Cabinet doors - up or down

[ThomasE]

Greetings fellow owners,

I'm thinking about revamping all my cabinet doors, they're currently particle board with a white surface. For some reason, all the doors are quite a bit larger than the opening, don't know if that was done for style reasons or what, but I would like to make new smaller doors out of oak or birch plywood. One question I had for all you folks, there are two overhead cabinets above the stove/counter area. Currently the doors swing upward, which really annoys me, because they require one hand to open and hold up, and another to get the item you're after. My thought is that once I'm set up at the camp site, I would like to open the doors and just leave them open. When I replace the doors, I could make them swing down instead. Any disadvantage to this?

Also, instead of cabinet door knobs, I would like to use thumb latches to hold the door close during travel, kind of like a cam lock but no key required. Right now there's a kind of spring roller thing that isn't very good at keeping the door closed on rough roads. My goal is to never have any door pop open during travel.

[Bob Miller]

There are spring cylinders at amost all RV stores that will hold those doors up as well as closed. Less than $3 each. Lower doors that swing down are OK if small, but also get in the way if there is more than one person thereabouts.

[honda03842]

Thomas,

I just did all my doors in birch plywood. They formerly opened sideways and I had not considered other options. All former RVs opened up with a support piston. The piston is a pain on smaller doors so if I were redoing it I would op for down.

With our birch plywood I opted to leave the edges untreated. They look fine to me.

The topic " How have you improved your eggcamper..." shows Harley's cabinets opening downward.

[Gilda]

I'm so glad you asked this question because I want to improve my latches as well. I think many of us cope by using bungee cords in transit to keep cabinets and fridge closed, however some cabinets cannot be anchored in this manner.

[cpaharley2008]

I reversed all my doors on my Egg camper so that you only needed one hand, just a matter of filling in the holes and moving the backer wood from top to the bottom of each opening. Also less change of opening while in transit this way. While you have the doors off, install some LED lights inside, you will love being able to see into the cabinets.

[Dudley]

My top cabinet doors were hinged on the sides but I have a "vertically challenged" wife so when I redid my Ventura I went with top hinges and the spring loaded prop rods from an rv shop. The wife loves them!

[Donna D.]

This has more to do with those that aren't looking to change the doors, but hate having to hold the upper cabinet doors with one hand while rooting around with the other! Years back, back before the hack... someone posted a simple solution. A Pink Pearl Eraser that had been filed down to slip between the cabinet door and the cabinet. It effectively pinched the door to the point it wouldn't slam shut and held it in an open position. Absolutely no damage to the cabinets either. Cheap solution! Wish I would have captured the image before it went to alphabet heaven. Guess you'll have to use your imagination.

[ThomasE]

Originally Posted by Dudley

My top cabinet doors were hinged on the sides but I have a "vertically challenged" wife so when I redid my Ventura I went with top hinges and the spring loaded prop rods from an rv shop. The wife loves them!

You've got some really nice cabinets there.

[Steve L.]

I only have one cabinet that opens upward. I used a door stay from West Marine. Basically it's a spring. I had to put a piece of wood against the left wall of the cabinet to get the attachment point flush with the left side of the opening.

[jimmied]

Dudley, does the door accidentally open while travelling on bumpy roads, or do you have an attachment to keep the door closed while travelling. I am planning to redo all my doors the same way, as they actually slide now. Thanks, Jim

[Thomas G.]

Originally Posted by Steve L.

I only have one cabinet that opens upward. I used a door stay from West Marine. Basically it's a spring. I had to put a piece of wood against the left wall of the cabinet to get the attachment point flush with the left side of the opening.

Steve, do you happen to have a source for these spring type holders?

[Tim Wood]

You can get the piston type on Amazon like David has, or some have made their own from springs at TSC tractor supply.

[Steve L.]

Originally Posted by Thomas G.

Steve, do you happen to have a source for these spring type holders?

MOONLITE MARINE Hatcharm at West Marine

I've used this one for years despite the one review...
http://www.westmarine.com/webapp/wcs...classNum=50683

[Bob Miller]

These spring cylinders are what are used on almost all new trailers. Usually about $3 at most RV shops. Marine stuff always cost more and, unless you have a houseboat!!!

http://www.campingworld.com/shopping...FYp_QgodFRQAdw

[Thomas G.]

Originally Posted by Tim Wood

You can get the piston type on Amazon like David has, or some have made their own from springs at TSC tractor supply.

Good tip - I didn't think to look for springs there.

[Thomas G.]

Originally Posted by Steve L.

MOONLITE MARINE Hatcharm at West Marine

I've used this one for years despite the one review...
T H MARINE Lid Suppor at West Marine

Originally Posted by Bob Miller

These spring cylinders are what are used on almost all new trailers. Usually about $3 at most RV shops. Marine stuff always cost more and, unless you have a houseboat!!!

http://www.campingworld.com/shopping...FYp_QgodFRQAdw

Thanks!

[Camilla]

My Trailer has pinch catches and never open. On the ceiling are little magnetized hardware and when the cabinet opens the catch hits the magnets and stays there until I pull it back down. There are pinch catches here:
Cabinet Hardware

But with a magnet those cabinets would stay open with your current hardware I assume

[Dudley]

Hi Jim
My cabinet doors have catches on them plus the spring loaded supports are a cam over design so the actually tend to have some spring pressure holding the door shut. Works good so far! Have not had them opening in transit .

[john warren]

ok,,,cabinet doors on my new scamp all swing sideways. only my front overhead swings up. no reason you can'nt make yours do the same.
as to why the doors are so big compared to the hole they cover?
my guess is the same door may be used in different spots. or the hole is smaller to keep things inside from bumping open the doors and ending up on the floor.(my favorite theory)
or the people they have installing the doors can't be trusted to stick the door on particularly close to where they should be,,thus they give them extra space.
as to catched to hold the doors shut, those pinch catches work good, or magnet catches,,,which makes me thing if you have swing up doors,,,a magnet up on the ceiling and a little metal on the door?

[ThomasE]

I took some measurements and it may not be practical to make the doors swing down, it blocks too much of the access to the stove and sink. I'll take a look at some of the other mechanisms employed to hold the door open in the up position.