packnrat
Stockton, CA. U S A
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Any out there ever had to raze there cabnets? or at least the work areas around the sinks?
the way things are right now, I get to live in my camper, and stooping to was dishes, brush the teeth, etc. sure not much but if possable to lift them about 3 inches to save on the back.
any thoughts out there????
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Jamesrpm
Oregon Coast
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A lot of work for very little gain, besides butchering the cabinets would kill resale. But it's your rig do what you want.
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PapPappy
Wilmington, NC
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Joined: 12/23/2007
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It might be cheaper and easier to hire a shorter maid 
One of the other problems might be that most RVs have a window near the sink, and if you raised your countertop a few inches, you'd be blocking the window.
What I would do, if I was going to do this....
1. Remove the countertop and sink.
2. Install a 1x6 board around the inside of the cabinet, screwed to the inside, so you aren't doing any "damage" to the original cabinets. The 1x6 would have 2" below cabinet, and 4" above, to rais our counter 4"....or what ever height you want.
3. Reinstall the countertop and re-plum the water and drain line to the sink. Stain to match the cabinets.
Now, this may not look as good, as yanking out the cabinets and lifting the entire unit, but it should be easier, and would be easy enough to change back to the original.
Option 2.......buy a stool to sit at while you are working at the counter!
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Mousefart
New Jersey
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packnrat wrote:Any out there ever had to raze there cabnets? or at least the work areas around the sinks?
the way things are right now, I get to live in my camper, and stooping to was dishes, brush the teeth, etc. sure not much but if possable to lift them about 3 inches to save on the back.
any thoughts out there????
I would use a 10 lb sledge hammer!
(raze = demolish. As in to raze an old building.)
Now if you want to raise the cabinets, I would imagine you could build a pedestal frame out of 1x4 lumber to put them on.
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MrWizard
Van Nuys, Ca
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you are one tall fellow, you need a camper with a higher ceiling.
considering the way these things are built, it might be easier to install sky light bubbles ( the type some RV's have in the shower area ) these can add 3-4 inches of head room, or escape hatches, in selected area's where you need to stand for periods of time. I seriously doubt there is any space to gain by ripping up the floor and trying to lower it. the sub flooring sits on top of the frame and directly under that is plumbing, LP & water, plus tanks or drive train.
you might be able to re-route plumbing, but tanks would be a problem,
if the tanks or drains are not in the way, you could rip up the floor and build a trough/well down the center line of the camper to add height. 'turtle top' ? did this with vans before they were called 'class B' by troughing/lower the center floor line they made a van you can stand in for cooking. but the fiber glass top was so low it would still fit in a normal car garage at home.
Options, always have options, and the journey goes much smoother
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pkunk
Questa, NM
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Paul's got the solution, but any will require replumbing. Here's what I did to the Lav.
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Gdetrailer
PA
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Joined: 01/05/2007
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Most typical RVs you will end up destroying the cabinets in the process if you try to remove them from the floor/walls. Typical RVs the interior is attached to the walls before the outside skin (Ie screwed/nailed from outside in to the inside).
Several exceptions to this is Airstreams, molded fiberglass shells, many motor homes based on bus chassis. All of these the interior is installed last.
The least destuctive aproach to your issue would be to build a riser that fits over top of the original counter. You would then need to lift the sink and perhaps the stove. This will require some plumbing changes but could be done.
If you can find a way to attach the riser without causing noticable holes or damage that can be hidden easily. Then you could remove your changes when it comes time to sell/trade.
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Hurricaner
Hurricane Utah
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Joined: 02/17/2007
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Make some 3" boxes to sit on the counter tops.
Sam
Sam & Kari
Hurricane, Utah
2004 34' Damon Challenger 315
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doughere
Mooresville NC
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If you have a window behind the counters, you could have a problem.
As I'm sure you know, RV cabinets are usually not like home kitchen cabinets in that they are not free standing units, but just frames attached to the floors and walls.
If you don't have a window, you could unscrew the cabinet assemblies, cut a piece of 3/4 plywood the size of the base of the cabinets, then make a frame of 1 by 3's about 2 inches smaller than the bottom frame, mount the small frame on the floor, mount the plywood on it, and remount the cabinets on top of the plywood. My RV has 24 inches between the countertops and the upper cabinets, my home kitchen has 18 inches, so raising the bases about 3 inches would make them much like a home kitchen.
DW is 5' 1", so has no problems, when I do dishes, I have to stand with my legs splayed out to try to prevent my back killiing me(and it still hurts). If I didn't have a window behind the kitchen counter, I'd think about doing it; makes sense. Done carefully, I can't imagine it would affect resale negatively.
Regards,
Doug
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