Rear Drawer System with Fridge/Cooler Slide Design Considerations

[TerryD]

I'm wanting to design a set of drawers (2) and a fridge/cooler slide setup for my 2007 Xterra.

I'm going back and forth between two drawers flat on the floor with the fridge on top or stacking the two drawers on one side and having the fridge/cooler slide beside them.

I was wondering what everyone prefers for their build and looking for suggestions.

Some consiiderations:
My Xterra is lifted ~3" and on 33's
My wife is 5'0" tall
We are a family of 5 and use a 70QT cooler right now and will probably go with a 50QT fridge when the time comes.
I will be keeping my tools and recovery gear in the drawers. My camping stuff (mess kit, stove, ect) will all be in totes or stored on top of the drawer system, not built in to the setup.

 

[RoarinRow]

I'd say due to your lift and wife same height as mine, I would do stacking drawers on one side and fridge beside them. Less climbing for the wife and kids, the better. That huge fridge will need a lot of roof space for opening/closing, plus you won't have the weight of it on your drawers. I could imagine those drawers taking a beating off-road and having a heavy fridge on it won't help, at least that's what I envision.

 

[slomatt]

If you put the fridge on top of the drawer you will likely want one of those "tilt down" style of mounts so you can get into the fridge, and I'm not personally a fan of those since everything slides around while the fridge is at an angle and it is a pain to put things back in.

Our fridge slider is mounted as low as possible on the bed of our truck and its still difficult for my wife (who is 5'3") to see what is in the fridge.

 

[Nomad164]

I have twin drawers with the fridge on a slide on top - the slide is a drop down version.

You have to take in height considerations if you want to put the fridge on the drawers, hence why I went the drop down slide so the wife could get into it.

With the slide out it still sits about 5 cm above the rear tailgate so at times the wife has to get a small step ladder out to reach into it.

The slide costs about $800 AUD so not sure what it is in USD.

Picture below to so my set up.

Karl

 

[TerryD]

Ok. I'm pretty set on the two stacked drawer setup. Now to begin gathering parts! Thanks for the input folks!