“I think you need to build another kitchen” Jessica said. While it is frequent that my wife encourages my automotive creativity, this time it felt more like an admonition than her relenting to my typical inquiry for “just a few parts” for the current vehicle build. Heaven knows she’s been patient with my string of projects, including an incomplete 65’ Scout that still darkens the garage.
Seven years ago, our children were still in car seats and camping was very difficult. On one camp trip, we could scarcely have one person set up camp while the other chased children through the campground trying to keep them away from the cliff into the lake. After we got home, I proceeded to scrutinize how we could make the contents of our vehicle more accessible and speed up the most difficult aspect of camping with children, preparing meals.
I removed the third-row seat in our SUV and built out a steel framework with a table, fridge slide, and storage not all that different from our current Bronco Kitchen. It took a massive amount of welding, measuring, and reworking to get it to function the way I wanted. Jessica was skeptical of its value to our camping ambitions but allowed me to install the 350+ pound behemoth in the vehicle.
The years went by, with many camp trips with the kitchen assembly and eventually we found ourselves on the side of the highway with a blown coolant passage fitting on the intake of our rig. This led to the decommissioning of the kitchen assembly and the repaired vehicle with over 230k miles found a new home.
The new vehicle, a 2021 Bronco, was a delight to drive and adventure with. The kitchen assembly from the previous build was just too wide, too heavy, and didn’t lend itself to modifications or adaptation to a new vehicle. We proceeded as we had before our last kitchen, loading the fridge and hard cases in the rear storage compartment, and then piling all the soft components on top. It didn’t take many trips before we were endlessly frustrated by the inability to make trailside stops for a meal, getting a cool water bottle, or access recovery gear without unpacking everything. Not to mention crushed bread, overheating refrigerator compressor, and much lengthier times for setup and take down of camp. We had forgotten how much easier things were with the camp kitchen.
“I didn’t realize how much we were depending on it” says Jessica. So, I started the process again with some new criteria. It had to be light weight, it needed to have no components that could absorb moisture, no possibility of mold or rot, it had to be removable, the fridge and table needed to be accessible separately. It needed to have expandable uses and be modular. The build proceeded, trying to accommodate as many refrigerator sizes as possible without encumbering the rest of the functions. It has billet mounting fixtures to make it truly secure in the back of the vehicle.
We then proceeded to use it on over 4,000 miles of roadway, forest road, two-track, river bottom, and slickrock, without a hitch! It performed flawlessly.
Anywhere we went that people saw it, they were drawn to it. We did many demonstrations and met some great people. We stopped at the Gifford Homestead in Fruita, Utah and proceeded to make hot pulled pork hoagies for the family when a couple of senior ladies next to us were struggling to pack up after making a couple cold sandwiches out of the back of their Subaru. One commented to the other, “We’re not doing that again- let’s just follow them!” pointing to us. We all had a good laugh and shared stories while eating strawberry rhubarb pie for dessert. Maybe we’ll make one to fit a Subaru, any takers?