Camper Part 17: Kitchen Kapers Kontinue

Following on from yesterday's successful completion of the bed boxes I started on the second kitchen unit this morning. This is the one which would house the cooker.

As I had stripped the cooker cupboard out of the caravan, I decided to use the front panel instead of trying to fabricate a new one of the same size. The main alteration was that the original panel had a step in it (the cooker was recessed backwards), which I removed. I also has to make it the same height as the sink unit. I achieved this by making up a skeletal carcass very similar to the one I made for the sink unit, but instead of making up a front panel I substituted the one out of the caravan, having trimmed it down.

If you're wondering about the mismatch in materials and hence the patchy look, don't. The entire unit will be covered in birch ply (as will the other kitchen unit). But I am finishing all the unit carcasses first as there is no need to use birch ply between the units. Excess weight and costs more than necessary for stuff that will be hidden anyway.

The final kitchen unit is a cupboard which will be attached to the side of the cooker unit. Not here I could have tried to make them as one and save a bit on the weight, but as I want the cupboard unit to be full (roof) height I figure it was better to make them seperate as they will be easier to install and remove if I need to (for sorting out the floor, etc).

This cupboard will be quite narrow (220 mm - same as the cupboard in the sink unit) as this allows the appropriate space for the passenger seat (and child's bed) to the front of it. It is intended only for kitchen use, so the narrowness should be fine as it will store things like cans, etc.

As can be seen from the pictures, I have already cut all the wood for this unit, so tomorrow night I can put it together. Well, I actually need to cut some more pieces for where the unit meets the roof, but due to the angles I decided to assemble the rest and then take measurements rather than attempt to figure it out and get them wrong. Unlike my usual approaches, I have been very carefull to measure twice cut once and have not made too many mistakes on this build so far (touch wood).