Additional storage (kitchen) space - DIY (!?)

[Eber123]

Hello,

As many others I believe there is not enough storage space in the kitchen area of the GC 600. During the 3 1/2 weeks holiday this summer we used Euro boxes placed behind the divider wall. But as it turned out, most of the time the things we needed or were looking for were in the lower box. So the top box had to be moved to get access to the lower box. That annoyed me a wee bit.

In Caliboard Forum there was a post of how to add a nice Ikea cabinet under the bed. The installation seemed straight forward and no VW parts needed to be cut or changed. So I thought I give it a try. Have I said that I had my doubts because my DIY capabilities are not that great. Normally I had a perfect plan and picture in my head, but it never turned out that way.

But I gave it a try ...

At the moment I am halfway in the work and have might doubts. It seems it is not that easy as I thought (or wanted to be). Here are the issues I run into (so far) and my thoughts about the setup.

I bought from Ikea the cabinet "Eket" in the size of 35x35x70.
The good thing is that the color seems to match rather well with the darker chocolate brown of the VW garage. I am a wee bit color blind, but I think it is the best we could get as a matching color in a none VW standard product.
Now starting to work on it, of course I did run into problems. The cabinet cost EUR 45.00 and because of this it is not made out of wood it is a kind of pressed cardboard. Don't get me wrong, it is sufficient for what it was build for, but drilling and cutting is a nightmare. I did already a lot of damage....

Push looks from VW
I got 2x push looks from VW. I paid EUR 13.00 + VAT each. Not that bad. They would had been cheaper in Germany, but the online shop I found refuses to send to Ireland (what?).
It was not easy to install those locks. The silver frame (not the push button) has no option to get fixed in the material of the door. I drilled a 30 mm hole, but that is too big and the frame is lose. So I drilled a 28 mm hole (the only next smaller size I had) which of course was to narrow. I had to widen it. It was a mess. If it is done in real wood it is easier, but in the cheap cardboard door it is a mess and the door can be very easily damaged.
At the moment I assume that a 29 mm hole must be drilled and the silver frame pushed hard into it. Doing so will ensure that the silver frame is properly installed.

Safety of the cupboard
I thought about the safety and I thought I get 2x push buttons to ensure that the door won't open in case of an emergency break. But assembling the cupboard I saw that the hinges of the door are just two flimsy pins. So I have to think about this.
Thinking about all this, in all the reviews (Youtube or others) there are very seldom cupboards pointing the door towards the front. There might be a reason for it. Some people might have problems with the fridge from VW, but I was reading that this fridge is crash tested... mh.

So far the 2x push buttons are installed (finally after 3x hours of work). The next step is to take out the bed to get access under the bed and plan where to put the cupboard.
Then the side panel of the water tank has to be taken out (should be easy, just 4x screws) and drill the few holes into the cupboard to fix the site panel to the unit. After that the U shaped holder will be fixed to the cupboard on the left side and everything put back into place.

At the moment I take it slowly because there is a lot that still can go wrong.

I thought I post my experience of this attempted change to increase storage space. Again, I am not so good with DIY and I am sure somebody could do it far better than me, but for the others like me, think twice to start this little project. If I decide to cancel that project I lost the money for the Ikea cabinet and the 2x push buttons from VW. It is annoying, put it could be worse and nothing at the camper was changed or damaged.

Confused Grand California
Eberhard

 

[Eber123]

I did a bit of more work on the cabinet this afternoon. This is how it looks like at the moment:



As you can see the silver frames are not as straight as I they should be. Also I managed to get a scratch on the furniture at the lower push button.



I tried to build a real high barrier (10 cm) in front of the shelves to stop items falling / sliding out. Those items were fixed with screws, but it is not "timber" more like a honey comb thing. So to get it screwed in strong was not easy. ON the lower, right corner the screws are visible. I was running out of timber. I only had that piece left.



Here you can see some of the screws.



This is the other side In front of the cabinet are the screws that will fit onto the airline rail.

