UPDATE – Camp kitchen Mk. 2 has been built, finally. Build posts coming soon.
This project popped into my head one drunken evening while camping with my wife and our friends.
Our camping setup is far more glam than camp. We needed a kitchen counter / bar in order to entertain properly. I also function a lot better when things are put away but still accessible.
I grew up camping with my parents and the Boy Scouts, our ” kitchens” were either one end of a picnic table, or a fairly clear flat area near the fire.
She grew up in a world where “roughing it” meant that there wasn’t room service.
The original plan was to have the kitchen assembled into one piece which folded flat for transport and unfolded into a counter and cabinets.
I built a mock-up of cardboard and duct tape and convinced myself it was a great idea.
When I started on the measured drawing I quickly found three fatal errors.
- I had no idea where I would be able to source the hinges this design called for.
- I didn’t really have enough wood working skills to execute this project successfully.
- This was going to be insanely heavy. Two full sheets of 3/4″ plywood plus hardware.
The current kitchen (2015 build) is made of thirteen pieces of wood, held together with twelve steel pins. Don’t tell my wife, but this version is built of scrap wood I had lying about the garage. It was supposed to be a prototype, but we’ve been using it for years. Some day I’ll get around to buying some nicer wood and putting a decent finish on it.
The “structure” is basically two columns with the counter laying across the top of them. Each shelf has pins connecting it to the three vertical panels.
The counter top is thirty-six inches off the ground and twenty-four inches deep, which is just what you have in your kitchen at home.
There are two “drawers” (rectangle milk crates) on each side. We keep food on the right side and utensils on the left.
I dropped a tiny sink into the top and plumbed the drain into a five gallon pail with a lid. I have to dump the gray water about once a day. We keep the cooler in the center section under the counter.
Blue shop towels don’t unroll in the wind like regular paper towels.
This counter makes packing and unpacking so easy, as mostly everything fits inside the milk crates for travel. It also makes feeding and cleaning the kids easy. And meal prep and cleanup.
One of these years I’ll make the Mk. 2 version. With wooden boxes instead of plastic crates. And a nice board for the top. I’m keeping the boar though.
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