Teardrops n Tiny Travel Trailers

Hey there,

I have looked through all the cabinet threads I could find (you all do great woodwork by the way!) and have tried all the word combinations I can think of in the search function but still can't find the answer to the following question...

How do you safely store cups and plates and glasses in your galley cabinets (or maybe NOT in the galley cabinets)? After using the good old standby blue coated metal dishwear, I want to go to house-style ceramic because it will hold the heat in the food a little better, methinks.

Thanks in advance for your help folks!

Metal!

Melmac. We're camping, no glass allowed.

.
I use almost unbreakable Corelle ware and am keeping it in a drawer.

However, one of our forum members made this for his:



You could make yours out of left-over wood scraps and design it according to your needs.

Another idea might be to keep your dishes in the dishpan or dish drainer rack. If you use a dish rack, you might attach a Velcro strip to the back of your cabinet and wrap that around your rack to keep it in place.

I've also seen holes drilled with pegs glued into the holes to keep cups and plates separated and in place; and, of course, there are always the latching variety of cup hooks to hang cups on....

I've been collecting vintage Melmac for my trailer. I started months ago when I started my build. I started out focusing on the stuff that was made for use by the military, particularly the Navy, (my husband is retired Navy and I have a large collection of wardroom china, so one thing led to another) but there is so much interesting stuff out there, like the Friday speckleware lunch trays and bowls, that I couldn't stop with just military issue stuff. At this point the collection has grown way beyond what I need for the teardrop, but that's okay. All interesting, and all UNBREAKABLE. Would be a great conversation piece when used for outdoor entertaining also.

I found a wonderful old picnic basket at a yard sale for $2 that has the straps and compartments and that is what I plan to store it in if there is room once I get my other storage containers and water jugs in. Besides the sectioned compartments for the plates, cups, etc. I think there is probably even enough room for the pots and pans in it (no cast iron). I won another beautiful basket in a raffle that holds two bottles of wine, wine glasses, cheese board, utensils and napkins. If there's space I will probably also throw that in. Funky, fun, functional, and pretty.

Old socks, the thicker the better, work very well on wine bottles and glasses to cushion them inside whatever container you store them in.

We keep pieces of no skid (the stuff you put in cabinets and drawers) around and put it between all our plates, bowls and glasses. It's padded just enough and stays put.

One approach would be to get some heavy foam 2-4in thick and
then trace the outline of each piece on it, then cut out that area
so that the item can then be placed in that opening and be held
thus snuggly. Regular foam rubber or the type that is used in camera
cases [polypropalene (?) a stiffer/rubbery consistency] can be used.

You could also take some 1/4in plywood and trace and cut out the
necessary openings to fit the dinnerware. Just mount it at the
correct height to hold the items secure.

Cheers,
Norm/mezmo

Our camp ware is melamine. Most of has survived at least ten years of abuse. I just stacked the melamine in the galley cabinet of my pop up and never had any issues. It solves the temperature issue. That being said, we also have speckled porcelain plates and cups. I use them when cooking as they can basically be cooked in an up can place the plates on the fire grate to keep things warm while you cook the rest of the meal. I add a foil pouch if it needs to stay warm longer and to cut down on greasy dishes. We only dry camp.

Well DW decided on Corelle and plastic mugs because they are microwavable! Yes we have a micro in our tear, so it heats stuff fast and when you look at the pics you can tell I don't waitfor food often . We just went out on the first trip and I cheated, stuffed the place and bowls in the pillow cases with pillows and put the extra blankets DW wanted to take. Next trip I'm working on a wood case and a foam we use to pack our cabinets in when shipping. Its free and comes in lots of sizes that I grab when we do cabinet installs. It works well for packing stuff.

Cliff

Gage wrote:Melmac. We're camping, no glass allowed.

The is something very nostalgic about camping and Melmac

Dale

slowcowboy wrote:Slow does the metal blue white spotted plates and stuff. I go the blue route for my personal taste. I have a under belly kitchen drawar that slides out from under my teardrops rear bumper and the galley.

slow

It's called "Granite Ware"....

Dale

My plates are from a dollar store and it happened to be half off day so they cost me .50(heavy ceramic)so if they brake no big deal, for bowls I have plastic cereal bowls(just the right size for a serving of ice cream), cups are platic cups and I think I have some solo type cups in there also, and then I also pick up some paper plates when I get my food supplies.

slowcowboy wrote:whats granit ware and whats malemac. all I know is this stuff is metal and proaby porcelan and comes from wally world. and looks like the stuff mom and dad had in there old sheep wagen in the 70s and the stuff mom was cooking with in pots and pans while I was a kid growing up.

only she had red and white stuff and I got blue with little white dots on it.

slow

Granite Ware is porcelain over metal.... Been around forever no matter what the Chinese call it......

http://www.ehow.com/about_6690110_graniteware_.html

Melmac is a type of plastic the is used if some diners and truck stops, and was popular in homes in the 40's through the 60's when kids really had to do dishes after dinner....

http://www.wisegeek.com/what-is-melmac.htm

Dale

You'd recognize melmac if you saw it, Slow. I'd just bet your mom used it when you were a kid. It was plastic, but not the flimsy crap you buy these days. This was heavy duty, made in the good old USA dinnerware. The only downside is it is not microwavable (didn't have microwaves back in those days), but I don't have a microwave in my tear anyway so it works just great for me. And it brings back a lot of great memories too.

Another idea:

I hope I'm not stealing somebody's thunder; but, I recently read where someone said that they were going to build a wooden pocket on the backside of their cabinet door, to hold their plates.