As more and more of my trips have become vehicle-based, I've progressed from extreme lightweight camping to 'glamping', or 'cool camping' as goes the name of the increasingly popular series of books. Spending more time in and with the van I found it's great to have kitchen facilities within the vehicle, but it's much nicer to be able to cook outside. But why make do without all the culinary comforts?
Although my van was equipped with a sink, running water, a fridge, and a gas hob and grill, I enjoy cooking outdoor much more, and so I built a second kitchen unit from the spare I had left over from building the van.
This first version was constructed of MDF and plywood, packed-up to fit in front of he stowed bed in the van (1100mm wide), opened to reveal a double gas hob and grill plus sink, and the lid split to create extension work surfaces to either side with a stand for the 25litre water container to give a gravity-fed water supply.
Under the sink and grill is space for two 42litre 'really useful' boxes to store food, crockery, utensils and pans. It had a lot of use over 2008, but was a bit on the heavy side, and a bit too big to be an easy storage option.
So, I've gone back to the drawing board and made the kitchen units of the van removable so they can be free-standing outside or in a big tent. More details, plans and drawings are in the
van developments section.
I saw a fold-out kitchen unit on the
Vango site (see right), but at £40-60, it seemed rather expensive and needs flat ground to be stable.
So I took this idea, and worked on my own version using framework from an old gazebo (click image to enlarge diagram):
But it doesn't stop there. At some point I'll be working on
the next vehicle, or will need more catering facilities for a big
event. As inspiration, I've found a great resource called
camping-tips.com, and I now think I'll build something along these lines that packs down to a couple of small-ish wooden boxes:
