Summer Kitchen?

[jclay]

It's humid as a steam room and hot as hell down here four months/year; for a month either side of that it's pretty damn miserable. Increasingly I'm reluctant to do significant cooking inside bc it generates so much heat that has to be pumped out of the house via the AC; that just seems insane to me. Since the entire perimeter of the house I built is roofed and screened I decided to set up a summer kitchen adjacent the real one. Nothing fancy; having been cooking outside for a few months with a bare bones set-up, carrying all the accoutrements in/out every time, I decided to repurpose a large workbench as a counter for our Coleman LP two burner and toaster oven and will keep a small gaggle of pots/pans/utensils/hot pads and such as that in lidded bins outside. No plumbing, not yet anyway, but I can see the future possibility.

It became obvious that while having the two burner and toaster oven operational outside met the immediate goals of avoiding heat gain inside, the lack of support equipment (logistics, logistics, logistics) stowed outside made it pretty thrashy, so I'm resolving that but am not quite ready to commit to a sink, drawers and higher order stuff; a plastic bin for dirty equipment collection, transport inside for washing, and transport back outside. Plastic bins for storage, maybe hang some items, a shelf or two on the wall, more suitable lighting.

Anybody else have a summer kitchen? Not a fancy arrangement for swanky party time but something utilitarian, for every day use? I'd be interested in your approaches, experiences and perspectives.

[Too Tall]

When we are home I use a BGE constantly so "get" where you are coming from despite our more moderate climate.

Look at Camp Chef and tell me what you think? They are well made with flat tops, grill and even a Pizza insert. This brand is nearly universally loved by the travel trailer set. https://www.campchef.com/camp-chef-p...CC-PRO90X.html

[steve garro]

When we are home I use a BGE constantly so "get" where you are coming from despite our more moderate climate.

Look at Camp Chef and tell me what you think? They are well made with flat tops, grill and even a Pizza insert. This brand is nearly universally loved by the travel trailer set. https://www.campchef.com/camp-chef-p...CC-PRO90X.html

I have one of these set up on the front porch:

https://www.campchef.com/mountaineer...CC-MS40AX.html


- Garro.

[j44ke]

A friend has a cabin over the mountain from us and has taken some gas burners and mounted them in a 4 burner - O O O O - framework that sits under the eaves of the house. He welded the framework himself out of rebar (not as rough as it sounds - grinder was involved) and added supports so he could attach a cutting board on either side. There are also utensil and pot hooks welded on here and there on the frame. It is typical counter/stove top height and floor standing so tanks and gas hookups are easily accessible. And it is just enough under the eaves that he can cook outside even if it is raining. Plus the burners are right next to the kitchen window, so someone inside does prep and then puts ingredients on a shelf outside the window. I'll get a photo next time I'm there. He does nice work on projects like this.

[jclay]

What is BGE??

Both of those stoves look pretty fabulous and I considered similar units. Spouse recommended we just hit up Walmart and get the least expensive Coleman but I fell for the super duper simmer claimed by Eureka for their Ignite 2-burner and ordered one from REI. Nice stove otherwise but it didn't come close to having a simmer flame; sent it back....adopted spouse's sage advice and spent $50 on the Coleman (lesson there?); it has an excellent very low simmer and is easy to adjust precisely; both attributes rival our cooktop which is excellent. The LP connection tube, common to most of the stoves types I was looking at, is annoying but makes sense for the originally intended micro LP cylinders and it can be replaced with a more conventional hose and regulator arrangement; that's coming.

But it's all the other stuff that really makes everything work well and there have to be a million variations. Counter space is vital (weren't tables an amazing invention, maybe rivaling the wheel? Really...think about it; somebody(s) had the idea and it beats the hell out of using the ground) as is all the other stuff you need to cook; you need utensils/hot pads/knifes/paper towels and lots of other stoff without flitting back/forth to the mother-ship kitchen; I don't want to schlep everything that's needed outside every time I fire up; the intent is every day usage during the hot months; I want to do the food prep inside, carry just that out and be able to do everything needed to plate the finished meals. I also see this as likely an evolutionary thing. It's going from the stove and toaster oven being on spare tables outside and on opposite sides of the house ('cause no 120 circuit in the little area where the stove and ultimately the entire kitchen will go) to adding the circuit (finished it today), cleaning up and painting the workbench to serve as the counter (in process) and then doing the high order stuff; simple solutions for having a small but adequate selection of the necessities to cooking including both equipment and consumable staples (S&P, olive oil, some herbs, that sort of thing). And that's what I find interesting, the approaches of other folks to this sort of mission.

I've found lots of grand, expensive outdoor grilling patios/kitchens on the Internet but they strike me as being for show and events, not really for every day cooking. This page ( https://www.pinterest.com.au/pin/844...c_v3=1a1ceDOv6 ) has the sort of creative and inexpensive approaches to everyday outdoor kitchens that I find interesting, kind of the right wavelength for me.

Anyway, that's sort the brain dump trajectory I'm on. Don't know how far or sophisticated I'll go but I know that having the basics available and well organized outside will make it vastly more useful; but I'm sure there are some clever approaches I haven't thought of.

[jclay]

The "Images" selection returns some interesting takes and ideas on small kitchens: https://duckduckgo.com/?q=%E5%B0%8F%...37afb84d49.jpg

I'm fascinated by the creations of folks who manage to put a lot of functionality into a small space and without just throwing big fancy $$ at it. If a hurricane ever gives us a house do-over....

[SlowPokePete]

What is BGE??

https://biggreenegg.com

SPP

[j44ke]

Not just for summer but...



Look up Martijn Doolaard. He's done some traveling.

[robin3mj]

I bought a collapsible SnowPeak fire pit at the beginning of covid and although pricey has been worth every penny. They do a whole lot of camp/cooking items that look pretty sharp.

[jclay]

My father and oldest brother built something very much like this, though with a couple of utensil drawers, back in the early '60s. Sadly it was given away about 20 years ago; it would have come in very handy for what I'm doing.

https://i.pinimg.com/originals/1d/54...c45e27f30f.jpg

[thollandpe]

My father and oldest brother built something very much like this, though with a couple of utensil drawers, back in the early '60s. Sadly it was given away about 20 years ago; it would have come in very handy for what I'm doing.

https://i.pinimg.com/originals/1d/54...c45e27f30f.jpg

That looks a lot like a chuck box, sometimes called a wanigan, that we used in scouts.



https://scoutlife.org/hobbies-projec...d-a-chuck-box/