Expanding the Kitchen Storage

Have you made changes to your coach? Improvements? Remodel? New technology? Tell the story and show some pictures here.
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Safaritoonces
Posts: 215
Joined: Sat Nov 02, 2019 9:51 am
Location: Bowen Island, BC
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Expanding the Kitchen Storage

Post by Safaritoonces »

We needed to have a place to store some of the essential kitchen tools my wife cooked with the InstaPot, and an Air Fryer. These are can replace most of the cooking in the the kitchen by them selves, but they are large and there was no space in the kitchen to store them so I expanded the area under the sink. This presentation is how to add a lot of storage in an area that is currently only used for plumbing and the trash container.
https://safaritoonces.org/project-tree- ... n-storage/
Robert and Bev Lewis
2000 Safari Continental, since 2017
3126B Cat, 330hp
MD3060 Allison
Bowen Island, BC

https://safaritoonces.org/
astrnmrtom
Posts: 167
Joined: Thu Oct 31, 2019 8:49 pm

Re: Expanding the Kitchen Storage

Post by astrnmrtom »

Nice job!

I'm working on that very area tomorrow. I showed my wife your modifications and we went out, pulled everything out from under the sink area, brainstormed, measured, and kicked around some ideas. I've been eyeballing that unused area to the left of the under sink area for a long time. She's been resistant to doing anything with it because she doesn't like having to fish stuff out from deep inside cabinets even here at home. To me the space is just screaming to be used for something. I came up with some ideas that she's OK with. The trick was to sit, look, and experiment with some ideas. I kept asking, what works best for you? What do you need this area to do to make it's use easier? What do you want to store under here? We don't use the under sink area for a trash can so it's more an issue of what can this area be used for? After our talking and idea brainstorming, I have the project requirements, the materials I think I'll need, and will be tackling this in the next couple days. I'll take some pictures.

In my case the previous owner seems to have already replaced the flexible supply hoses and sink drain tube and they are out of the way. My plastic to flex drain connection crosses over toward the front corner and is secured with a plywood strip just like your was. That strip is going to be the first thing to go. I can support the drain pipe without it.

While these Safaris seem to have quite a bit of storage space, there's a couple areas that really need(ed) improvement. This under sink area, and dead space next to it, and the pantry/closet area in the bathroom. I've already dealt with the latter and now its time to go after the former. Thanks for the inspiration to kick start this project. By summer we plan on hitting the road full time and now it the time to do any mods while I still have a shop full of tools and a place to work.
Tom and Pris Masterson, w/ Buddy the 18 year old Siamese cat.
1998 Serengeti 3706
300hp Cat 3126, Allison 3060
900 Watts of Solar
17cf, Fisher & Paykel residential Refrigerator
Dragging four telescopes around the US seeking dark skies.
Safaritoonces
Posts: 215
Joined: Sat Nov 02, 2019 9:51 am
Location: Bowen Island, BC
Contact:

Re: Expanding the Kitchen Storage

Post by Safaritoonces »

Thank you, it's good to hear that this helped.

On the hose drain, I secured mine with a half circle plywood plate that was left from the original install... I reversed it and used it to hold the ABS from being strained. The part that took time was making sure the line didn't link. The key to that was making the drain line as short as possible.

I would suggest looking carefully at the fittings on the water source lines where they emerge behind the cabinet. If they are corroded they are leaking and need changing.

The pivoting lazy Susan gives good access but the same thing could be done with a set of rail slides. If you don't have a trash can then the pivoting plate will swing 270 degrees out into the open. But with the partition wall to separate the garbage area the pivot only goes to 180, it stops even with the edge of the door opening.

If you just want more storage I would suggest the lazy Susan idea but with shelves that would give a lot off additional space. Trying to retrieve items in the corner without a way to bring them out on a tray means crawling around on the floor and things would slide out of reach.

Please post some pictures when you have time, everyone appreciates new idea.
Robert and Bev Lewis
2000 Safari Continental, since 2017
3126B Cat, 330hp
MD3060 Allison
Bowen Island, BC

https://safaritoonces.org/
astrnmrtom
Posts: 167
Joined: Thu Oct 31, 2019 8:49 pm

Re: Expanding the Kitchen Storage

Post by astrnmrtom »

Here's my simpler mod. We have a couple plastic storage boxes with holiday decorations in them that we rarely need access to. I removed the cross bars and used the exiting strapping to secure the drain line in the original spot which allowed me to slide the boxes in place. The previous owner had replaced the supply lines with braided lines and they are routed back along the wall out of the way. I've added some insulation in my cabinets using reflectix. Then I asked my wife what it is she intends to store under the main sink area and what would work best for her. All I needed was to make a shelf for the right side under which she will store 24 packs of pop, and she'll slide the sink covers in on their sides next to the shelf. Not even sure it took me much more than an hour. She's happy with the results, which means I am too.

The left side contains my espresso maker and grinder in the white tub. That's where it rides when we travel. The wire shelf is left over from shelving I added to the pantry closet - and yes, it IS level, the camera angle makes it look like I really messed up. ;) If you look carefully you can see a dark blue box hidden in the new area, that's one of the two decoration boxes.

