Cabinet Door Replacement Options

[Josiah]

I just acquired a 2008 Elite I (Hull #43) as I am getting acquainted with I am finding that I don't care for the interior cabinet doors. One of the previous owners replaced the stock/original cabinet doors with a roll top style door on all the cabinets. I don't much care for the way they look but more importantly they don't function all that well, and they take space inside of the cabinet when rolled up and don't roll all that smoothly. I am leaning toward installing frosted acrylic doors but am open to other ideas. From what I can tell from photos it appears that originally there was a (plastic?) trim piece that went around the rough opening of the fiberglass cabinets and then the acrylic doors are installed after that. Is that correct? I have contacted Oliver Service Dept. and unfortunately they no longer make the trim/door pieces for my generation trailer. Which I believe those original cabinets slid on a rail instead of swing on a hinge. 

Any thoughts/ideas/considerations on how to fix/update the cabinet doors?

With a quick google search I was able to located some marine style custom hatches that will work, but wanted to see if the Oliver community had any suggestions/recommendations!

Also do the current cabinet doors swing down and not swing up? I was thinking about having them swing up (bad idea?).

Thanks in advance for any help!

Attached is my current cabinet situation:

[Mike and Carol]

Josiah, welcome!  You’ve got a classic. I think the doors look good but can see that they take up valuable space when open and if they don’t operate smoothly then they do need to go.  Ours open down, I don’t know why opening up wouldn’t be just a good if there was a way to hold them up when opened.  There are some owners of your generation trailer here, so I’m sure they will jump in to help.  Mike

Edited April 18, 2020 by Mike and Carol

[Overland]

I kind of like the roll ups, personally.  Here's a photo of the old sliding doors, as well as a shot from behind so you can see how they were done.  It looks to me like Oliver just used a standard 2-channel sliding door track fastened to the back, and so the 'frame' was just to cover the edges.  

Airstream do a sliding door with an aluminum extrusion frame.  If you can find the right extrusion, then I think it would be a really good look in an Ollie.  Eagle Aluminum is a good source for that sort of trim -

Another style for the older Ollies was just a simple cabinet door, similar to a Casita.  That might be the easiest thing to retrofit, since you could size the door to cover any holes that are leftover from the roll ups - 

Here are some Casita shots to see what they do.  The painted version looks best, imo -

Earthcruiser has done the same, but with a more modern look and sturdier hardware, and since their interiors are so similar, I don't think it would look bad at all an Ollie - 

They also do what looks to me like a routed sheet of HDPE or maybe PVC, with a frame that looks like it might be the same.  I really like the hardware in this video.  You can also go back in the video and it looks like on one door, they've cut a sheet or assembled some aluminum extrusion for the frame - 

 

Edited April 18, 2020 by Overland

[SeaDawg]

Looks like the previous owner of your trailer removed the classic molding, squared off the openings, and replaced it with some kind of trim. Like trimlok? Looks great, imo. 

If you don't like the tambours ( and I  can see why, they do take up storage  space, and have a tendency  to jam),   you could easy return to the original sliders. A couple of pieces of track, cut new plexi, drill the thumbholes, pop in the grommets, and done. I actually like our sliders in our 2008. They're smoked plexi, which maybe someday I'll replace with some patterned plexi. And, probably not. 

When we took out our microwave,  we built a new cabinet in the space. We used a couple high gloss  white Ikea drawer fronts, and their hinges, and our added blocks. I love the upward opening door. Just like my home cabinets, the door swings up, stays put til I'm done, and closes easily on the Blum for Ikea hinges. You might want to look at that idea. But the sliders would likely be a lot easier,  and less expensive. Imo.

Congratulations on finding an Ollie classic. We hope you have many great adventures.  

Sherry

Hull #12

 

 

Edited April 18, 2020 by SeaDawg

[Josiah]

Thanks for the quick reply everyone!

@Overland Thanks for the pictures, I hadn't realized that some came with sliders, that would make for an easy install. I'd like to figure out a way to get some trim back on it with curved corners to match what used to be there. Just not sure what to use, I think Oliver said that they fabricated the trim out of plastic?

@SeaDawg Any chance I could see a picture of your microwave cabinet with the Ikea doors and blum hinges? I'd love a visual. I think I know what your talking about. I have assembled quite a few Ikea kitchens... I don't have microwave either and wasn't quite sure what to do with the door, great idea!

[SeaDawg]

Here you go, Josiah.

We cut down the bottom drawer front. Raw edge ( painted) is on the bottom, factory edge up. This ledge could be made to drop down, but I  like it the way it is. So, it's fastened in with a couple screws.

The Ikea high gloss white is fairly close in color to the Oliver gelcoat. I used the Ikea hinges, could have used Blum minis, and the Ikea Blankett cabinet handle.

[SeaDawg]

Btw, didn't " build a box" for the microwave compartment.  I painted the fiberglass and plywood sides that we added, and covered the bottom with Ikea shelf liner. That's a 6 or 7 dollar walmart wire shelf that helps keep my cabinet organized. 

Sherry

[Bshaffer]

We had the sliders.  Hated them for two reasons. 1.  The tracks were brittle and breaking. Fell out all of the time 

2. harder to get stuff in and out because you only had 1/2 an opening to work with 

iron Horse RV in San Antonio made plexiglass doors.  Attached the top hidden piano hinge with 3M tape and out super strong magnet catches at the bottom.  We debated if the hinge should be at the top or bottom.  Went with top. Figured it would be more secure while towing 

 

Jellybean #10

[Overland]

Cool. Those look pretty nice. Jellybean is the red Ollie, right?  It’s great seeing the original Ollies still looking perfectly new inside. 

Edited July 7, 2020 by Overland

[Bshaffer]

Yup.  The red one. 

[Overland]

Looking great on the outside too. Are those new graphics on the sides?

[Bshaffer]

Yup. New graphics on the side. Iron Horse replaced them too.  Nothing was wrong with them except for the color. Lol. They were GOLD!    Didn’t match the truck 😉

[Overland]

I think the new ones are great - love the two tone text. Good job!

[SeaDawg]

Jelly Bean looks great, Brandi! Iron horse did a really nice job on the doors and graphics. 

Did you flip the privacy shades top for bottom, or were they like that when you bought Jelly Bean?

Love your red backsplash, as well. Is it vinyl tile?

Sherry

 

[Bshaffer]

Sherry.  I know I flipped some shades because one of them kept wanting to slide... but I forget which one?  Lol. I think I just flipped the big one. It used to like to pop off sometimes during travel.  It stays secure now.   My big one has the black privacy screen at the top and the back ones have the privacy screen coming up from the bottom.  Not sure what they were originally supposed to be.  Lol 
 

The backsplash is little metal 3D tiles.  Found it on Amazon.  🙂
 

 

thanks Overland.  I’m still undecided on the two tone font.  It was an idea by Iron Horse.  I think it’s hard to read unless you are close.  I was debating on having it redone, but then again, we have other things to buy.  Lol