When we got our coach back in 2011, it didn't take long for us to figure out that we didn't need as much ice as could be provided by the built in ice maker, which took approximately the same space as a standard two drawer filing cabinet. Our ice maker was installed below the pantry on the passenger side of the coach opposite the fridge. In the space revealed with the icemaker removed, there is a drain pipe which comes from a vent pipe and washer hook up cubby that runs at an angle down into the grey tank and up through the closet, as well as several bundles of coach DC wire and a few A/C romex cables. Additionally, the aged out LP detector was mounted down low on the side of the cabinet facing the dining table. This later I removed, enlarged the opening, and installed a two gang outlet box. I wired the outlets so that one of these is feed by an inverter circuit and the other by shore power or generator.
The space formerly occupied by the icemaker has been used by us as a disorganized catch all storage since its removal. I have had just too many higher priority projects to work on and so ignored the urge address the chaos of that black hole. I happened to have a unit that I bought that features two drawer slide mounted wire baskets for another project that ended up having different solution. I bought it at a Lowes but they are available through Amazon as well. It is a Rev-A-Shelf 2-Tier Pull-Out Cabinet Organizer assembly. (https://www.amazon.com/Rev-Shelf-5WB2-1218-CR-Cabinet-Pull-Out/dp/B00H46MB3C?psc=1&SubscriptionId=AKIAILSHYYTFIVPWUY6Q&tag=duckduckgo-osx-20&linkCode=xm2&camp=2025&creative=165953&creativeASIN=B00H46MB3C)
Unfortunately, the unit was ¼" too wide and ⅞" too deep to fit in the opening of the cabinet. In order to make it fit width wise, I would have to cut a 5/16" wide strip out of one side of the vertical cabinet face frame to accommodate the width of the storage basket unit. To make the depth work, I added a face frame extension made out of ¾" oak 1"x2" laminated to ¼" thick oak strips ripped from wider boards. I would have just used 1" thick material, but I already had the other stuff.
Since the drain pipe ran through the back of the cabinet as well as all the wiring etc., I decided to do cable management on the wire bundles and the romex so that it would all be contained in the bottom rear of the cabinet behind the drain pipe. I made a cover for this as well as a cover for the left side of the cabinet where the outlet J-box was located with a ⅛" sheet of oak veneer plywood. Foretravel also used this space to run wires run up to the coach information panel. I had already run the wires for the new furnace thermostat and some cat 5e cable for the second EMS display that will be used to monitor the generator A/C in the same area. I used the shallowest possible J-box for the outlets because the pull out wire baskets needed the full width of the available space. The goal of this exercise was to create as much usable storage space and to protect the wire bundles. There are also hot and cold PEX feeds for the washer run along the floor at the very back. Doing the cable management was a time consuming but very necessary process. I redid many of the connections one at a time rerouting each bundle and using cable clamps and zip ties to keep them organized.
After using some ¾" X 1 ½" furring strips to make the bottom of the cabinet flat and level all the way across and making a cover for the cables that has an opening cut out to fit over the 45º angled drain pipe, I used a scrap piece of some FRP to cover the furring strips to line the bottom of the cabinet. The FRP doesn't attract dust and is very easy to wipe down. Next I made a shelf for the storage unit frame to sit on as it uses pre drilled and tapped U-shaped 11 gauge flat stock to secure the drawer slides that is supported from the bottom. At about this time, I realized that it would have been easier to make my own drawer boxes sized to fit the existing space... but by this time, I was too far down this road to change my mind and Tys was sold on the idea of having the wire baskets for storing fresh produce as the air circulation provided by the baskets is a desirable feature for this purpose. The shallower space at the bottom of the cabinet turned out to be just large enough for dedicated storage of 11 to 12 large rolls of toilet paper. For this space I made a drawer front that friction fits over the opening to keep the dust out.
Wowwww Don...great work and utilization of space.
Pat two to finish up with final pictures;
Originally, since I was under a deadline to get the coach ready for our traveling season, I was going to leave it at that. But since I happened to have one large file cabinet sized drawer front that I had scored from Dave Flanagan at Foretravel, I decided to try and give the project a more finished look sooner rather than later. The wire basket were not designed to have drawer fronts put on them, but I did find a bracket made to mount a cabinet door to the bottom wire basket. I used the bracket to mount the large drawer front on the bottom basket, and made a smaller drawer front to attach to the top basket. The addition of the drawer fronts made the project look OEM to my eye, and after the addition of a Foretravel style bottom drawer latch to keep the drawers closed on these horrendous roads, the function is everything I hoped for.
Don
Beautiful, pro quality work...as usual.
Thanks Hans & Chuck,
I hope this helps someone contemplating something similar. I know some people find their dedicated icemaker indispensable. But in a 36 footer, storage is at a premium. Especially for us because we carry a lot of very specific dry package goods, good organic produce, and cooking supplies. It is often a challenge to find the kinds of food we prefer on the road, so when we do, we need a place to put it all. At any rate, writing these things up is not so much about beating my own drum as much a memory aid for myself, because I can always (almost...) find it again on the forum... viva la forum! ;D
Don
I just converted our ice maker to a freezer which works well for us. We just buy extra ice if we need it. Have a great day ---- Fritz
Nice work. Looks OEM
Love the Rev-A-Shelf units. Put them in our coach and now, gone from, that, we've put them in our condo. Solid and a great selection for every purpose. No, I don't own stock.