Galley countertop size... standard or shallow?

[TygerCub]

I've been kicking around ideas for my non-existent bus and like the idea of making the countertops 18" instead of 24" to give me more floor space to move. Most of my cooking now consists of boiling water, or nuking food, so I really don't need much surface area to set stuff down on. The galley can actually be quite small.

Lowes has some nice 18" Roman Stone Porcelain Tile that's relatively inexpensive. Two pieces of that would give me a 3' counter. Three pieces would make the counter 4'6". Much more than that and I'll start piling "junk" on top.


Does anyone else have experience with a shallow countertop? If so, are ya happy with the size? Or do you wish you'd gone to a regular 2' depth?

[Papabear]

I have also tossed this idea around (18"v24") I decided the extra 6" would benifit drawer depth and storage. That and it just matched up better with the bath area, as they would be the same depth.
A wise man once said: Six inches is not so much in a mountain, Ah, but a penis

[TygerCub]

Extra drawer space is all good and fine, but I find only the first half of any drawer is ever used in any meaningful way - even at home. Anything past the first two-thirds of a drawer ends up being half buried under junk and forgotten. Until I clean the drawers out and suddenly realize, OH, there's that thingiewazzit I lost last year!

So besides a place to lay down the pot/pan and plate/bowl currently being used, I can't see a need for larger counter space. I'll try it. What the heck. If I need more space, I'll rip it out and put new stuff in later.

[baadpuppy]

the only thing that comes to mind is that many appliances are designed to be fairly flush with the front of a cabinet/counter. If that won't be a problem for you then I say go for it.

jim

[GoneCamping]

No need to reinvent the wheel... the ready made counter tops are easy to install, and don't take up too much room. See for yourself, plenty of space left over...

[Papabear]

Tygercub, you are right about junk in the back of drawers.

Gonecamping, nice job inside. looks very livable

[Redbear]

I'd been planning on 20 inch counters when I get a bus. I know that doesn't go with your materials, so to each his own. I want to be able to add extra insulation in the walls, and still have about 3 foot aisles. I haven't figured how this will work in a floor plan, but saving the extra 4 inches in front of the counter will help.

[GoneCamping]

As an addendum to my post above with the picture, my bus is 90" wide inside, the two counter tops sitting on either side (across from each other) total 48", leaving me with a 42" aisle...

[SeanF]

Another consideration is that with an 18" counter top, you'll be standing 6" closer to the wall when doing prep, cooking, dishes, etc. This means you'll be further into the wall/ceiling curve. A lot of factors are in play....wall insulation, floor insulation, your height, etc. but your head my be bumping the ceiling at that point.

Speaking for my own setup, I have standard-depth counters, and the opposite side is built out to 28", and on average my center aisle is 33" wide. It feels like plenty of room.

[TygerCub]

Thanks for all the input! And thanks for the photos. They really help a lot!

I'm planning on living inside, so was trying to make as much visual space as possible without losing storage. But the other reason I want extra floor space is to be able to work on large crafts (i.e. cut out leather from a hide), which always takes up more space than I expect. I may go ahead and make the galley tiny, but give myself a 2.5' x 6' heavy-duty work desk and just deal with things that way. I'm not too worried about head room at this juncture. I'm only 5'4" and my only other passenger, Grandma, is 5' flat and shrinking. Having 6' of headroom will be plenty, even at the curve (I hope).

Thanks again to everyone for helping me conceptualize space!