Overhead Microwave & Shower Curtain Cabinet


Can't do any fine Chef cooking without the Rolls of kitchen appliances: a microwave 😂

Nor can one watch Psycho without a proper shower curtain !
 

So, the plan was simple: put those up above the sliding sink / toilet / shower cabinet. No brainer.

Yeah, well, except that the overhead cabinet can't interfere with human skulls when entering or exiting via the sliding door. So it needs to slide out of the way after use. Also there are a few 'minor' details to take care of:

  • it must provide 110V for the microwave
  • the Ford Transit's ceiling gets narrower toward the front
  • the bed's corner intrudes into the shower's footprint
  • it needs to resist a frontal crash to avoid bashing the passenger's noggin
  • and it shall not emit any rattling noises.

No worries, I got it...


There's no way to describe in a short post the final brain twister assembly and 6 weeks of experiments, failures, rebounds, soul crushing doubts and soaring finale. So let's directly jump to the final concept:

 

Basically, the cabinet glides on 2 drawer slides:


A carrier plate had to be designed to serve as a preinstalled plate with T-nuts to which the cabinet gets bolted. Without it it would be impossible to have access to the back of the slides to install the bolts securing the cabinet.

The installation steps consist in first mounting the carrier plate on the slides before bolting that assembly to the van's wall. Once done, the cabinet gets bolted to the carrier plate:


Now assembled. Note the upper aluminum catches in the center of the pic that force a tight connection with the panel when the cabinet is in the tucked away position:


Curtain rods are now in. The front one is mounted on pivot arms to hold the curtain out in the aisle and provide a large shower space:


The rods are just the standard 24" twist & fit model from Home Depot. The twist & lock plastic insert was simply removed as only the sliding action is needed.

The plastic end caps were replaced by large bases from these rods. Those were then screwed to the cabinet.

To tuck the curtain away while allowing it to dry, 2 cooling racks were joined together and mounted on cable clips for rotation.

Finally, Magnets were mounted on the racks' front edge to catch steel hooks on the back of the door. That secures the door very tightly when in the closed position:
110V is provided to the microwave via a power cord mounted inside a 7x7mm cable drag chain, and a mini outlet installed on the carrier plate:
 
Finally, the microwave was secured with a bolted down 1" wide aluminum strap.
 
And voila, a tuck-away microwave + full size shower curtain system. Here it is, fully deployed:


Note the foot extension at the bottom of the pic that catches the water coming down the curtain and redirects it in the shower pan.

Worked like a charm during a 3-week trip to Montana. A few more tweaks will be added, but the concept is sound. Boop !

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