Kitchen Pod

This weekend was due to be a weekend jaunt down to Devon to catch some waves and camp in the van.  However last weekend I got caught in Portugal due to the volcanic ash cloud and took a 40 hour train ride from Faro to London to get home so was sort of all travelled out.   On top of, and more importantly than, that the wave forecast was flat as a pancake so we decided to skip the journey west this weekend.    That left me with a free weekend and nothing to do.   So I took the bull by the horns and built my kitchen pod.

You might recall I had designed the pod using Google Sketchup.  I took the laptop with the software on it over to my pal Terry's house and we set it up in easy reach of our work area, on his drive.

Laptop was used for constant checking of the design.

We then unloaded the timber from the back of the van, sorting it into piles for doors, walls, lids, shelves and so on.

The timber had been pre cut to size by the local timber merchants.

The first step was to simply put the frame together.  This was built from standard 2" x 1" timber from the timber merchants, already cut to size, so all we had to do was screw it together in the frame I had already designed.

The frame took moments to put together.

The frame was in two parts, separated by the dividing wall which splits the hob section of the cabinet from the cutlery section.   Once the two halves were built we popped them into the van to see how they would look and fit.   A good start.

Nice fit.

Then all that was left to do was slap the bottoms, sides and tops on to the frame and we had a cabinet.   At least that was the theory.   But here we hit our first snag and here I learnt a valuable lesson.   All the bits of 12mm ply that the timber merchants had cut were slightly too big for the frame.   I double checked and all the plywood was exactly the right size - exactly as I had ordered.  Something had gone wrong with my design then.   As I stood there confused Terry explained my error. 

Apparently everyone calls 2" x 1" timber 'two by one', but when you come to actually buy it, the timber merchants use metric measurements and in fact these timber planks are not exactly 2" x 1", they are slightly smaller.  In fact closer to 20mm x 40mm.    This meant my frame was considerably smaller than I thought it was going to be and as such all the sides and tops and shelves were slightly too big.   Not a massive issue, it just meant we had to cut each panel to size, but when I had already paid £20 to have all this wood cut to size it was a bit annoying and it slowed us down lots.  Ultimately this was my fault for not understanding how the measurements worked in the real world.   If I ever do this sort of thing again I'll design it in mm scale and get it exactly right.    It would have saved us hours of trimming and cutting.   Still, on the plus side, at least each section was too big and none were too small!

A few hours later we had the cabinet built.

Now it was just a case of getting down to it, sawing, sanding and screwing the panels to the framework.   A few hours later we were complete and it was time to stick the doors on.  Again we had to adjust the sizes but that was no worries.

We then took a trip to B&Q where we picked up door hinges, door handles, a set of small wheels for the underside, a tea towel holder, two large handles for the sides of the cabinet - to help us to pick it up and carry it as we will be carrying it in and out of the van a lot.

By that time the day was done and it was time to go home.

On Sunday I sat in the van at home and stuck all the bits onto the cabinet.  At this stage it was starting to look like a proper cabinet.

The kitchen pod in situ.

I also cut the shelves to size (we'd run out of time to do them the day before) and fitted them, after looking through our camping gear and typical food we might like to fit into the cabinet so as to pick sensible shelf sizes.

Shelves are set to hold gas bottles and camping gear.

I drilled a hole in the section where the hob fits to allow the gas pipe to drop down into the lower section where the gas bottles are stored.  So everything is neat and tidy on the inside and all the doors can be closed up when not needed.

The gas hob fits perfectly in the top shelf.

The extra addons like the wheels and side handles were a bit of an after thought but I'm really happy with them.  Me and Mrs Blakey were able to easily lift the pod, fully laden with gas bottles and camping gear out of the van and onto the drive, where we were able to easily wheel it up to the shed and pop it into its new living place when not in the van.    This means when we want to go camping we just open the shed, wheel the pod to the van and pop it inside.   So easy.

Side handle and tea towel holder on the side.

After all that we now have what is virtually a working kitchen pod.    At B&Q we also bought a sheet of thin metal that is designed to go into the section where the gas hob lives so as to protect the wood from heat and any rogue flames.  That still needs to be cut to size and fitted into the pod.

Also due to where the pod sits in the van the lid above the hob cannot open to a vertical position - the windows start to come back in at that position, cramping its range of motion.  So the lid over the hob will overhang the gas burner ever so slightly when open.  I'm not happy about that and have to think of a solution to change this.

In addition the biggest issue still outstanding is how to attach the pod to the van when travelling.   I have some brackets in mind to do this but am going to think some more about it before I  fit it as it is a big decision and I have 2 weeks before I'm planning using the van for camping again.

I guess I also have to consider covering the pod - either with fablon like the last cabinet, or by varnishing.   This is just cosmetic however and not a high priority.

All in all I'm really pleased with a weekend's work and I am sure we could have got it done in a day if the ply wood had been cut to the right size in the first place.  A lesson learnt.

Cost to date:  £60 wood, £20 cutting service.  £70 ironmongery (hinges, handles, wheels, latches, etc), including £30 for the metal heat sheet for the hob.   Total: £150.    Total time about 15 hours work.