Spending time and money to get your gear up to par for long overland journeys is a must. After all, your time is valuable, and there is a cost to the extra comforts you enjoy when living off the grid. Kitchen slides, with their optimal function and efficient use of space, consistently rank towards the top of wishlists among dedicated overlanders.
However, cooking can feel like its own torment after a long day on the road. The conditions in which meals are prepared can also be taxing, and in practice, the two items you need to unpack for meals (the ingredients, a pot, and a pan) end up becoming four or five. Why not keep them all in one place to save time, energy, and effort?
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Get It Outside
When using kitchen slides, you may cook without worrying about bringing any odours or smoke from your food into the rest of your camper van. Worse than waking up to the smell of last night’s garlicky food is dozing off in a confined space that still reeks of it. The smoke and odours from cooking may be easily sent outside thanks to the slide out kitchen.
Take the Heat Out of Your Camping Car
Consider the fact that cooking generates a great deal of heat. In order to stay comfortable in your van on a hot day, you should take all the necessary measures to reduce heat buildup. An outdoor kitchen allows you to keep the temperature inside your van down without having to turn on the air conditioning.
Keep Up with the Atmosphere
A typical mobile kitchen is an enclosed space where the cook remains alone while the rest of the family spends time outside. But if the kitchen is outside, the chef can be with the other people and still keep an eye on the meals.
Option for Adding a Drop-Down Stovetop
A cooktop that slides out is another great option. With kitchen slides, you may personalise your portable kitchen to meet your exact specifications. You may find a variety of slide-out cooktops to choose from, so it’s important to shop around for the one that’s best for your RV.
Retractable Workbench
When camping, there is often nowhere to set down your food or drinks, which may be a major inconvenience. No longer, though! Useful tools are drawer sliders. Your slide-out drawers can have a simple food preparation surface added to them with minimal effort and without sacrificing valuable storage space.
Which Design Suits Your Needs Best?
Large variants for truck beds can store all of your kitchenware and necessities, while more compact cabinets can hide a stove or cooler (with added convenient storage and function). One consistent feature (among the better models) is a clever telescoping construction that allows one, two, or even three separate platforms to be rolled out vertically (and sometimes horizontally) from a compact container. They are easily installed with the help of tie-downs in the bed or cargo area.
The style and amount you can haul are limited by the size of your rig, but imagine how convenient it would be to pull on the cabinet front and bring out a refrigerator, stove, prep space, cookware, pantry, or all five! After a speedy cleanup, it can be closed up and put away in an equal amount of time, saving you the trouble of having to repack or dig through disorganised containers.