THE OUTSIDE KITCHEN IN AN RV
By Malcolm Callister
“CAN WE COOK ON GRANDAD’S NEW KITCHEN?”
It happened one hot afternoon in August, on a campsite in Ontario. Two of our grandchildren were staying with us at the campground while we checked out our new travel trailer.
“Can we cook on Grandad’s new kitchen.” They asked.
They meant the outside kitchen. The grandchildren had seen this during their exploration of the new trailer.
“Why was this my kitchen?” I asked.
“Silly Grandad,” they had the answered, “because Nanna has the inside one.” The brilliance of the response was not lost on Linda or I. We have tried to follow the wisdom of that response during the past six months.
STORAGE SPACE WAS A PREMIUM
We were at Rideau Acers campground, Kingston, Ontario. Camping in Ontario made Rideau Acers a safe test camp for shaking any problems out of the new Travel Trailer. We wanted to identify and fix any issues before we set off for Mexico. The plan was to drive to Mexico, spending most of the next three years touring there. Specifications for the new RV to be used during our tour of Mexico had been based on our thirteen years of RVing experience.
Our Cardinal 5th Wheel was just too big for many of the Mexican campsites, we recognized the need to down-size. We thought our down-sizing decisions had been a well thought out, it was a nightmare. The final decision was a three-year-old Sunset Trails Travel Trailer by Crossroads. A twenty-five ft. unit with one slide, to replace our thirteen-year-old, thirty-three-foot Cardinal with three slides.
We had RVed for thirteen years without needing a second kitchen. We did not specify the outside kitchen. The outdoor kitchen just came with our new travel trailer. A travel trailer that met all our other specified traveling needs. Storage space was at a premium. The separate kitchen filled space that the bathroom did not need. We would use the second kitchen for additional storage. Why would we need a second kitchen now?
IT’S MY KITCHEN
Since the day that the grandchildren came to stay, I have tried to do most of the cooking and to cook outside. It is my Kitchen.
Linda does not feel that she should interfere with my cooking. OK, I get a few words of advice, suggestions, but she tries to keep her hands off my kitchen. In general, it’s my kitchen, my pots, pans, cutlery, and my clean-up. We are both having fun. It allows me to meet one of my early promises with camping, merely that I would do the cooking. A commitment that was hard to keep in the old 5th Wheel. Linda took over the inside of the trailer while I looked after all the mechanical stuff on the outside. But now with an outside kitchen, a chef is born.
Cooking on the outside while in the warm climate of the southern USA and Mexico also keeps the heat out of the trailer.
THE OUTSIDE KITCHEN WORKS WELL FOR US
All considered the outside kitchen works well for us and we now wish that we had had an additional kitchen years earlier.
Seriously consider an outside kitchen with your next RV. I would recommend an outside kitchen at the rear of the unit, away from the road and people traffic.
