A DIY campervan conversion just isn’t complete without a working kitchen. Check out our step-by-step tutorial that walks you through everything you need to make your own DIY kitchen for your campervan or RV, complete with a working sink, stove, storage and counter space for chopping all those fresh veggies!
We love to cook, so having a kitchen — however tiny — inside our campervan was a huge plus. We (aka Ben) built a simple countertop that help a Coleman 2-burner stove, a small cutting board, a working sink, and a water container. Plus, there’s plenty of storage space below!
Materials needed to build the kitchen counter:
- Dimensions for kitchen area in your van
- 2 pieces of 2×4 lumber (84 inches in length)
- 1 sheet of plywood (or enough to cover the top of your counter. Our counter was 50″x15″)
- Bunch of wood screws about 2 inches long
- Circular saw
- Measuring tape
- Triangle straight edge
- Pencil
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1. Build a frame for your counter
According to the size of your van, you’ll start by building a frame using 2×4’s. We were lucky to have a van big enough to build a counter (50″ long x 15″ wide x 17″ tall) that fits a Coleman stove, a sink, water container, and come cutting boards.
Screw your 2×4’s in a rectangle and attach the 4 legs. Make sure to orient your counter legs so you can easily slide pots and pans below.
2. Cut plywood to the size of your counter
Make sure it can fit everything you need. Cut a square hole slightly smaller than your campervan kitchen sink so that it fits sung and screw down on the plywood. Don’t forget to leave some space for a water container and an utensil holder on the other side of the sink hole.
3. Attach the counter to the wall of your van
Use screws to make sure it doesn’t tip over while you’re driving. Also, it’s a good idea to attach small “side-walls” to the edges of the counter so that your stove, cutting boards and water container do not side off when you make turns.
4. Final steps
Now that your kitchen counter is finished and attached to the wall, make curtains to hide pots, plates, and bowls under the counter for storage. We have a whole article dedicated to DIY campervan curtains.
Kitchen supplies for a campervan road trip
Once your kitchen is installed and your bed frame is built, it’s time to pick up some kitchen supplies for your road trip. We assembled our own kitchen sink with some simple tools and we’ll show you a step by step process to do it yourself too. Here is a list of our kitchen gear we had on our road trip:
- Coleman two-burner stove
- Cutting boards
- Mess kit (plates, bowls, and cups)
- 1-gallon water tank with spout
- Campervan Sink
- Waste container bucket for sink
- Pots
- Travel egg carton
- Spatula
- Ladle
- Tongs
- 12″ cast iron skillet
- Coleman propane
- Dr. Bronner’s Soap
- French press coffee
Do It Yourself Campervan Kitchen Sink
One of the biggest challenges in our van life journey was to figure out how we were going to wash dishes on the road while staying inside the van. We found the perfect sink for our trip and with a little extra help from one of my favorite hacks (JB Weld) we were able to make a fully functional sink.
Materials needed to make your own kitchen sink:
- Campervan sink (Wash and Drain Dish Tub)
- Drain hole adaptor (1/2″ FNPT x 3/4″ Hose ID Female Adapter)
- 1/2″ Flexible clear hose (at least 1 foot long)
- 2-gallon plastic bucket with lid
- JB Weld Adhesive
- Exacto-knife
1. Attach the adaptor to the bottom drain of sink with the JB Weld. I tried many different types of adhesives, but JB Weld worked the best for me. Apply a generous amount to the adaptor and the sink base and let it fully cure overnight before continuing on other steps.
2. Create a small hole in the lid of the waste container with the exacto-knife slightly larger than the outer diameter of the flexible hose. You want the hose to fit in the hole but not too snug.
3. Measure and cut the hose according to the height of your sink and the waste container. You want the hose to hang in the waste container about 3 or 4 inches.
4. Place the cut hose on the adaptor and assemble sink and waste container in the van’s kitchen counter. Now you have a fully functioning sink that will drain into the waste container. Make sure to empty the waste container frequently to prevent smells and overflow.
Now you have a fully functioning sink in your campervan. Check out how to build your own campervan bed frame and campervan privacy curtains in our step-by-step tutorials. Find out other tips and tricks on our DIY Campervan Conversion on a Tiny Budget in less than One Week.
DIY campervan conversion guide
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We have TONS of resources on converting your own campervan and living the #vanlife. Check out our Ultimate Guide to Van Life for all the answers to your most burning questions, or read some of our favorite articles below.
- Campervan Gear Essentials: The Ultimate Packing List
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- Van Life Q&A: All You Need To Know About Campervan Life
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We want to hear from you!
What did you think about our DIY campervan kitchen? Comment below and we’ll do our best to get back to you!
What are the steps involved in constructing a DIY campervan kitchen counter?
Where do you dump the dirty sink water? Is there a legal way to dispose of it?
where did you get the adapter for the drain hose?
I absolutely love your campervan sink that you found! We have been looking for a good fit for our sprinter van conversion and I love that you can take this one in and out! Thank you for the great information! – Annette of http://www.VanAdieu.com
Glad we could help Annette! We really like this sink and it was easy to clean, which was important. Happy travels!
Hi Super cool. I got my plastic sink now and ready to put this together Do you have a close-up pictures of the 1 /2" FNPT and of the 3/4" Hose ID Female Adapter?
I wish I did, sorry. I basically just connected the adaptor to the sink with a ton of JB weld. Sorry I can be more helpful.
Hi. Super cool. I got my plastic tub now and ready to put this together for an off the grid cabin. Do you have a close- up picture of the 1/2" FNPT and of the 3/4" Hose ID Female Adapter?
Hey Sy, I actually don’t have a picture of that, sorry. Basically I took the sink, flipped it upside down, set the adaptor on the hole and placed as much JB weld as I could on to connect the two. Haha. Once it set for 24 hours or so, I was able to connect a hose to the adaptor. It lasted all summer for us. If I had to go longer, I would have made a more secure fit, but it worked for us for the summer.