Van Build: Interior Cabinets Part I

Now that I've received my Fridge and rear fold down seat it was time to start measuring and seeing what dimensions the cabinets could be, and figure how every thing would fit. Originally I figured I'd be making everything by scratch, but as luck would have it my girlfriend's landlord at work was getting rid of some used cabinets, and a bar sink! Score! I new I could use some of it.

Here's the fridge. It's huge, and has a freezer, oooh. It also happened to fit perfectly in one of the cabinet enclosures.

With all the new floor insulation, I didn't want the carpet back in, so I ordered a molded front plastic floor covering from stockinteriors.com I ordered tan, but it came in kind of a baby schmidt brown. I then ordered a quart of interior trim dye from SEM, in a color of my choosing. I sprayed it with my HVLP spray gun. I trimmed the mat, and installed it, then reinstalled the seats.

So with the fridge enclosure, and the sink I could start making some plans. I probably didn't take enough pictures of the cabinet build, but will do my best to describe the process. Firstly I set the fridge enclosure just behind the drivers seat. Now I would say I am of average height and I set the seat to a comfortable driving position. I only allowed an inch behind the seat back. If I were any taller, or had to build this for the taller than average Joe, none of this would probably have worked. Then I measured for the cabinets. Lucky for me three doors, and one drawer fit with only a little trimming. There would be two cabinets. A kitchen cabinet, and a closet unit. The closet unit would end up being built in place with what ever length was left over.

Here you can see the kitchen cabinet under construction. I painted the insides of all the cabinets a glossy white enamel. This helps seeing inside a dark cabinet, and allows for easy spill clean-up. The outside of the cabinet will be a Formica laminate, that I had left over from a previous kitchen remodel.

The bed/sofa had to be installed to make sure I had the proper tolerances. And a tight fit it was. There were some issues with the bed install, but I'll get to that in an upcoming post.