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Gepostet
02 February 2025

2023 Kitchen remodelling

Wann
August - October 2023
In welcher Gegend
Kitchen remodelling
Status

The Dog.O.Mobil scratches the 3.5to mark on every tour and I tried to figure out what makes it so heavy. I found the YT video from bergbrise-camping EVERY SECOND MOTORHOME OVERLOADED? informative and rejected the idea of increasing the load to 4to. It was more of a coincidence that I noticed that my Ikea kitchen is significantly heavier than I thought. So I saw potential here

For months I looked into alternatives. In the end I realized that I have to build a kitchen unit myself because the space is given and I don't want to rebuild my gas box, including the hole in the floor, and I don't have the budget for a new worktop.

After looking at various blogs, I ended up with aluminum connector systems. There are a few providers and I chose www.alusteck.de. Actually because their blog Camper Expansion: Made Easy helped me to get started.

While I was planning the new kitchen, I tore out the old kitchen. Wasn't smart in hindsight. Because it wasn't possible to reinstall it!

I was quite amazed at how dilapidated some parts were. Moisture, bumpy dirt roads and boon docking do leave their marks on the plates and hinges. Actually, the kitchen isn't meant for that either!

I started with the refrigerator plug-in set. Took out the folding ruler and measured. I had the aluminum profiles for the conversion cut to the size that I had measured and planned pretty quickly

When the delivery came and, being as ham-fisted as I was, I put the 32 rods and angles together without an additional moment of consideration 😳. Proudly, like a little boy, I went into the Dogo.O.Mobil with the scaffolding and tried to mount it in the right place. Just the day before I had also removed the final top and groove wooden board when another strut appeared in the Sprinter. My MB 906 actually doesn't have a single flat surface and has tons of struts. You can imagine how disappointed I was when the scaffolding did not fit in as I planned. A few days later I shortened 4 aluminum profiles because I couldn't think of anything better. It's not possible to exchange them and buying new ones costs money.

What have I learned?

  1. Measuring accurately is important, but having a 3 dimensional idea is essential. I experimented with paper, PowerPoint and CAD software. With zero CAD experience, I quickly gave up on CAD.
  2. I would have saved a lot of time if the edge lengths had either all been the same, or so different that you couldn't mix them up. That wasn't the case and so I put the whole thing together twice, with a sleepless night in between.

Even this rather simple cabinet consisted of 20 aluminum profiles and 12 angle elements. My first draft for the rest of the kitchen unit had over 180 profiles and angles. Since I didn't think I would ever be able to put it together without making a mess, I built a calculator in MS Excel. On each sheet I put together another option and determined the exact dimensions of the aluminum profiles. I messed around with the restrictions (gas box including hole and length of the sides) for quite a long time. At some point I realized that my ideas resulted in too many individual parts. Once I figured that out, I fixed the widths and heights of as many compartments as possible. Nevertheless, 118 puzzle pieces (profiles, angles, flat bars) were distributed across 16 different order positions

Happy to finally have a blueprint, I ordered the puzzle pieces. I needed flat bars to assemble the 16 telescopic rails. My idea was not to pre-cut the drawer wood, but to cut it only when I could measure the dimensions on the frame (good idea!). My XLS models are good but only as good as my ability to plan for everything.

3 years ago I went to my trusted wood wholesaler and just bought it. In August 2023, I couldn't get poplar plywood more than 10mm thick. 3 month delivery time for anything else I needed. Things weren't looking much better at the hardware stores and, above all, they were more expensive.

In the end I bought two 10 mm plates locally and all the other plates from MySpiegel.de. Good quality, cut to the size I needed and quick delivery. The best option in August 2023. The alternative would have been Aduis.de, but I didn't find it until later. The basic costs per board are significantly cheaper here.

The aluminum profiles, angles and flat bars arrived first. The telescopic rails arrived a few days later

Took a few hours to put the puzzle together. As a test, I tried to put the scaffolding into the van and discovered that

  1. I couldn't get the scaffolding into the van in one piece. It was always offensive somewhere. In the end I had to put in first the long side and then the short side
  2. My gas box was 5 mm further to the left, so 4 profiles were too long and 4 were too short 🤯. 4 new profiles were ordered.

The next challenge I faced came with the flat bars for the telescopic rails. I decided to drill the holes before installing the scaffolding in the van and attach them to the aluminum profiles. Fixing it after the frame was in the van was too complicated for me because I'm not the smallest.

I calculated the holes using my Excel calculator and then diligently drilled and screwed them. I lined the flat bars with wooden slates behind them to give them more support. My profiles were 25 mm thick and the slates were 24 mm thick. I later realized that this 1mm difference would cause me a lot of extra work.

After 2 more weeks it looked like this. While I was drilling and screwing, I primed the poplar plywood. In the IKEA kitchen, the dominant colors were gray and black. My daughter had some really nice color suggestions and we agreed to replace the gray with 3 new colors.

At the Maler Wenk shop we saw our desired colors on large color boards and got them mixed straight away.

So, the scaffolding was in place, the wood was primed, the colors were chosen, now all that was left to do was cut the boards 🤥. With a plunge saw I can cut wonderfully large boards, but cutting wood for 15 drawers with 5 boards each, I would quickly reach my limits. I would miss most likely a few millimeters every now and then. I decided to buy a table saw

The Evolution Rage 5S  was presented at Bauforum24 and did everything I needed. After 2 months of use I would say it does what I do with it really well. The only other thing I bought is a saw blade with more teeth for cutting wood. The 10 mm poplar panels in particular tear out quickly.

And so I started with the first 2 drawers, which I cut out of 10 mm boards. I most likely have to redo the drawers in the next few years. The 10 mm boards forgive no errors 😖. I also screwed the drawers together twice because the first time I only used a carpenter's angle and didn't measure the diagonal to determine the right angle.

The front surface should have been flush with the aluminum profile, but it didn't. As I said, a 1mm error here and there adds up and results in drawers that don't run smoothly or don't close flush. I had to place a plastic shim under each flat bar on the wooden slats. In order not to go crazy, I painted the fronts while I was building the drawers. After 2 weeks it looked like this.

First I wanted to align all the fronts and have clear lines. Since that wasn't so easy, I decided to move each front a little. It doesn't bother me and it's much easier on my nerves

Finally, I re-routed cables, installed the new water tanks, shortened my worktop and put the whole thing together. And I cursed again. The cupboard compartment under the gas stove was narrower than the gas stove and the gas stove is 3 cm deep. I couldn't cut the aluminum profile as it holds the flat bar. That's why my gas stove is now elevated.

Then silicone joints were made, a folding table was installed, magnetic locks were attached and so on...

Then the bed sheets were dyed brown because the green clashes with the green of the fronts.

And bags were made out of felt.

So, the conversion is complete and I have saved almost 200 kg in weight. The first test went well, I only had to install an additional magnetic lock.

The Ikea kitchen cost almost €1,500 at the time. The conversion cost me almost €1,250 without the new table saw. €600 for the aluminum, €500 for wood and the rest for screws and other small parts