Do cans or boxes of food shift around in your cabinet from your camper being in motion? Create an RV Can Storage Shelf to keep foods in place.

Thank you to Jim Opre for submitting this cleaver tutorial.

DIY RV Can Storage Shelf

I have a 2015 Summerland Mini that I have been changing to improve storage. In the overhead cabinets, there is some good storage, but there is ample open space.

I saw some multi-tiered storage racks on Amazon and figured it was a good DIY project. My cabinets are 10 ½ inches deep. My design is basically a small stair-step shelf to hold canned goods.

I used 1 x 8 white pine to build the ends. The end measurements appear in the drawing below; you will need two, one for each end.

To join the two ends together, I used some scrap ⅛ inch poplar plywood. You can make them whatever length you want, but you may need to reinforce the middle if the length is longer than a foot because this plywood is not really strong. I made my rack 10 inches long, and it was strong enough to hold about four cans on each tier.

Storage Shelf Cuts

from 1×8

• two – L-shaped as indicated in the drawing

from thin plywood

• one – 10″ x 10″
• two – 10″ x 2.5″
• two – 10″ x 3.5″

To help contain the cans and keep them from moving around, I used 1-inch white elastic bands that you can get anywhere carrying sewing products. To cover the 10-inch length, I made my elastic bands 12 inches long.

One of the bands is stapled across the first shelf to hold the food in front of the shelf in place. Paint and dry before adding elastic.

from 1″ elastic

• three – 12″ strips

This whole project can be done cheaply with leftover wood and paint.

As you can see, this DIY camper project can easily be adapted to suit the cabinets in your RV.

Thank you for this great hack, Jim. You have solved an issue that many RVers face. If you have a pop-up, check out our Hanging Pantry Shelf Hack.

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