Building Our Van Cabinets
Our cabinets are the one area of the van where we definitely went overboard on strength and quality. We did a lot of research on high quality cabinet making before getting started and decided to use rabbet and dado/groove joinery instead of screws to assemble all of our cabinet cases (except for our kitchen case). For the kitchen case we used pocket holes for assembly due to the number of appliances that had to fit into the kitchen case. Another thing that set our cabinets apart from other van cabinets was that we used face frames on every cabinet case. Last but not least, we had our good friends, Justin and Ben, over at Kitchen Rehab make all of our five-piece doors for us.
This blog is straight to the point and doesn’t include many of the “little details” of how we constructed each piece of the cabinets. If you’re looking for a super detailed explanation of our cabinet process check out our Cabinet YouTube playlist. Each video will take you through the process step by step that we used to construct each part of the cabinets.
The rabbet and dado/groove joinery method was more time consuming than other cabinet case assembly methods, but it produced a high strength case with almost no exposed edges. This made painting and finishing the cases easy because we didn’t have to hide any screws or nail holes. While it took longer in the beginning, once we got the correct router bits and set up some jigs with clamps, the process went much faster. Let’s jump into the specifics of how these cases went together.
The picture below shows how we used a rabbet combined with a groove in order to join the two pieces together.
This method allowed us to pre-fit everything together before gluing it and place it in the van to ensure it fit before final assembly. Once we were satisfied with the fit we disassembled the case, applied Titebond Ultimate Wood Glue and clamped the case together (shown in the picture below).
Once they were all clamped together, we let the cases sit overnight for the glue to fully cure. For the kitchen case we had to fit our sink, oven, and refrigerator into it. Because of the complexity and the fact that it had drawers in it, we were able to use pocket holes to assemble it. This case went together much faster than the others, and if we were to do it all over again, we would probably use pocket holes to assemble all of our cabinets instead of joinery.
The next step was to build our face frames and attach them to the cabinet cases. We chose to use poplar for the face frames and ¾ inch birch plywood for the cases. We ran all of the poplar through a joiner and planer before assembling the face frames. We did this to ensure the lumber was perfectly square and that we would have tight seamless joints. Once all the lumber was prepped we cut it to length and used pocket holes and wood glue to assemble them all together (shown in the picture below).
After the frames were assembled we used finish nails and glue to attach them to all of the cabinets. The face frame for the kitchen case was complex because of all the special cutouts for the different appliances located in the kitchen case. We hand cut and routed out the relief for the stove, farmhouse sink, and refrigerator. Once it was all assembled, it was definitely worth the effort.
Below are the appliances being test fit into the assembled kitchen case with complete face frames.
After the face frames were installed, we attached ¼ inch birch plywood to the backs of all the cases to close them up and give them a finished appearance from the inside.
Next came the fun part of installing and painting all of the cabinets in the van. We decided to go with black for our cabinet color so we primed all of the cabinets, and then came back with Sherwin Williams Tricorn Black exterior paint. The reason we used exterior paint is because vans are exposed to the elements a lot of the time. This is due to the fact that the AC doesn’t run 24/7 and the windows/doors are often left open to get airflow. In order to make sure the entire cabinet case was sealed to the elements, we decided to do several layers of polyurethane on the inside of the cases. This also gave the cabinets a clean finished look inside the cases.
Once the cases were painted and installed we put the kitchen countertop in and mounted our drawers inside of the cases. We used the Kreg jig for drawer slides on the install. This made it really simple and quick to get the drawers in (shown in the picture below).
The last and final steps were to paint the cabinet doors and install them, along with the hardware. We made a paint rack out of scrap plywood and 2x4s that we had in the shop and painted the doors one by one.
Below are our labeled doors for each cabinet before primer and paint.
When the finished product came together we couldn’t have been happier with how the van cabinets looked.
If we were to do it all over again we probably wouldn’t use rabbet and dado/groove joinery, and we may not even make solid cases like we did. Many people just make frames out of 2x2 lumber and attach their doors directly to the frames. This is a much lighter and faster approach than we chose. However, it’s important to note that it’s definitely not as strong as the cabinet method we used in the van. It also doesn’t give you any dividers between the different areas inside of your cabinets. If you aren’t on a tight timeline and your van can handle the extra weight of the full cabinet cases, the construction methods we used might be right for you. Another thing that we would have liked to do on the cabinet build was use marine grade plywood. We did completely seal the birch plywood with paint and polyurethane, but marine grade plywood would have given an extra layer of protection and increased the longevity of the cabinet cases in more extreme environments.
As usual, if you have any questions or comments be sure to reach out and we’ll get back to you! We truly enjoy helping others on their van build journey and hope this blog helps out as many people as possible.