When we got the rig the left and right closet areas were all open to each other. I added a dividing wall and the left closet is sorta a utility closet that houses our brooms, cleaners and vacuum coats and a small laundry bag. I built a shelf on the left side to hold our dehumidifier with room to slide boots or shoes or whatever underneath. In the very back of this area is the leaves to our dining room table.
SafariClosetShelves.jpg
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SafariCloset.jpg
SafariCloset.jpg (229.52 KiB) Viewed 5709 times
SafariSink.jpg
SafariSink.jpg (276.76 KiB) Viewed 5709 times
Tom and Pris Masterson, w/ Buddy the 18 year old Siamese cat.
1998 Serengeti 3706
300hp Cat 3126, Allison 3060
900 Watts of Solar
17cf, Fisher & Paykel residential Refrigerator
Dragging four telescopes around the US seeking dark skies.
astrnmrtom
Posts: 167
Joined: Thu Oct 31, 2019 8:49 pm

Re: Expanding the Kitchen Storage

Post by astrnmrtom »

Here's the odd narrow area to the right of the pantry closet. The black thing in the back is the drain stack for the Washer/Dryer.
SafariNarrowCabinets.jpg
SafariNarrowCabinets.jpg (231.22 KiB) Viewed 5709 times
Tom and Pris Masterson, w/ Buddy the 18 year old Siamese cat.
1998 Serengeti 3706
300hp Cat 3126, Allison 3060
900 Watts of Solar
17cf, Fisher & Paykel residential Refrigerator
Dragging four telescopes around the US seeking dark skies.
Safaritoonces
Posts: 215
Joined: Sat Nov 02, 2019 9:51 am
Location: Bowen Island, BC
Contact:

Re: Expanding the Kitchen Storage

Post by Safaritoonces »

Very nicely done. You have provided a lot of storage. Did you repurpose the clothes wardrobe over the dryer? The bedroom closet and drawers are all we need at this point in life. We have the vacuum in the right hand side and I will add a proper dryer over the washer. The splendide washer works great but makes a mess out of drying.
Robert and Bev Lewis
2000 Safari Continental, since 2017
3126B Cat, 330hp
MD3060 Allison
Bowen Island, BC

https://safaritoonces.org/
astrnmrtom
Posts: 167
Joined: Thu Oct 31, 2019 8:49 pm

Re: Expanding the Kitchen Storage

Post by astrnmrtom »

Yes, I did and now it's our pantry. When we got the rig she looked at the big open closet area above the washer/dryer and said "well, that isn't gonna work." I found the wire shelving available at Home Depot or Lowes works great installed upside down in the brackets. That way there's a lip at the front. Divider wall was just fir strip frame with door skin. I used hooks and or spring brackets to hold the broom and stick vacuum. Originally, instead of the lower shelf in the photo, we thought a pull out drawer would be better. Turned out to be a hassle to pull the drawer out and reach back to fish things out. I bought another shelf and replaced the drawer. The leftover shelf piece became the shelf under the sink.

At the same time I modified the area under the sink, my wife said wanted some dividers in the top drawers of the bedroom wardrobe. I asked how she wanted them divided up and made dividers using 1/8 plywood. I told her now is the time for me to make the changes while I still have a shop and the tools to do so. Sometimes the simplest changes make a big difference.

It's just the two of us also, and soon we will be full timing and we feel the bedroom has plenty of room for what we need, clothes wise. Besides, when you no longer need a variety of clothes for work, you can get away with a whole lot less. Winter coats will be stored away in vacuum compression bags in a plastic bin in the storage compartment off season. We figure is we find we need an extra shirt or pair of pants, there's plenty of places to buy them in our travels.
Tom and Pris Masterson, w/ Buddy the 18 year old Siamese cat.
1998 Serengeti 3706
300hp Cat 3126, Allison 3060
900 Watts of Solar
17cf, Fisher & Paykel residential Refrigerator
Dragging four telescopes around the US seeking dark skies.
Safaritoonces
Posts: 215
Joined: Sat Nov 02, 2019 9:51 am
Location: Bowen Island, BC
Contact:

Re: Expanding the Kitchen Storage

Post by Safaritoonces »

I showed your setup to my wife and she loved your shelve ideas. We use the right hand portion of the wardrobe for the vacuum and broom. I will add the wire shelves above the vacuum. Thanks for sharing the pictures, they help a lot to get the idea accross.
Robert and Bev Lewis
2000 Safari Continental, since 2017
3126B Cat, 330hp
MD3060 Allison
Bowen Island, BC

https://safaritoonces.org/
astrnmrtom
Posts: 167
Joined: Thu Oct 31, 2019 8:49 pm

Re: Expanding the Kitchen Storage

Post by astrnmrtom »

You are very welcome. That's what this community is all about.

One very minor drawback to flipping the shelves over is the cross bars that are normally on the underside of the shelves, are now on top.
Also, there's no a lot of meat to put the screws in so I used more to attach the brackets. We don't use them for canned goods so there isn't a lot of weight on them.
Attachments
SafariPantryShelf.jpg
SafariPantryShelf.jpg (130.53 KiB) Viewed 5683 times
Tom and Pris Masterson, w/ Buddy the 18 year old Siamese cat.
1998 Serengeti 3706
300hp Cat 3126, Allison 3060
900 Watts of Solar
17cf, Fisher & Paykel residential Refrigerator
Dragging four telescopes around the US seeking dark skies.
Marianne
Posts: 2
Joined: Sun Mar 15, 2020 12:32 pm
Location: New York City, New York
Contact:

Re: Expanding the Kitchen Storage

Post by Marianne »

You have used sink area nicely and make it useful to arrange items like InstaPot, and an Air Fryer. I am really impressed with your ideas. Thanks for sharing pictures of your safari bus.
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