, thinking, re-measuring, re-thinking, and over and over until I was sure I had things measured up right. Slicing up the bedroom wall was a one-shot deal otherwise I would have been faced with a much bigger job in the end.
Here's the bedroom wall marked out with tape. I use a sharp utility knife to cut luan. (Not shown in the pic is me sweating bullets at this point.)
The wall opening all cut out.
Lots of OEM sawdust from the factory. Quite typical for concealed spaces in RVs.
In carving out the new opening, I ended with various pieces of luan which I re-used to make the new cabinets. This is a couple of them.
Original piping and ducts as it came from the factory and then how I relocated it to make for usable space on the bottom. I relocated the grey tank vent pipe close to the shower stall so the pipe wouldn't intrude into the cabinets. Moved the bathroom heating duct to the opposite in the bathroom and re-routed the PEX a bit. The right pic still shows the bathroom heating duct in the old location.
After some more measuring and thinking, I cut up the 1x2 from KZ and made a face frame using biscuit joinery. I have to say that cutting the 1x2 was not easy. The "wood" is a lightweight plywood core with a paper/plastic wrap on it. I does NOT cut sharply on a table saw or shop saw. It took 4 or so different blades to find one the wouldn't make a mess of the outer wrap.
I screwed the face frame onto the luan using small wood screws around the perimeter from the back of the luan. I cut a small rabbet (a kind of notch) on the side of the 1x2 all around to slightly recess the luan into the frame. This is a pic of part of the frame installed with the doors open. I was quite happy how this part worked out. It was a bit of a challenge though to deal with the 1.5" wall thickness and luan on both sides.
Tada - all done. The upper cabinet door and left lower one is 14 3/4"W x 29"H. The lower right is 10 3/4" W x 29" tall. The depth is 15". The bottom without doors is the part that is accessible through the inside of the lower cabinet. Good for storing things seldom used or contraband. All what would have been wasted space from the factory.
This pic of the lower cabinet shows the two access panels I installed with finger holes. I ended up running out of salvaged luan I cut out and used white faced 1/8" plywood for the shelf bottoms.
Not shown in any pics is what I did with the bathroom cabinet on the opposite side. From the factory, the cabinet is 30" deep and it was pretty much impossible to reach anything at the back. The new upper cabinet in the bedroom utilizes what was the rear of the bathroom cabinet.
This has definitely been one of the more challenging mods I've done. Not much from the factory was plumb, level or square which didn't help either. I had to make templates for some pieces of plywood. You can't tell from the pics, but the adjustable shelving part way up in the upper and lower cabinets is stock shelving from Ace Hardware. It's actually pretty close in color to the KZ color. The shelving wasn't deep enough so I cut and glued pieces of it together (more biscuit joinery).
After walking through every KZ Spree on our dealer's lot, I found some stock cabinet door sizes that would work. I ordered 3 doors and also 3 8' lengths of 1x2 in the "smart cherry" finish in the TT.
I spent a lot of time measuring, thinking, re-measuring, re-thinking, and over and over until I was sure I had things measured up right. Slicing up the bedroom wall was a one-shot deal otherwise I would have been faced with a much bigger job in the end.
Here's the bedroom wall marked out with tape. I use a sharp utility knife to cut luan. (Not shown in the pic is me sweating bullets at this point.)
The wall opening all cut out.
Lots of OEM sawdust from the factory. Quite typical for concealed spaces in RVs.
In carving out the new opening, I ended with various pieces of luan which I re-used to make the new cabinets. This is a couple of them.
Original piping and ducts as it came from the factory and then how I relocated it to make for usable space on the bottom. I relocated the grey tank vent pipe close to the shower stall so the pipe wouldn't intrude into the cabinets. Moved the bathroom heating duct to the opposite in the bathroom and re-routed the PEX a bit. The right pic still shows the bathroom heating duct in the old location.
After some more measuring and thinking, I cut up the 1x2 from KZ and made a face frame using biscuit joinery. I have to say that cutting the 1x2 was not easy. The "wood" is a lightweight plywood core with a paper/plastic wrap on it. I does NOT cut sharply on a table saw or shop saw. It took 4 or so different blades to find one the wouldn't make a mess of the outer wrap.
I screwed the face frame onto the luan using small wood screws around the perimeter from the back of the luan. I cut a small rabbet (a kind of notch) on the side of the 1x2 all around to slightly recess the luan into the frame. This is a pic of part of the frame installed with the doors open. I was quite happy how this part worked out. It was a bit of a challenge though to deal with the 1.5" wall thickness and luan on both sides.
Tada - all done. The upper cabinet door and left lower one is 14 3/4"W x 29"H. The lower right is 10 3/4" W x 29" tall. The depth is 15". The bottom without doors is the part that is accessible through the inside of the lower cabinet. Good for storing things seldom used or contraband. All what would have been wasted space from the factory.
This pic of the lower cabinet shows the two access panels I installed with finger holes. I ended up running out of salvaged luan I cut out and used white faced 1/8" plywood for the shelf bottoms.
Not shown in any pics is what I did with the bathroom cabinet on the opposite side. From the factory, the cabinet is 30" deep and it was pretty much impossible to reach anything at the back. The new upper cabinet in the bedroom utilizes what was the rear of the bathroom cabinet.
This has definitely been one of the more challenging mods I've done. Not much from the factory was plumb, level or square which didn't help either. I had to make templates for some pieces of plywood. You can't tell from the pics, but the adjustable shelving part way up in the upper and lower cabinets is stock shelving from Ace Hardware. It's actually pretty close in color to the KZ color. The shelving wasn't deep enough so I cut and glued pieces of it together (more biscuit joinery).
