I had previously built a slide out cooker in the van, but after using it, I realised there wasn't much workspace to cook on. Plus, the rest of the cupboard space (within the unit behind the seats) wasn't really used.
The cupboard below the cooker was a bit rubbish too. Everything would just fallout when you opened the door, so I knew straight away I wanted to build a drawer that slides out instead.
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So, I carefully took my herringbone worktop off, and ripped it all out to see what space I have left to play with. (I couldn't make it any bigger because that would mean shortening the bed).
After drawing up many designs, I finally settled on one;
Slide out Unit
Will slide out just under 1m long, which will be able to fit in my portable cooker.
Will have a big enough worksurface to be able to chop up food, or put drinks etc on.
Cooker
The cooker top/grill, will be near enough flush with the top of the worktop
The cooker will be inset into the worktop a bit, so the flames will be protected from the wind blowing it out.
Must be able to fit and be ready to go, so no getting it out a box etc to be able to use.
Drawer
Underneath the cooker will be a drawer, which will hold stuff like a kettle, gas etc. Basically anything that can be pilled in.
The drawer can be opened without having to pull out the whole slide out unit.
Storage
The rest of the unit will be use for storage, such as food or anything like that.
The storage ideally must be accessible from inside the van, again so the whole unit doesn't have to be pulled out to grab jut one item etc.
Size
Most important bit, it MUST all fit within the original space for two reasons;
a) I didn't want to shorten my pull out bed
b) I spent ages making the herringbone worktop, and didn't want to have to make a bigger one
Also, the framework must be able to take the weight of the slide out unit, and also be able to hold it out the van.
It was a massive headache to do, and only had around 10mm overall to play with before the cooker wouldn't fit in, but I managed to do it.
It's made from 12mm birch ply, that used to be a old storage crate, which I cut it to the lengths then filled and sanded any screw holes that was in it.
This whole thing was made just using a circular saw, a normal wood saw, couple chisels, jigsaw and a drill.
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This is the point when I realised the 2x1 wooden frame wouldn't be strong enough to hold the unit, so I removed it and put some more 12mm ply there instead.
To do this it did mean that I had to shave 5mm off the length of the bed, but its hardly anything.
Once I did that, it was time to attach the heavy duty runners and then make sure it was all level. Because I don't have 7 arms, axel stands were perfect.
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The (unpainted front and no handles yet) finished product.
The heavy duty runners were perfect. They can hold around 80kg, had loads of attachment screw hole points, and the structure of the new improved framework is really solid and holds it all really well.
No flex or anything
The worktop I finished in Osmo Top Oil, and then the rest of the unit I primed, undercoated and then finished it in the paint that I had leftover from painting my kitchen cupboards.