I will not continue until next week. I have some idea to make installation a wee bit easier. Let's see.

Have a nice weekend.

Kind regards,
Eberhard

 

[andyinluton]

Looking good

If you are fitting it facing forward have you allowed for some packing under the unit so that the door can open over the chrome trim in the floor?

Also are you going to be able to still acces the electrical cupboard.? I can’t think of a more inconvenient place to locate the big red switch than where vw have put it.

 

[Eber123]

According to the pictures I saw there is enough room to open the electrical cupboard. Yes, I agree to place the main switch there was a wrong decision from VW.

Don't get me wrong, I like the Grand California now, but there are a few design decisions which are unbelievable. I would love to talk to the VW designers to hear what excuse they have.

Regards,
Eberhard

 

[dominichayhoe]

To me the design of the GC clearly looks like the first time VW have made a camper with bathroom, which it is!
Other specialist hab design companies do it much better.

However, I had a 5.4M van previously with bathroom so am used to using space wisely.

I use Sea To Summit collapsible pots and pans in my kitchen draws which saves tons of space.

 

[Eber123]

Helo,

For me it seems that there are only 4x kitchen related storage spaces. We would like (and need) to store the following:

1.) Cups, glases, plates etc.
2.) Pots and pans
3.) Cutlery
4.) Food

So far we have organised this as follow:

1.) Cups, glases, plates
Those items are in the wall cupboard above the sink. There is just enough space for what we need.

2.) Pots and pans
For this we use the 2x small drawers under the sink. Here also the space is just enough for the pair of us.

3.) Cutlery
Of course we use the drawer under the cooker

4.) Food
During the holidays we used 2x Euro boxes behind the divider wall. That wasn't ideal. I feel there is not enough room to store food in the GC 600. To leave it in the boot is for me not an option. Food should be more accesible.

And just for the 4th point I was looking for an improvement, hoping that the new cabinet would help. I think it would, if I can manage to install it securely and nice.

Also I think the boot needs to be loaded in a "special" way meaning to leave room on the left side to get access to the two doors. During the holiday the boot was full. Each time I needed to get access to the left cabinets I had to make room. That wasn't nice. My plan is to get the new cabinet in place. Behind the cabinet a big Euro box (on the right) for bottles and backpacks etc. On the left there will be the bag with the levels. That is the only think that should be removed to get access to the doors.

Maybe I am to fuzzy or I have too much time on my hand. .

Storage deprived Grand California,
Eberhard

 

[krimarc]

We have also found our GC600 to be a bit cramped but built a shelf last winter which has worked very well on our travels, any storage we can get is valuable.

Now I want to change the cabinet door to the front cabinet (with the electrical controls) so it will be left-hanged and easy to reach this way.
I saw someone here in the forum who had done that

View attachment 97035 View attachment 97034

 

[krimarc]

We have also found our GC600 to be a bit cramped but built a shelf last winter which has worked very well on our travels, any storage we can get is valuable.

Now I want to change the cabinet door to the front cabinet (with the electrical controls) so it will be left-hanged and easy to reach this way.
I saw someone here in the forum who had done that

View attachment 97035 View attachment 97034

 

[andyinluton]

Now I want to change the cabinet door to the front cabinet (with the electrical controls) so it will be left-hanged and easy to reach this way.
I saw someone here in the forum who had done that

I've just taken the door off for now & left it like that.
Also travel without the boot divider boards in place, but have a couple of large euro crates in the isle under the bed with a couple of bungee cords attached to the floor rails to stop the m moving around.

 

[The Blue Merle]

To me the design of the GC clearly looks like the first time VW have made a camper with bathroom, which it is!
Other specialist hab design companies do it much better.

However, I had a 5.4M van previously with bathroom so am used to using space wisely.

I use Sea To Summit collapsible pots and pans in my kitchen draws which saves tons of space.

View attachment 96922

First time VW have built any camper from scratch I think

 

[Eber123]

Hello,

I "paused" over the bank holiday weekend with the "project" (and it does rain every hour anyway).

