Teardrops n Tiny Travel Trailers

It seems like in a lot of galley shots around here, the upper cabinets go all the way down to the counter. With this set up, you have to move everything off the counter to open a cabinet door. Looks like the Gen Ben plans addressed this with sliding doors. Anybody else notice this?

Good morning, Dh.

Like you, I am still contemplating upper cabinets. It's a toss-up to know which style of doors is better. Sometimes, you have to think about what you're going to store in the cabinets and how you'll do that. Using sliding doors is more convenient for opening but that extra inch of storage that you may loose may be more important than having to move something.

Another thought is whether you really want the cabinets to go all the way to the counter or to simply make them "Overhead" cabinets. If you plan on a sink, water could run over the counter and end up damaging them.

I think it may be an individual preference based on how a person plans to use his or her space.

The whole thing is a dilemma that I've yet to decide upon; so, I had opted to wait until I had used my trailer a little to see if the solution would present itself. Maybe the answers you get here will help me, too!

dh wrote:It seems like in a lot of galley shots around here, the upper cabinets go all the way down to the counter. With this set up, you have to move everything off the counter to open a cabinet door. Looks like the Gen Ben plans addressed this with sliding doors. Anybody else notice this?

That is why I used sliding doors in the first place. Swinging doors require that the countertop be clean off first and that is not very convenient in my opinion.

For us, the amount of counter space in front of the cabinets is small,and moving a pot or an onion aside to open a cabinet, if needed, is no big deal. If the counters are that full, Laurie would make me start putting stuff away where it belongs anyway....



Greg(and Laurie)

My cabinet doors are about 6-8" above the counter. Haven't noticed much of a problem with them getting in the way. The side tables help. They usually have the big stuff like the stove and water carrier on them. the counter is used mainly for prep.

Like toypusher, that is why we went for the sliders. Vacations in a can went with roll top desktype, which I really like.

gregp136 wrote:For us, the amount of counter space in front of the cabinets is small,and moving a pot or an onion aside to open a cabinet, if needed, is no big deal. If the counters are that full, Laurie would make me start putting stuff away where it belongs anyway....

Greg(and Laurie)

+1--except Mrs. Dog in the place of Laurie here...

My side cabinet doors are about 4" above the surface, that keeps it from hitting most stuff. The microwave doors (that we don't use much) are surface level. We try to put the stuff we need more often in the bottom cabinets.

Sliders or roll top doors are a great idea though.

This is a small problem and something I didn't think of when building our TD. Doing rolltop door would be nice and be an alternative to sliding.

dh wrote:It seems like in a lot of galley shots around here, the upper cabinets go all the way down to the counter. With this set up, you have to move everything off the counter to open a cabinet door. Looks like the Gen Ben plans addressed this with sliding doors. Anybody else notice this?

BillZ wrote:My cabinet doors are about 6-8" above the counter. Haven't noticed much of a problem with them getting in the way. The side tables help. They usually have the big stuff like the stove and water carrier on them. the counter is used mainly for prep.

This beautiful Teardrop looks familiar....did you build this or buy it from Barb?

planovet wrote:My side cabinet doors are about 4" above the surface, that keeps it from hitting most stuff. The microwave doors (that we don't use much) are surface level. We try to put the stuff we need more often in the bottom cabinets.

Sliders or roll top doors are a great idea though.

Nice galley design!

I made a sliding cabinet door above the pull out stove (paper towel holder is attached to it) that slides to the right. The 12 wiring panel on the right side of the galley has a hinged door, and since I only open it to show the wiring set-up, I usually only have to move the coffee maker to open.

what about doing the old fasion bread box style of a roll up door like a garage door that way it wouldn't have to be cleared to open and you could have the standard shelf thickness with out a worry of the double track for the sliding doors just my 2cents

droid_ca wrote:what about doing the old fasion bread box style of a roll up door like a garage door that way it wouldn't have to be cleared to open and you could have the standard shelf thickness with out a worry of the double track for the sliding doors just my 2cents

I believe (might just be me though) that they would be much more difficult to do than sliders. Plus you most likely would loose some space inside the cabinets with the Tambour door (but maybe not much I guess!

planovet wrote:My side cabinet doors are about 4" above the surface, that keeps it from hitting most stuff. The microwave doors (that we don't use much) are surface level. We try to put the stuff we need more often in the bottom cabinets.

Did you make your cabinet doors?
If not, where did you get them?


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