kitchen - starting with a skeleton

[wandererr]

So, playing with Visio I have put together a skeleton for the Kitchen for my JKU. I would be using the Aluminum Extrusion (got 10 sticks of it already to check it out and I like it's strength to weight relationship). There would be no crossbeams on the bottom on the passengers sides as that would be "open" for my daughter to have her legs and sleep on if she comes out with us. The bottom pieces would be anchored into the floor for support. The top would be covered with 1/2" plywood for the deck and to add rigidity.












I'm still trying to figure out the fridge slide portion. I'm thinking two independent slides with a third one sandwiched in the middle. At first I was going to have the big fridge drawer come out 2 28" and then have the kitchen utility drawer come out from within that another 28" Then I realized that means I'd be hanging 56" out of the back of the jeep putting a lot of stress on the mounting points and.

So I started thinking about the independent slides:
1. Would be a deck for the fridge that would come out 28" and maybe have a small 1.5' table slide come out from within that to put stuff on that I take out of the fridge.
2. Kitchen/utility drawer that would hold kitchen stuff - utensils, small pots and the like (I got some that would be the perfect depth/height for that).

Idea is that I slide out the fridge, take out what I need and put it on the small piece at the end, slide the fridge with everything back in and then slide out the drawer below, gather everything else and move to wherever I will prep my meal (I either have a table that is nearby or I carry a table to do my cooking).





Thoughts? I'm thinking about using 20/20 as that seems to be the right strength to support my needs and I have 150# locking slides on order (I wish I could order something lighter as I doubt I will get close to 100#'s each for the fridge and the drawer, but it seems that for locking ones in 28" that's about par for the course).

Oh yeah, the height is also crucial for me as I have it set so that I can put 4 small plastic box crates on top of the back "deck" for packing/organization. I currently can fit 3 side by side but when I get rid of the rear wiper with UM top, I can rotate them by 90 degrees and have 2 by 2 allowing me to pack clothes and supplies there and have them grouped by category and not mix with each other.

 

[NatersXJ6]

Maybe a fold down shelf on the drivers side of the fridge solves your “set stuff” problem without requiring another set of slides?

 

[wandererr]

Maybe a fold down shelf on the drivers side of the fridge solves your “set stuff” problem without requiring another set of slides?

The problem is that I will need to slide the fridge in to access my kitchen drawer so the foldout on the fridge will not work. I'm potentially thinking about a foldout on the kitchen drawer but there I'm limited to height of the drawer.

 

[NatersXJ6]

I see your point. Mine is quite a bit different, as my entire thing is on a full width slide, so the chuck box just sits next to the fridge. Although you have a valid point about how far “out” You will be to have the fridge and kitchen drawer move together, there might be some usefulness in setting it up that way, especially if a leg drops out the bottom for support and then you leave the whole thing set up during meal prep? Or you have the drawer pull sideways out from under the fridge, but then the fridge has to be out to open the other drawer and the fridge mounts have to get creative with placement (I.E. halfway up the fridge). You might have to compromise some design intent to make something work well.

As a side note, I really like having a separate chuck box, as I usually carry it to a table remote from the Jeep and just make 1 or 2 trips to grab all my fridge stuff.

 

[wandererr]

Part of the idea is that i wanna open and pull all the stuff I want out of the fridge all at once. It gets hot out in the SoCal so i wanna open and close the fridge as few times as possible

I think that the first step is to build the skeleton as it is in the pic and then figure out the rest of the idea - as in the slides/drawers. For the time being i can just store the fridge there

As a side note: haven't measured this part yet, but I'm hoping that I can fit the fridge battery behind the fridge

 

[NatersXJ6]

That all depends on the fridge. In a JKU, you probably won’t make it work. The battery might sit up on the wheel well, but may interfere with the seat belt. My ARB 50 is within an inch of touching the top of the back seat and about an inch of touching the back door. I just run off one battery in the Jeep and use a couple of solar panels to keep it fresh. In Fresno, so similar heat I’m sure.

If your goal is having the drawer more accessible than the fridge, put the drawer above it? A lower fridge can be pretty helpful. My experience says no matter how well you plan your meals, you will make multiple returns to both the fridge and the drawers if you are truly cooking and not just heating instant or pre cooked meals. Anyway, it can be a fun and rewarding project, and no 2 look the same. If you ever come up the 99 drop me a line and you can check my setup out.

 

[jscherb]

That all depends on the fridge. In a JKU, you probably won’t make it work. The battery might sit up on the wheel well, but may interfere with the seat belt. My ARB 50 is within an inch of touching the top of the back seat and about an inch of touching the back door. I just run off one battery in the Jeep and use a couple of solar panels to keep it fresh. In Fresno, so similar heat I’m sure.

A battery on the wheel well will sit below the level of the back of the seat and won't interfere with the seat belt.

It'll be very hard to fit a battery behind the seat/in front of the fridge, there isn't much room left there once the fridge is in place.

 

[wandererr]

A battery on the wheel well will sit below the level of the back of the seat and won't interfere with the seat belt.

It'll be very hard to fit a battery behind the seat/in front of the fridge, there isn't much room left there once the fridge is in place.

There is a possibility that it will fit behind the lower drawer and the fridge will ride above it. Will need to try some things out but that will have to wait till after my wife goes on her trip

 

[wandererr]

so I took some preliminary measurements and it looks like if I lay the battery flat, it will work, I'll just have to "eat about 9" into" the kitchen drawer that will be sitting below the fridge drawer