RVs are great because amenities like your kitchen and bath can travel with you for maximum convenience and comfort. But, unless you have a mega motor coach, with an upscale gourmet galley, you probably don’t have a lot of room to store things in your RV’s kitchen. Add to that the rigors of the road and things have a tendency to end up in places you did not put them. Here are five simple hacks designed for small kitchens that will work brilliantly in your RV or travel trailer kitchen.
1. Kitchen Wraps Organizer
Nearly every kitchen in America has a drawer filled with foil, zipper baggies, and plastic wrap. It’s kind of awkward to store and it takes up a lot of precious drawer space. Why not use an office organizer, or a cereal box mod covered with fabric or decorative paper, to move your wraps from the flat drawer? A flat drawer is arguably better for utensils and odds and ends while the counter top, closet, cabinet or shelf can keep this stylish homemade storage box within easy reach.
Raw cereal box, cut but uncovered.
2. Magnetic Spice holders
Since things in shelves travel as you travel – back and forth, click! clack! – you need some way to secure small items like spice containers, or they will make a mess, drive you crazy, or both. Here is a simple tutorial for combining some magnetic storage tins, flat metal strips, labels and some decorative trim for a cute, cabinet door spice rack that is perfect for RVs. Or just skip the crafting and stick them on your fridge!
3. Magnetic Knife Holder
You’ve likely seen this in a kitchen before, but in the mobile environment of an RV, this knife storage solution also brings an element of added safety to the table. Simply purchase a magnetic tool holder or specialty knife strips, mount them to any stable, vertical surface, such as the inside of a cabinet door and voila! Your knives stay where you put them, not tangled up with spatulas in the bottom of a drawer, or scattered out of the knife block from that nasty swerve you took.
This one was cut from oak scraps.
4. Hanging Mason Jar Storage
My grandpa used to have rows of baby food jars with their lids screwed to the bottom of every shelf in his garage. These jars kept nuts and bolts out of the way, but within easy reach. While baby food jars don’t help much with larger kitchen storage, mason jars will. Instead of cabinet top canisters that can slide and break, mount the lids to several quart sized jars under your cabinets for dry goods storage that will hold enough supplies for a decent length camping trip.
5. Pots and Pans On a Peg Board
Even in a large kitchen, stacking pots and pans in a cabinet is a hassle at best. You have to dig for what you want and end up taking out more pans than you can use. Overhead pot racks are great, but if pans swing, they can fall, which in RV land is a hazard. So, why not use a sheet of peg board and some hooks? Mount it on a wall, cabinet or closet door for easy access. While you’re at it, add a second section for all those tools that are constantly missing just when you need them!
