Kitchen Input

[SDR76]

Originally Posted by Crozz

Anyone ever place their water heater under their bus? We are thinking of boxing it in but using the space under the floor where the bus skin is still covering.

I took the advice of lots of folks here and bought a L5 propane on-demand water heater. I have a RV and the heater was a POS, so i figure an on-demand is worth a shot. Mine is mounted under my counter, takes very little room. If you have a tank, and its cold, watch out for freezing; I have welded up several tanks for friends that have split .

[HJS26]

Originally Posted by ol trunt

Lots of ways to skin a cat. Although we have only 10 feet of living space we have a full kitchen including a 4 burner stove with oven, microwave, toaster, two basin sink, rice cooker, fan driven range hood and a below the counter frig. We use all of it.

mmmm- fresh baked apple pie!
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Hi
I am Very interested in this Pop up roof I idea as I need some headroom over the kitchen. Any info would be wonderful.
Thank you
Howard

[tobeamiss]

Originally Posted by milkmania

9.9 cubic ft Magic Chef refrigerator
Small Stainless steel double sink
Microwave
Toaster oven
Small Toaster
Little breakfast sandwich maker
RV stove/oven (I use my oven, women like it when I cook!)
Magic Chef countertop dishwasher (will be built-in)
Eccotemp L5, plumbed for kitchen & bath
Bbq smoker
Weber grill

I like to eat

sounds like you're really set up!

[tobeamiss]

these are all really great ideas! I sooo can't wait until I get to that phase!
I'm clueless at this stage so all this info is really appreciated.

skoolies are really special group of people!

[BuSmith]

I wasn't a fan of putting an oven in our second build as it has only been used twice this year. The other side of it is that it makes the wife happy to have it there, and it's a cupboard most of the time so that space isn't really sacrificed. Just stick the cast iron in it and pull it out when it's time to bake.

Sent from my XT1575 using Tapatalk

[SDR76]

For what it's worth, I met a family going full time on a trip from Washinton, north to Alaska, now working their way down the Baja. I joined them for coffee and conversation the other day. They had no hot water, a single cold water hand pump. A 2 burner stove (oven didn't work). And no shower. They heated coffee on the wood stove. They were awesome people, and they were happy to make due with what they had to work with...

[milkmania]

Originally Posted by SDR76

For what it's worth, I met a family going full time on a trip from Washinton, north to Alaska, now working their way down the Baja. I joined them for coffee and conversation the other day. They had no hot water, a single cold water hand pump. A 2 burner stove (oven didn't work). And no shower. They heated coffee on the wood stove. They were awesome people, and they were happy to make due with what they had to work with...

Our culture dictates what we want not what we need...
I once told my wife (now ex, now fiancé) I'd rather have nothing, than worry and stress over what I do have.

A really close friend built a new house and HUGE shop... I talked to him Monday, he now realizes (and regrets) that he's put himself in a situation where he HAS to go to work everyday.

[SDR76]

Originally Posted by milkmania

Our culture dictates what we want not what we need...
I once told my wife (now ex, now fiancé) I'd rather have nothing, than worry and stress over what I do have.

A really close friend built a new house and HUGE shop... I talked to him Monday, he now realizes (and regrets) that he's put himself in a situation where he HAS to go to work everyday.

Agreed. I recently read a book called Stuffocation. Its about our cultures' addiction to stuff. Keep it simple, less stress, more balance.
I like this guy:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wKPa3uVddbU

[tobeamiss]

great video, I like this guy too....he gets it

[Motrukdriver]

Microwave/convection oven combo unit? 1 device two functions would save some space.

[WanderWoman]

Originally Posted by milkmania

Our culture dictates what we want not what we need...
I once told my wife (now ex, now fiancé) I'd rather have nothing, than worry and stress over what I do have.

A really close friend built a new house and HUGE shop... I talked to him Monday, he now realizes (and regrets) that he's put himself in a situation where he HAS to go to work everyday.

WOW!!! That shop is HUGE!

Sandi

[MiLochiNya]

Originally Posted by Crozz

I am looking for input from the Skoolie community. I have laid out my bus and measure most things by windows. For example my kitchen space is 3.5 windows at most. I will have some overhead cabinets but only above the kitchen. The issue at hand is with my oven/stove top, single kitchen sink, and chest style fridge freezer I am basically out of counter space and even more so drawers. Under the sink will be a regular water heater which also takes space away.

Couple notes:
I have an external propane grill that I will always have with me.
I am planning on a chest fridge from truckfridge.com.

