Removeable kitchen setup

I like having the van all packed and ready for adventure at a moments notice. I like being able to prepare food inside while on the road, but when we stop and if we set up camp for a bit, I want to be outside cooking and eating and being outside.
Been thinking about a kitchen galley where a removeable cabinet section could be picked up and set outside for outdoor usage. The cooler would remain in van, but cutlery, plates, liquid fuel stove, cutting boards, spices, etc would be in this section that can now be used on a picnic bench at the campsite to more conveniently cook outside.
Curious if other folks may have experimented with similar concept. Would love to hear their learnings, see some pics, etc..
Thanks!




Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

https://trailkitchens.com/

I have no experience with them, just seen them around the interwebs.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

pacnwers said:

I like having the van all packed and ready for adventure at a moments notice. I like being able to prepare food inside while on the road, but when we stop and if we set up camp for a bit, I want to be outside cooking and eating and being outside.

Click to expand...

MY galley is in the sliding door. And the cooker is propane powered. I have a gas line that goes out the bottom of the galley facing outside that hooks on to a small portable cooker that I place on a small fold up table. So I am outside, but not at a big campground picnic table. Maybe not quite what you are looking for. But where we camp which is not typically at campgrounds with picnic tables, this suits us well. I also have water taps that come out the bottom as well, they are used to get water without going in the vehicle and also the low point to drain the system.
Sorry no photos.

Thanks. I'll look them up.
Here are some pics of roughly what I'm thinking.






A box like this would fit into the van galley along with fridge, countertop, maybe stove and sink, but this box could be picked up and set outside for easy outside cooking.

I just open my sliding door - boom, I'm outside. This sounds like an idea more for suited for traveling in a station wagon.

Thanks NBB. Would love photos of your able sometime.. I like what your saying tho, sounds like flexible access/usage.
Our trick is we have a three person bench behind the two front captain chairs(crew cab configuration) so our slider space is half access to bench and half access to the rear of van, so my galley has to be more interior.
With seating and sleeping for 5, we had to make some trades on layout. [emoji16]




Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Our old VW T2 had a 2 burner hob and grill with a small propane cylinder underneath it in a cabinet by the sliding door.

The whole thing was on a hinge so you could easily just swing it round so that it was outside. A simple door latch would locate into tabs in the floor to lock it in either the indoor or outdoor positions. Simple, but very effective.

I don't have any pics of it as we had it back in the 80s - when our precious 24 frames were used more selectively!

I'm sure you get the idea though.

The downside is that we didn't worry about things like drop out vents or CO alarms back in those days. Not sure I'd want that setup now personally, but that's just one man's opinion.

I have a full galley inside. Sink, counter, cabinets, fridge, swing table and portable camp stove. I honestly do 80% of my cooking outside. I just bring the stove and whatever else I need out there. I've seen attempts at what you're proposing and it was always a big heavy pain in the ass. Think about just the stove, fuel, sink, water, and all the other stuff just in a plastic bin would be heavy. In a custom wood cabinet, it's a heavy two person carry no matter what. My buddy built one that weighed close to 300 that had to mount to his hitch and took 4 of us to move to the camp kitchen area. That one made it two trips before we had to have the hard talk with him. It was awesome, though over engineered to the 10th degree. My thoughts, if you don't have room for a kitchen, go with storage bins for cooking gear.

pacnwers said:

Thanks. I'll look them up.
Here are some pics of roughly what I'm thinking.


View attachment 123748

View attachment 123749

A box like this would fit into the van galley along with fridge, countertop, maybe stove and sink, but this box could be picked up and set outside for easy outside cooking.

Click to expand...

Like this?

pacnwers said:

Thanks. I'll look them up.
Here are some pics of roughly what I'm thinking.


View attachment 123748

View attachment 123749

A box like this would fit into the van galley along with fridge, countertop, maybe stove and sink, but this box could be picked up and set outside for easy outside cooking.

Click to expand...

I have one very close to that. It has been in the family for over 60 yrs full of camping pots and pans that is close to being thrown on the burn pile. No one in the family wants it and it is taking up valuable real estate.
Not going to ship it but if anyone wants to pick it up pm me. Could use some sanding and refinishing but hey its free.

We call it a "Chuck box" and if you google it, it may help you in your search.

Boathik said:

https://trailkitchens.com/

I have no experience with them, just seen them around the interwebs.

Click to expand...

I have a van TK with the sink and water storage (14 gal. fresh, 14 gal. gray water) along with the removable chuck box w/2 burner stove. It is pricey but does the job. Reasonable amount of storage, carry handles to move it out of the van, easily deployable legs to set up stand-alone or it can sit on the end of a table or other platform. I stuffed some Magma nesting pans into the box along with other cooking tools and supplies.

The TK chuck boxes alone are useful. Adding the sink/water storage in the van TK was good for me. But it is pricier than a DIY solution.

I can't honestly be bothered with this level of design effort. We cook on a 2 burner camping stove that can be used inside the van or outside. I enjoy both. When I cook outside (on our own table, or one provided by someone else), I move the stuff I need out from the van. Then I move it back in. I'm rarely going to leave that stuff outside overnight, so having to move it back inside isn't a burden, and the actual task of moving food/pans/utensils each way feels pretty minimal to me. It's the mobile stove that matters the most, IMO.

Boathik said:

https://trailkitchens.com/

I have no experience with them, just seen them around the interwebs.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Click to expand...

looks very interesting and well made, thank for the link.

I dove deep into the Chuck box madness. Design is from “Tom builds stuff. It nests in the stand.

Our is being designed to live under the bed in the garage. It will be filled with spices, dishes, and staples that are replaced/washed after every trip.

Built a knife block and some dividers for long utensils. The rest of the Chuck Box is shown in an earlier post. The aluminum dividers are 3/8” square aluminum stock.

I also wanted to be able to get out of the van and set up a kitchen, or at least for eating and prep station. I ended up making drawers as a tray and putting a box on the tray that can be removed from outside the van. So, I can get to the bottom two large drawers from inside and outside the van. The outside face of the kitchen cabinet by the slider door opens up and I can pull out the bottom two big drawers to take out. Bottom draw is plates, pans, glasses and the one above is for food storage. So pretty easy to load the van before a trip and to easily pull out a bunch of stuff at camp. If we are cooking out, then we bring a separate Coleman stove, but usually don't bother. Just prep and eat outside and cook on the van stove.

That is a clever setup with the outside access.

I am putting the Chuck box through a trial today. Plan is to cook everything on it for one day to see if I need to add anything to it. So far pancakes and coffee are a success.

Dinner.
Burgers and green beans.

Going to get a OXO bottle for cooking oil, an instant read thermometer (hard to judge if food is done without one) and a container for course salt (for cast iron cleaning). I’m happy with how it tuned out and it should make traveling a little more comfortable.

Put the chuck box to use in Death Valley CA. Park Hotel property has some ambiguous rules about cooking, but no one bothered me cooking from the back of the van. Cooked three full meals and made a bunch of coffee / tea.

Stoked with the chuck box performance. The high temp fiberglass work surface (sheet from McMaster-Carr) was easy to worn on, even after a helping or three of gin. Way better than painted wood. I used a silicone silpat mat to keep the camp stove from sliding around on the slick surface. Overall I really like the Tom Builds Stuff Chuck Box design (and suggested contents). Only thing I want to alter is the paracord I use to retain the tall utensils in the left side. I want some sort of quick disconnect to make it easier to access the tall utensils.