I still like the idea of the cabinet. I am not sure if it is ok to copy the pictures from Caliboard to here, but let me do it anyway to see what tempt me to start this work.

Here are some screenshots from Caliboard:









For me this looks still the best solution.

1.) The color fits
2.) Size seems a good compromise between storage space and lost space in the boot
3.) No structure change on the camper
4.) In theory, not so expensive

My biggest problem are the installation of the VW push buttons. I think they add a lot to the "VW look" and match well with the rest of the boot furniture.

Let's see what my plans are for next week...

Regards,
Eberhard

 

[Mr T]

We have also found our GC600 to be a bit cramped but built a shelf last winter which has worked very well on our travels, any storage we can get is valuable.

Now I want to change the cabinet door to the front cabinet (with the electrical controls) so it will be left-hanged and easy to reach this way.
I saw someone here in the forum who had done that

View attachment 97035 View attachment 97034

@GordonH has done this. When I asked him about it he wrote the following helpful response:

“If you are OK with home DIY its easy enough. You’ll need to swap the hinges to standard 90 degree kitchen hinges like the back cupboard has, turn the door through 180, the now ‘top’ hinge hole works fine, if you want the water isolation access door on the floor to open (which I did) you need to drill a new 35mm hole for the bottom hinge higher up to allow clearance. To position the new hinges on the cupboard side you will need spacers (15mm if memory serves right). Cupboard latch then needs something to work against in its new position. I’ve got a 3D printer so made all the necessary parts but they could be fabricated from whatever works for you. It all makes sense once you remove door and look at it. I’d recommend quick release hinge types so you can take the door off easily. A little PIR activated battery light in the cupboard and some shelves turn it into a very useable and surprisingly big space.”

Hope this helps, all credit to Gordon. I’ve not yet tackled this job yet.

 

[krimarc]

@GordonH has done this. When I asked him about it he wrote the following helpful response:

“If you are OK with home DIY its easy enough. You’ll need to swap the hinges to standard 90 degree kitchen hinges like the back cupboard has, turn the door through 180, the now ‘top’ hinge hole works fine, if you want the water isolation access door on the floor to open (which I did) you need to drill a new 35mm hole for the bottom hinge higher up to allow clearance. To position the new hinges on the cupboard side you will need spacers (15mm if memory serves right). Cupboard latch then needs something to work against in its new position. I’ve got a 3D printer so made all the necessary parts but they could be fabricated from whatever works for you. It all makes sense once you remove door and look at it. I’d recommend quick release hinge types so you can take the door off easily. A little PIR activated battery light in the cupboard and some shelves turn it into a very useable and surprisingly big space.”

Hope this helps, all credit to Gordon. I’ve not yet tackled this job yet.

That was a really good instruction, something to do for me before text trip ;-)

 

[Eber123]

Hello,

I just wanted to update my post about the new storage cabinet.

I finished the work yesterday. In total it took me 3x days and in general I am rather happy with it. Here are some pictures of the new setup:





There were two issues with the installation 1.) it is me. I am not so good in DIY. Because of this I struggled a bit which shows in some areas (scratches, not straight ...). 2.) I have to be fair the Ikea cabinet was not designed for this and because of this it was more difficult to get a few things done.

I struggled with the following:

1.) Installation of the original VW push buttons
2.) To place screws, even to drill holes are difficult in this kind of "wood"
3.) To screw the new cabinet to the board beside the water tank was tricky (measurements)

Good is the:

1.) color of the cabinet
2.) the cabinet is not too heavy
3.) No holes were drilled or any change of VW original parts

I think it is rock solid secured in place and can provide the much needed storage space for food. We will have our first trip to Northern Ireland this weekend so we can see how the idea of the new storage space worked.

Regards,
Eberhard

PS
We replaced the original VW chairs with other chairs. I hope I manage to get some pictures up to show what we have done and why. So watch this space ...