Building a Camp Kitchen

A Place For Everything

• When designing your camp kitchen or chuck box, you need to look at your camping cooking habits. Make a list of everything you use or would like to use when preparing meals. Important items like the camp stove and a dish-washing basin are easy to remember, but you'll need space for paper towels, cooking and eating utensils, dishes and cups, pots and pans, salt and pepper and spices. Towels and dishcloths are small but will still need space, too. Remember functionality. The camp kitchen needs to get your cooking gear to the campsite, but it also must be useful for cooking.

Portability

• Although you may be staying at your campsite for a week or two, you still have to get your camp kitchen to the campsite. Simple side tables add useful counter space and fold down compactly with the addition of a couple of hinges. Nested boxes pack neatly inside of each other while still affording space for cooking utensils. Folding legs put the kitchen at a good working height but fold down for more portability. Keep portability in mind when choosing building materials as well. Thick plywood may be sturdier, but it is also heavier. Check the plumbing aisle for lightweight building materials such as PVC.

Test Drive

• Once you've designed your camp kitchen according to your needs and built it to be portable and lightweight, take it for a test drive in the back yard. Pack the kitchen exactly as you would for a trip and carry it outside, testing the weight. Set up the kitchen and cook dinner to make sure everything you need for a typical camping dinner is conveniently located. Gently move the kitchen back and forth, check that the legs won't collapse under the weight and work. Adjust shelves and racks according to your needs. When you've finished a successful test run, take a picture of the final camp kitchen, complete with cooking gear.

Finishing

• Your camp kitchen will be exposed to a variety of climates. Sun, wind, rain and snow will take their toll. Once the kitchen has been adjusted to your liking, empty it and protect it with paint, varnish or sealer. Remember that you will be preparing food here and choose nontoxic finishes. Also, label what goes where. The stove will sit out on a work surface during cooking but slide into a special compartment for traveling. Label both places accordingly to ensure that everything returns to its proper place for traveling.