Replacing kitchen cabinets

[chiefcope]

We are trying to decide if should replace or restore all the inside cabinets. If we replace can we just buy cabinets like at home depot? Or r they a different size width wise. Cant wait for nice weather here in maine to start tearing our sunline apart. Thanks for help. Joann and Red Cope

[mainah]

Hate to say this but nothing will fit! I redid mine and kept the overhead cabinets redid the counters kept the sink scraped the stove/oven. Can tell you this park it on something flat and level the camper with a 4' level then have at it. I rebuilt the interior in mine in the dead of a Maine winter with an electric heater and the propane furnace it was a short walk to my wood shop all thought the snow that sometimes was deep (get fairly bored in the winter if I can't get out on the sled). I'm just south of Fryeburg.

[JohnB]

Here are a few things to think through that may help you sort this out.

The cabinets in your camper are an RV style cabinet. They are basically fronts, sometimes sides and or a bottom if they are top cabinets. Bottom counter cabinets are the same, front sided, maybe a left or right side and then a countertop. They are not built like home cabinets that have all sides on them and then screw to the wall on the inside as a free standing unit.

The camper cabinets are screwed in from the outside, to the floor from the inside and top cabinets also are screwed in from the attic down. If you want to remove the cabinet intact and undamaged, ideally the camper siding and roof is off and you undo the screws on the outside, some on the inside and they will come out fully intact. They can then be reinstalled in the same spot.

Some have yanked/ripped them from the walls and ceiling as they do not want to save the cabinet. The downside is, there will be dime to quarter sized holes in the wall, ceiling, where the many screws pulled out. There may be wallboard and ceiling board repair if you are trying to save the wall/ceiling board.

You can remake the doors and screw the hinges back on. The newer cabinet sides and front styles are "wrapped wood". Meaning they use the nicest contact paper I have even seen and wrap very light weight soft wood to make it look like oak, maple, cherry, etc. Some have painted them, some may have redid them with different contact paper.

One thing to remember though, the cabinets inside add a level of overall rigidity to the camper as they act as braces to the floor, walls and ceiling. Since they are screwed in securely from the outside, they add wall stiffness to help make the camper more rigid as it tows down the road. If you take out the old cabinets totally, when you put the new cabinets in, make sure they are well screwed back into the wall, ceiling and floor to add back that rigidity.

If you go with premade cabinets from Home Depot etc, be careful of how much they weigh. The RV cabinets are very light weight on purpose. Using premade all sided built cabinets, you will be giving up camper cargo capacity with the heavier cabinets. One or two is not that bad to give up the cargo capacity. Changing and entire campers worth does add up.

Hope this helps,

John

[Wannabes]

Joann and Red,

In addition to what Mainah and JohnB have written, trailers cabinets are designed so that the doors/drawers do not open while towing. Home cabinets are not designed that way and, if you did replace the Sunline cabinets with regular cabinets, you’d need to get something like cabinet child safety locks in order not to have a mess on your hands whenever you went camping. (We’ve a few members here who can tell you what it’s like when a cabinet door fails while in transit. )

[chiefcope]

good to know thanks