Questions:
Anyone who has an oven who uses their skoolie as an RV actually use the oven?
Would 2 propane burners be suffice for 1-2 week outings? Think this would only get used at night or when its raining or such.
Is a microwave or toaster oven a better choice than an oven?

Basically i'm looking to remove the oven unit and go with a 2 burner counter unit and gain a couple of shelves and maybe a cutting board. Trying to get a feel for what folks actually use since my kitchen will be rather small and I value counter space. Any input is welcome!

A neat idea I've seen is to make your refrigerator one that is accessed from the top. Basically rotate the compressor 90 degrees. I read it saves a decent amount on electricity and you can put it under part of the counter top that raises up. A bit weird when you have a bunch of stuff on it and you need to get something from the fridge but there are plenty of ways to work this issue out.

[DoubleO7]

Originally Posted by MiLochiNya

A neat idea I've seen is to make your refrigerator one that is accessed from the top. Basically rotate the compressor 90 degrees. I read it saves a decent amount on electricity and you can put it under part of the counter top that raises up. A bit weird when you have a bunch of stuff on it and you need to get something from the fridge but there are plenty of ways to work this issue out.

Why not lay it down with the hinge side on the floor?
Install shocks or a tension spring on the door(s) to control the opening speed. Entire fridge can then stay under the stationary countertop.

[Motrukdriver]

Originally Posted by Crozz

Couple notes:
I have an external propane grill that I will always have with me.
I am planning on a chest fridge from truckfridge.com.

I've been to their showroom a couple of times there in Georgetown Ky. I had plans to buy a fridge from them to fit inside one of my cabinets in the big truck. Boy oh boy are they expensive. I ended up going with a basic dorm fridge with a lock on the door to keep it from swinging open when I was driving. Used it for years and I still have it now as a garage fridge. Dang thing held up nicely for over 400,000 miles in that truck.

[DoubleO7]

somewhere here there is mention of making your own chest fridge out of a conventional chest freezer.
I think all that was needed was an external temperature control assembly to bypass the original controls.

[slaughridge85]

Originally Posted by DoubleO7

somewhere here there is mention of making your own chest fridge out of a conventional chest freezer.
I think all that was needed was an external temperature control assembly to bypass the original controls.

Yep, that (in my opinion) is the best way to go. I tried a 3 way rv fridge first and scrapped that idea pretty fast. The chest freezer with external temp control has drastically lowered my power consumption and at just around 100 bucks for a brand new chest freezer and 60 or so for the temp control I couldn't beat the price, so that's the way I went.

Hid it under part of the kitchen counter-top that is hinged to open with the fridge. Now I have a yuuge kitchen counter and, honestly I could've gone with a smaller chest freezer and been fine.

I don't know if I just got lucky or what but with the temp control set to 35 degrees I get temps from 33-37 towards the top and all the way down at the bottom it stays below freezing. I added a styrofoam divider piece and now have both a fridge and freezer running on one temp control. So I got that goin' for me... Which is nice...

[MiLochiNya]

Originally Posted by DoubleO7

Why not lay it down with the hinge side on the floor?
Install shocks or a tension spring on the door(s) to control the opening speed. Entire fridge can then stay under the stationary countertop.

To conserve energy is my main thought. Cold air falls. Opening a fridge from the top does not allow all the cold air to fall out unlike opening a fridge from the side. Perhaps it doesn't really matter if one has set up a solar power system properly.

[Tango]

Naaa...chest types are inherently more efficient that the side door types for just the reason stated. They don't spill out all the old every time they are opened.

[DoubleO7]

Originally Posted by MiLochiNya

To conserve energy is my main thought. Cold air falls. Opening a fridge from the top does not allow all the cold air to fall out unlike opening a fridge from the side. Perhaps it doesn't really matter if one has set up a solar power system properly.

But energy use wise, a fridge lying on it's side would not dump any more cold air than the 99.99% of all conventional fridges.

But yes, a chest type fridge or freezer would be more efficient energy wise.
But less convenient and less efficient in space use.

I know first hand the benefits of a chest freezer. I have left our chest freezer wide open (by mistake) more than once all day. In the garage when the ambient temps are in the 90's and it still had everything frozen after 10= hours, lol. Power meter was made some more turns though.

[slaughridge85]

Originally Posted by DoubleO7

But less convenient and less efficient in space use.

Mine has actually been more convenient than a conventional set-up and allowed a more efficient use of space for me so YMMV...