Replace Casita range cover?

[Meadowlark]

The metal range cover in my 2011 Casita SD is a nuisance. I am looking for options. I like that it serves as a barrier between the range. But if Casita consider it to be additional horizontal shelf space, it doesn't work, it slopes down ward and is not at all sturdy. The latch on the stove vent meant to keep it deployed in an upright position is difficult to use and if you want to restore the cover to (horizontal)position for travel you have to push down on the chintzy, pot metal hinges. The rivets holding the hinges in place are working loose. It's just a dumb design.



Yet, I want something that one,serves as a barrier when the range is being used, two, doesn't require me to find a place for the cover when I'm cooking on the range, (because space is at a premium especially when I'm cooking inside), three, I want a lid that is easily deployed or stored and four, I want to find an attachment arrangement that isn't the push down hinges. And finally, I do find the lid to be useful when I'm not actively cooking, it's a good place to put stuph while we're eating at the table.



Any ideas?

[tractors1]

Might consider a lift-off cover that could also be used as a serving tray; add a cutting board to it for more useful counter space. Don't think you'll find exactly what you want off the shelf. Photo-Gallery

[Casita Greg]

First off, especially if you are right handed, that stupid tin cover is constantly in your way. It is a cheaply made and ugly thing to begin with, and actually serves little use to prevent spatter either. I replaced that entire Suburban POS stove with a much better Dometic 2-burner unit. It mounts flush to the countertop like the sink, and doesn't have an opening underneath to trap crumbs and allow water to get under it, it has a flush-mount cast iron grate, easily cleaned sealed stainless steel burner units that flow and adjust much better than the Suburban, particuarly at lowest settings that used to sputter and blow out on the Suburban. The grill lifts off for easy cleaning underneath. I "resized" a bamboo cutting board to fit the recess on the top of the stove, which makes a great prep surface/storage spot. I also replaced the "birdbath" sink as well. I now have a 9" deep sink that I can actually use instead of that useless shallow one the trailer came with. The new stove also has a Piezo electric spark igniter for the burners, so no need for a long match or hand held lighter.
Just the way I run.

[Meadowlark]

Thanks, Greg. Having seen your masterful handiwork on Casita Club, I just knew you'd respond. You make me think long and hard about replacing the range top. The one thing I really want is that partition between range and mattress. I agree, the original top is just a PITA.


I like the idea of the deeper sink but I'm not sure how much cupboard space I'll lose underneath it.

[Casita Greg]

Originally Posted by Meadowlark

Thanks, Greg. Having seen your masterful handiwork on Casita Club, I just knew you'd respond. You make me think long and hard about replacing the range top. The one thing I really want is that partition between range and mattress. I agree, the original top is just a PITA.

I like the idea of the deeper sink but I'm not sure how much cupboard space I'll lose underneath it.

The deeper sink posed no loss of useable cabinet space under the sink. I replaced the "P" trap drain with a 90 degree elbow drain fitting and installed a HepVo valve in the vertical gray tank drain pipe next to the fridge. It also allowed me to install an under-sink shelf that runs full-width of the cabinet from fridge to furnace, and from cabinet face to the outer trailer bulkhead. A great place to store all those long rolls of foil, Saran, parchment paper, Zip-Lock bags, etc that were always a bit hard to find a good place to store them that was long enough. The bottom of the sink doesn't even go down to the top edge of the under-sink cabinet opening. The shelf height sits at the top of the crown of the wheel well. Along with all the other stuff we store in the under-sink cabinet, including a 5 Qt. pressure cooker, several cutting boards, a mandolin, etc. and my wife's 14 Cup Cuisinart monster coffee pot.

And as an aside, when I use the stove I just lay the cutting board on the mattress next to the stove cabinet. It works as an extra flat "staging surface" for pots, pans, etc, but a couple of paper towels laid out on it would probably provide more protection from grease splatter than the metal cover. Just sayin'.

[Meadowlark]

A mandolin? Seriously? I'm no musician but I doubt a wooden instrument would like being under a sink...;-) ;-)


Well, now I'll have to find out where my husband hid his Honey Do notebook this time. :-)

[Casita Greg]

Not being overly "musically inclined," my mandolin is the kitchen model, not the stringed instrument, but I also know that you knew that as well, and were just having a little fun. I do have a small carbon fiber Emerald X7 guitar I bring along to annoy anyone within earshot, that I keep under the bed next to my big plastic kitchen gear tote. Good luck with your project if you decide to do it. It's not all that daunting.

[Meadowlark]

Greg, if you really want to annoy anyone within earshot, a trumpet is a great way to do so. ;-) They have one heck of a range.


Speaking of range:


I am seriously considering the sink AND the range. The issue I see is rerouting the propane lines to the range..but I'm the biologist in the family, my husband is the engineer. What is daunting to me just thinking about it will probably evoke a 'hey, easy squeezy' from him.

[Casita Greg]

Originally Posted by Meadowlark

Speaking of range:

I am seriously considering the sink AND the range. The issue I see is rerouting the propane lines to the range..but I'm the biologist in the family, my husband is the engineer. What is daunting to me just thinking about it will probably evoke a 'hey, easy squeezy' from him.

There is no need to change or re-route the propane line that feeds the stove. I only needed to remove the straight fitting on the stove and replace it with a 90 degree elbow fitting with the same ends. The propane line just hooked right up to the new stove right where it was, (the tubing is visible on the right side near the GFCI outlet. My replacement elbow fitting is a 90 degree 3/8" Flare X 1/4" Brass Pipe Thread.

[Meadowlark]

Ahh, thank you, sir. You make it sound easy. What did you do with the original range?



