Saving Space in our 5th Wheel – RV Ice Maker Slide out Tray

by Jerry Neal | Aug 24, 2024

We have been using a portable ice maker in our RV for over 5 years. It’s great not having to run to the store for ice for beverages. Usually the smallest bag of ice we can find are 10 pounds and rarely do we have the extra storage space in the freeze to store the bag. The simple remedy was a portable ice maker. We have a large unit, but the drawback is the size and weight, and limited counter top space in our 5th wheel. The remedy for saving space in our RV was to create an RV ice maker slide out tray in one of our cabinets.

Portable Ice Maker

We started with a small Igloo portable ice maker. The ice maker worked great, but it was small and took at least 8 hours to make enough ice to last 2 days. We were constantly making ice, taking up counter space, and having the fan noise running in the background. It’s 5 years old and we passed it along to our son who uses it weekly.

Our next effort was to upgrade to a larger ice maker. We now use a Freezier X2 and this unit will fill our freezer ice tray in 3 hours with an extra gallon bag packed full as a spare. That’s the upside. The downside is it’s large, it’s very heavy, the fan is loud, and I’ve been pulling this ice maker our of a bottom cabinet several times a week and putting back a couple hours later to clear our counter space. I finally decided it was time for another modification to our 5th wheel.

Building an RV Ice Maker Slide out Tray

Always seeking ways to save space in our RV it was time for me to create our newest modification in our Montana 5th wheel – building an ice maker slide out tray. And most of all, we have the perfect spot for this ice maker slide out tray. In our kitchen area, we have a cabinet that we use for pot and pan storage that has water, drain, and an electric outlet for a washer / dryer connections. Our preference has always been not to have a washer / dryer in our 5th wheel and this cabinet was ideal for this project.

We had been using the bottom floor area to store our large ice maker and I needed to make a few small modifications to move the unit up a level. I lowered one of the shelves, reinforced the shelf to handle extra weight, and next was building the slide out tray.

Building the tray took about 4 hours. Having some ¾ inch plywood and a set of 25lb slides left over from a previous project, I created the new ice maker tray in about 4 hours. Painted and let dry overnight, I installed the next day. I provide more details in the video below.

Conclusion

The rv ice maker slide out tray project was a success. We have been using for a week since created and it’s great to have the counter space clear and no longer moving the ice maker once or twice a week to and from storage.

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Source: Saving Space in our 5th Wheel – RV Ice Maker Slide out Tray

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