Camper trailer pantry build; DIY ply with drawers
A good kitchen, with access to your pantry and cooking gear without struggling is imperative for an enjoyable camping trip, and in this post we’re sharing a DIY pantry build that I put together for our soft floor camper.
There’s always room for improvement, and we’ve been ironing out a few little shortcomings that we’ve found with our Outback Deluxe Camper trailer. One of these is easy access to food, cleaning gear and general bits and pieces.
Over the years our camping process has become much easier, more comfortable and enjoyable, and this was another little step in the right direction.
We are tired of using plastic tubs
The standard kitchen has two little stainless steel drawers, which are good for cutlery and bowls/plates. However, there’s no room for anything else, which is a bit of a pain.
To start off with, we were just grabbing things from plastic boxes that sat on the floor. This works, but its annoying in the fact that you have to bend down each time to get what you want, you need to rummage around in boxes and they always get in the way, no matter where you put them.
I’ve known about the Oates plastic drawers that you can buy from Bunnings for some time now, and after seeing them in a few peoples setups, decided it would be a great way to go.
Building the pantry
I did some quick measurements, and worked out we could fit 4 Oates drawers side on to the existing kitchen, and they would just sit there right where we wanted them. A quick trip to Bunnings to purchase some 12mm marine ply and screws, and I knocked a box up in a couple of hours.
I left 2mm gap larger than the dimensions of the drawers and with some careful measuring, marking and cutting they fit in perfectly.
All that is left now is to find a way to stop the drawers from opening, and to sand and varnish it. I could put carpet on, but to be honest I don’t really want to spend any more money just to improve its looks.
The pantry in use
So far, the pantry has been awesome. We slide it down the side of the camper trailer when travelling, and when we pull up just turn it around. I need to put some handles on to make it easy to move around, but its a quick, simple and cheap modification that makes camping much easier.
Along with the solar and battery upgrade on our camper trailer, it’s become quite a functional unit.
What did it cost?
We paid $28 each per drawer, so a total of $112, and then about $35 of plywood; a total cost of about $150. Not bad.
If you are sick of picking things up from tubs, knock something up like this – it works very well!