By the way, does the faucet at the sink leak? Mine does. I keep several sponges behind the faucet to keep water from finding its way onto the mattress. It's one of the reasons I usually wash dishes outside or in separate dish pans. (In camp, my husband is the cook, I'm KP.)

[alia176]

Hey Greg,

Thanks for picto-documenting your stuff. That's how I roll as well and ifind it to be very helpful for me to remember what I have done on projects.

You obviously don't need more surface area on the right side of your burner, but do you find any issues with grease splattering onto your bedding while cooking? This is something I would like to mitigate with a shelf that can also double as a splatter barrier of sorts.

Second question I have is regarding your shelf. Are you supporting the shelf with vertical legs going down to the floor as well as stabilizing it with some kind of fasteners to the fiberglass vertical walls?

Cheers.

Ali

[Casita Greg]

Originally Posted by Meadowlark

Ahh, thank you, sir. You make it sound easy. What did you do with the original range?

By the way, does the faucet at the sink leak? Mine does. I keep several sponges behind the faucet to keep water from finding its way onto the mattress. It's one of the reasons I usually wash dishes outside or in separate dish pans. (In camp, my husband is the cook, I'm KP.)

The old range? I think I may still have the old one sitting in my garage, if I haven't already given it away. I often save the stuff I replace or upgrade for upcoming fiberglass gatherings. Too good to toss, but stuff I'll never use again. I usually take a lot of stuff like that with me and set them out on the picnic table. Generally most of it is "free to a good home."

No, my faucet doesn't leak, but as an aside to the new Krowne sink, it comes with a real commercial grade chrome-plated brass gooseneck bar sink faucet, (not chrome-plated plastic,) and a new stainless steel drain assembly. They both come with the sink.

Best price I found for it, (and most other places run double and even triple this price for the same sink.)

https://www.restaurantsupply.com/kro...drain-included

[Casita Greg]

Originally Posted by alia176

Hey Greg,

Thanks for picto-documenting your stuff. That's how I roll as well and ifind it to be very helpful for me to remember what I have done on projects.

You obviously don't need more surface area on the right side of your burner, but do you find any issues with grease splattering onto your bedding while cooking? This is something I would like to mitigate with a shelf that can also double as a splatter barrier of sorts.

Second question I have is regarding your shelf. Are you supporting the shelf with vertical legs going down to the floor as well as stabilizing it with some kind of fasteners to the fiberglass vertical walls? Ali

Q#1: I don't have a grease-splattering problem mainly because we do just about all of our cooking outside on the Camp Chef portable camp stove. We never cook anything that creates grease or odors inside. In fact, we rarely make anything inside. And if there were any splattering grease, it would have to "jump over" my 18" wide plastic pantry tote that lives between the stove and the bed. FWIW, I can also move the cutting board over on top of the pantry tote for extra staging area when cooking as well.

Q#2: The shelf has short legs custom cut to fit, (other than the rear corner that actually just sits on top of the wheel well.) In fact, the wheel well is the benchmark for setting the shelf height, as all the other supports are leveled off the top of the wheel well. I put a leg at the rear near the back of the fridge, and one each on each side of the cabinet door. A few judiciously placed wood screws works wonders into the wood framing inside the inner perimeter of the fiberglass sink/stove cabinet at the floor level and a few through the top of the shelf as well into the tops of the legs, which holds it all together nicely.

(As you can see from the pics, we now only have a single twin mattress across the rear. We are both getting too old and decrepit to do the "crawl-over" anymore, so the full mattress went bye-bye a few years ago. I'm up several times a night and my wife has had sciatica surgery, so neither of us found the crawl-over arrangement workable. She uses a custom roll-up mattress pad on top of the side dinette cushions, which she much prefers. Now we are both happy not to be the one stuck in the back, and this arrangement satifies us both for trailer sleeping accomodations.)

.

[LarryB.]

Well, Casita outdid itself when they changed the stove cover with a pin that clips to the exhaust fan. In my 2007 Casita Spirit Deluxe, the stove cover had a chain that prevented it from opening more than 90⁰.

I cut the pop rivet on the chain that attached to the stove cover and replaced it with a small “S hook” on the chain so that the chain is still available if I only want to open the cover 90⁰. Then I installed two folding shelf support brackets on the side of the stove cabinet on either side of the furnace return air vent. The net result is that using the folding shelf brackets, I can open the stove cover 180⁰ which gives me a shelf that I can either use for cooking set up or for drying dishes.

[Pete795]

Greg, where did you get the kitchen window, looks like a sideways bathroom window.

[Meadowlark]

LarryB, your statement of Casita outdoing itself...reworking a poorly thought out system into an even poorer thought out system....makes you wonder if they're not hiring the bottom feeders from Microsoft, where the dumber the idea (I know! Let's get rid of the Start button!) the more likely it will end up in the newest iteration of Windows.


As for your reworking the range cover, I like it a LOT.

[Casita Greg]

Originally Posted by Pete795

Greg, where did you get the kitchen window, looks like a sideways bathroom window.

It is the same window. I ordered it from Casita several years ago. After modifying the window frame slider track "weep holes" so that they would work with the window mounted horizontally, I installed it because I wanted more light and a more open concept. Before I added the window, that galley area was always a dark foreboding niche. Besides having frosted glass panes for privacy, (I didn't want any curtains or window shade near the stove,) it also gives me an openable window with a screen that can also slide open. Makes for an easy beer pass-through port hole.

[Meadowlark]

LarryB, I notice that you have installed what looks to be a wooden 'doughnut' around the push latch on the silverware drawer. Is that your work, or has Casita come up with a latch that actually works?