I haven’t had much time the last few weeks, but I’ve made some progress prototyping our kitchen cabinet and layout. It’s all 80-20 10-series. I looked at using 15-series, but it seems like overkill for the weight I’ll be putting in it. It’s in three bays, with the sink in the middle, at least for now, although I’m pondering a swap of sink and drawers.

Originally I was going to build all the drawers from 1⁄2” baltic birch plywood and pocket screws, but then I saw what Ken at OurKaravan had done with 80-20 and Blum drawer hardware. Doing a bit more research, it turns out Ikea Maximera drawers also use Blum hardware, and are quite a bit cheaper, although they come in limited sizes. My cabinets are 22” deep, and the 24”x24” drawers fit brilliantly in the space remaining after fitting the Engel MT45 fridge in one bay and two 7 gallon jerry cans under the sink bay. (Note that 24x24 is the cabinet outside frame size - the drawers are 22 1⁄2” x 21 3⁄8”). A quick trip to Ikea and I had drawers!

kitchen galley

They turned out to be a bit finicky to install - they seem to have 1⁄32” to 1⁄16” flexibility - the repeated adjustability of the 80-20 made things much easier. Once I finish this prototype, I’ll it all take apart, replace the home made corner brackets with anchor fasteners for increased strength and put it back together.

Blum drawer sliders

I made the large bottom drawer out of plywood, since I’ll be using it as a step to ease access to the bed. There’s no way the Ikea drawers would stand up to that sort of weight.

bottom drawer

The Engel will live on the plywood slider at the bottom of the right-hand bay. I’m not sure yet what I’ll do at the top of the right-hand bay. The width needs to be 16.5” for the Engel, and there isn’t a standard Ikea drawer in that width. I’ve ordered some Blum rear fixed brackets to see if they’re compatible with the Ikea version - if so, I should be able to cut down Maximera drawers to fit.

(UPDATE: The Blum rear fixed brackets are not compatible with the Ikea drawer sides. Another option would be to cut down the solid Maximera back, but I haven’t tried that yet)

Notes:

  • If you’re thinking of using 80-20, the 360+ posts of the Sprinter Forum 80-20 megathread is very worthwhile reading.
  • making your own corner brackets dramatically reduces cost for 80-20. Thanks David Orton for the idea.