Stumptacos Home-made Camp Kitchen

[StumpXJ]

After attempting to get a "Drifta" kitchen shipped to me from Australia, I decided to make my own. The Drifta kitchens are extremely nice, and I would have purchased one on the spot if it was easily shipped to me, but its not. I sent an email to the company asking about shipping out of the country of Australia, got one response asking me which kitchen I wanted, then I heard nothing back from them after letting them know what I wanted. This was about 8 days ago, so I figure it would cost a small fortune to ship, probably close to what the kitchen actually costs.

I am by no means a carpenter/cabinet maker, and my finished product will probably reflect that, but it will work for my needs, atleast until Drifta gets a US or European distributor. I really like the quality of Drifta's kitchens, and I borrowed some of the design for my build. I am already at about 150 dollars into material cost, about 4 hours of actual work, and countless hours of dreaming up the "perfect" layout. Here is where I am so far:

The stumptaco kitchen is 48 inches in length, 17inches tall, and 16 inches deep. It is made of birch ply, for strength, lightweight, and looks. It will be clear coated with a UV protectant polyurethane when its finished. I am making the grill cut-out section so that a Partner steel 2 burner stove fits in it with the lid closed. I have a white laminate top that is going on it, and lots of other bells and whistles planned, but that will come later. Here are the preliminary build shots.


Outer shell together, trying to figure out the drawer placement.







First drawer hung, on roller slides.





Both drawers in.





Shelf above the drawers added.




More later, just came inside for a quick break.

~James

[go4aryd]

Great project - and probably on my list now as well (though a bit smaller in scale). Keep the pix coming!

[VikingVince]

Originally Posted by stumptaco

I am by no means a carpenter/cabinet maker...

~James

I wouldn't say that...anybody that makes good dovetail joints is pretty high on skill level in my book!...looks great!

[StumpXJ]

Vince, I wish I could take credit for the joints, but I cant. Those "drawers" are just wooden boxes I picked at my local home improvement store, found in the home decor section (dont tell anyone). I figured they looked to be a good size, would work with my drawer slides, are pretty sturdy, are better than I could make, and the best part? They were 4 euros each!

Thanks for the compliments guys, I think its coming along nicely. The wife just got home, so I am calling it quits for the day. Below is the rest of my progress.

The left side of the kitchen will mostly house dry goods, (canned food, box foods like stuffing or cous cous etc, and the drawers wil also hold cans, and utensils. I am also making a small spice rack to hold my spices as I can never seem to keep up with my "camping dedicated" spice bottles. The slot above the drawers will be use for whatever, maybe longer things like aluminum foil rolls or saran wrap. I have to incorporate a knife block, and a paper towel holder somewhere in here also. Its harder to do than I thought, especially when trying to think ahead to keep everything in its place so it doesnt bounce around too much when offroad. Im sure I will have to make some changes and adjustments, but Ill figure that out after its shakedown run.

I decided to make this a half shelf, so I could store taller items in the front, like paper towel rolls, or cleaning supply bottles, or whatever.



Here it is with the left counter top section on, grill cover lid on, and the grill shelf. I am finally going to break down and get a quality grill, I hope the Partner lives up to its reputation. Cooking while camping is probably the most fun part for me, so I am hoping it fits the bill. I used a piano hinge for the grill cover, and a spring loaded gas-less strut for the the holding/lifting duties. I will use this same type of strut on the front door that will cover the left side face of the kitchen.



Here you can see the strut. I had never seen these in the states, but they are pretty common over here. They have a nut that you can tighten or loosen, depending on how heavy the door is or how much support you need. The spring assists you in the opening process, then the last 10% of travel is made much stiffer depending on how tight the nut is. The best part? They are fully stainless steel, and cost only about 10 euros.



Here it is with the lid closed, I obvisouly still have to make the other door panels for the face of the kitchen. I have some 12mm thick Delrin sheet that I thought I would use for the front panel below the grill cover. The idea is that it would also be on a hinge, but would hinge down to create the perfect chopping board and prep area. I think I may do it, although that much Delrin is expensive it would be a pretty trick cutting board. Luckily I already have it in the shop!





Just a close up of the latching system I am using for the lid and side doors. The lid will have one of these on each side, as well as the side door. They didnt have these in stainless, but they are galvinized so I should be ok for rust. I also used all galvinized screws for construction.



~James

[Rezarf <><]

I am loving your build-up bud! Keep it up. Have you thought about doubling up on the top layer of birch to fold out to one side or the other, then you have essentially doubled your "counter space."

Just a thought... I too have spent hours dreaming of the perfect setup!

Rezarf <><

[ntsqd]

I think that you want to use VHMWPE or UMHWPE for the cutting board. That is what most of them are made from.
I like what I'm seeing. The strut looks really cool.

[StumpXJ]

Rezarf, yeah I am doing that on the right side of the kitchen. The end piece will have a hinged doubler, and will fold up to give about 16 more inches of counter space. Not much, but every little bit helps. I think with that 16 inch section, and the 24 inch section to the left, I should be ok. When I was thinking about how much counter space I needed, I thought about my recent camping trips and what was actually on the cooking table. That consisted of silverwear and cooking utensils, paper towel roll, eating plates, a cutting board, cans and boxes of food, and spices/condiments. The beauty of having a kitchen like this is ALL of those things will now have a drawer or shelf to be on so it wont suck up the counter space needed for preparation, and it's all within an easy arms reach. At least that's the plan, we'll see how it works!

ntsqd, you are right. I just figured since I already had the Delrin I could use it, but I may save that for more important projects and go to the store to find a pre-made cutting board and cut it to size if needed. If I decide to use the Delrin, does anyone know if this is ok for food preparation? I dont see why not, but dont want any chemicals "leaking" into my food...

Thanks guys!

~James

[OverlandXJ]

Shipping to 19021?

Very nice James.

[StumpXJ]

Thanks John!

I ended up ordering a cutting board from www.cuttingboardcompany.com for the "door" below the grill area. I was able to get it cut to exact size (24 1/2" x 11 5/16" x 1/2 thick) and have it "unfinished" (sharp edges, not rounded) all for only 22 bucks. I will be able to round the edges in my mill once I get the hinge and hangers on it. I thought that was dirt cheap, so I ordered it. The same amount of Delrin would have cost me over a 100 bucks in material, plus I found out it is too hard and would have dulled my Henckel knivs that I bought yesterday.

More later, ~James

[ZR2nit]

looks great. good job