Galley Construction - Part I

Galley Considerations

In the original camper, the cooktop was located on the right side of the galley (towards the front of the camper).  This put it right next to the dinette.  We looked at this arrangement and decided we weren't comfortable with fire, frying pans, and the potential for hot water and splattering grease to be next to a bench where kids might be sitting.   So, we decided to rearrange the galley.

We also wanted to add a few convenience items.  Our new galley would have the following:

• Sink
• Three-burner gas stove
• Built-in convection microwave
• Hot water heater (under sink)
• 15 gallon water tank

Microwave

Regarding the microwave; we visited an airstream dealer and saw a built-in convection unit.  It was a essentially a Cuisinart counter top model, with a custom stainless steel vent/surround.  See the picture of the set up in an Airstream (to the right).

The microwave itself was available on a lot of different web sites.  I think we got ours from Best Buy.  The trim piece, we ordered directly from Airstream.  It was a few $$.  If I recall, it cost about the same as the microwave!  Ugh.

Other Stuff

Behind the galley, we need to accommodate the city water and fresh water tank inlets.  Also, above the stove we are planning to have a wall-mount fan to vent off the cooking heat, smells, smoke, etc.  Finally, we relocated the window from its original position which was further to the rear of the trailer, so that it was closer to being centered over the sink, and we raised it a bit as much as we could but still allow for cabinets above the counter.  Speaking of the counter; it is a tad higher than normal.  I'm 6'-3" and my wife is 5'-11"; so we appreciate things a little taller than most.

Cabinet Front

Here is the cabinet front, laid-out on a work table.  We opted for more, smaller drawers; as opposed to fewer larger drawers.  From left to right: upper left is opening for microwave, beneath that is the large opening for storage of pots/pans.  This storage area will be impacted by the wheel well.  Next to the right are the openings for drawers, and then there's the opening for under the sink.  You can see the top of the cabinet is a wider piece of stock.  This is to allow room for the drop-in three-burner stove.  You can also see that we fashioned a small toe-kick to allow someone to stand right up next to the cabinet.

One last note: we used poplar for the front of the cabinet.  This was a judgment call at the last minute.  We figured that the front of the galley would get more wear and tear than other stuff and that the harder poplar would fare better in the long run. 

Planning out the cabinet front.

Here is the cabinet front, standing in place in the trailer.