DIY pull out kitchen ?
We have a Chaparral 355 5er that we love. It sleeps up to 10 people. We usually have between 5 and 8 people in it when we camp. This means we are frequently cooking a lot of large meals.
One thing we don't like is that we seem to do a lot of cooking in our trailer, instead of outside it. Its got a decent kitchen with the usual oven with 3 burner stove/oven, microwave, sink and no surplus of counter space. It doesn't have the outside kitchen that some of the new trailers have.
One thing that keeps us from cooking outside is the setup time/effort. Our trailer is plumbed with an external propane outlet but its a pain to pull out the BBQ and stove, set them up (on a picnic table?). As well, its a pain cooking outdoors without a decent work surface, sink or microwave. As well, some of the areas we camp in require that all cooking equipment be stored away whenever you aren't in the campsite due to the potential of attracting wildlife, like bears. This means we are constantly taking out and putting away cooking equipment.
I'm wondering if I can improve this situation.
Our 5er has a 48" wide x 28" high door to the pass through storage under the bedroom. It's also under the awning. I'm toying with the idea of building a light steel frame that slides out from the pull through storage and mounting a gas cooktop, small BBQ, sink, microwave and work surface to it. The assembly would simply slide out from the pull through storage bay when you wanted to use it and slide back in when you are done with it.
I've got a 36" 5 burner natural gas cooktop left over from a house renovation. It's fairly light in weight. It has a 120V automatic ignition system, but one could also light the burners manually. At 36", it is wider than I would like, but the price is definitely right. And 5 big burners would allow cooking of several things at once in decent sized pots !
I've also got a sink. Small microwaves are fairly inexpensive. I've also got a small propane table top BBQ that works really well.
The storage bay is nearly 8 feet wide with a door on each side. We don't use all the space in it and it usually holds the BBQ and the cook stove.
The cook top is 36" wide. The BBQ is about 24". That leaves 3 feet for a sink and work surface, which could fold out from the frame ?
Ideas, thoughts, comments on how one could throw this together ?
One thing we don't like is that we seem to do a lot of cooking in our trailer, instead of outside it. Its got a decent kitchen with the usual oven with 3 burner stove/oven, microwave, sink and no surplus of counter space. It doesn't have the outside kitchen that some of the new trailers have.
One thing that keeps us from cooking outside is the setup time/effort. Our trailer is plumbed with an external propane outlet but its a pain to pull out the BBQ and stove, set them up (on a picnic table?). As well, its a pain cooking outdoors without a decent work surface, sink or microwave. As well, some of the areas we camp in require that all cooking equipment be stored away whenever you aren't in the campsite due to the potential of attracting wildlife, like bears. This means we are constantly taking out and putting away cooking equipment.
I'm wondering if I can improve this situation.
Our 5er has a 48" wide x 28" high door to the pass through storage under the bedroom. It's also under the awning. I'm toying with the idea of building a light steel frame that slides out from the pull through storage and mounting a gas cooktop, small BBQ, sink, microwave and work surface to it. The assembly would simply slide out from the pull through storage bay when you wanted to use it and slide back in when you are done with it.
I've got a 36" 5 burner natural gas cooktop left over from a house renovation. It's fairly light in weight. It has a 120V automatic ignition system, but one could also light the burners manually. At 36", it is wider than I would like, but the price is definitely right. And 5 big burners would allow cooking of several things at once in decent sized pots !
I've also got a sink. Small microwaves are fairly inexpensive. I've also got a small propane table top BBQ that works really well.
The storage bay is nearly 8 feet wide with a door on each side. We don't use all the space in it and it usually holds the BBQ and the cook stove.
The cook top is 36" wide. The BBQ is about 24". That leaves 3 feet for a sink and work surface, which could fold out from the frame ?
Ideas, thoughts, comments on how one could throw this together ?
