Build your own camper with IKEA kitchen cabinets.
We have chosen to work with kitchen cabinets from the Ikea's Metod line. SÄVEDAL's finish fitted perfectly with the look and feel we wanted to create. This is a great solution for people with little experience in woodworking. You are limited in the sizes, but the Method line has a lot of different sizes, which still gives you some freedom in the construction.
We have chosen for 60cm deep kitchen cabinets and 40cm deep wall cabinets, which is 60cm deep is much more than what you normally find in a motorhome, but for us this is nice because our gas bottle and water system are placed in the cupboard under the sink.
Ikea kitchen cabinets are made of MDF panels which is normally certainly not suitable for a camper. MDF is moisture absorbent and heavy. 2 things you normally don't want when building a camper.
We have sealed all open pieces of MDF panel so that as little moisture as possible can get to the MDF. In terms of weight, it is feasible for us because we do not have a super large bus. with our L2H2 we are already at the limits of our maximum weight.
How to adapt an Ikea kitchen for use in a DIY camper
The 3D tool by Ikea is very useful to give an idea of the possibilities. You can enter the dimensions of your bus as the dimensions of the "kitchen".
The standard Ikea mounting system is useful for a kitchen, but certainly not suitable for a camper. We have replaced the standard legs with wooden legs attached with L profiles on both the cabinet and the floor. For the wall mountings we have large shelf carrier used directly in the metal of the bus.
The choice of accessories at Ikea is rather limited, so we have our handles chosen and bought elsewhere, if you opt for universal handles they will most likely also fit your Ikea cupboard frotjes.
To avoid the boxes flying open, we have door magnets used, 2 pieces per door. this is sufficient for normal driving. For more challenging rides (think off-road), a stronger system is recommended.
