Do you use your kitchen?

[Oldfogey]

Having had an extensive discussion on the use and merits of bathrooms in caravans, how about the kitchen?

Do you cook, or is it just for breakfast toast and microwave a ready meal?

Do you have enough space if you do cook "properly"?

Do you have an oven, and do you use it?

What's the storage like?

Does it have decent rubbish storage?

Is the sink any use?

What gadget do you find essential?

Oh, and who does the cooking?

To declare an interest, I do cook extensively - roasts, baking bread, casseroles, etc. etc. I have rebuilt the cooker/fridge side ofthe kitchen area, and I'm now looking at doing the sink/storage side.

The driver for this is to replace a stupid circular sink with a useable square one, and to have custom designed storage.

 

[julie ann]

Hiya, I use the kitchen in our caravan quite a lot. we have a four ring cooker with a grill and oven and i cook nearly all our meals on it, i hardly ever use the microwave. I don,t have a lot of space in the kitchen, but that doesn,t bother me, i just use the table nearest the cooker as an extra work space.Ive got a bin which i put in the awning for rubbish, which we throw out at the end of the day.

And by the way, i do most of the cooking, but i don,t mind as i love cooking wether i,m at home or in the caravan and don,t you just love the smell of a cooked breakfast when you walk past other caravans in the morning.

 

[cris_408518]

Yep we use the kitchen, and I do virtually all the cooking when we are caravanning.

I love cooking and it's the time I can cook what ever takes our fancy the full hob and oven get well used. Square sink wins over those silly round ones.

We are minimalist caravanners and I could cook in a shoe box ;-)

We also use a real BBQ and not the make believe gas thingies (yuc) but everyone toi their own. I just can't see why with a full cooker and oven why you would want to haul more cooking gear and weight.

We have some good cooking gear that has all been bought in France. Even the tiniest most useful can opener we've ever had came from a hypermarket and we now have them at home for when you find a non ring pull can.

Plus have a great multi purpose French griddle type plate that can be used with handles removed in the oven or under the grill as a grill pan or on the hob like some use a Cadac. I think nearly all our cooking, plate, cups and glass ware stuff is French source. Quality, light in weight and very reasonable to buy.

If the vans had more space it would just get filled.

If you look at where a navy Chef has to cook for hundreds on many war ships the average caravan galley is more than edequate ;-)

My only moan is fridge space even with bigger firdges we still want more. We have a Camping Gaz multi fuel Fridge and a couple of 12volt cool box's again French sourced at a fraction of the UK cost.

I will admit to adding a couple of light weight shelves under the head height cupboards so cooking things can be to hand and free up the works surface.

 

[parker1158]

We use ours and eat much the same as we do at home. The only exception is we use the cadac if weather permits. The cooker is full size so anything goes. We don't use a microwave at home so that option isn't available.

Washing up is generally done using the site facilities, yes I'm the one marching across the field with me bowl of crockery and tea towel over me shoulder.

As for cooking I do it as I do at home along with the house work and ironing etc. My wife is not in the least bit domesticated and struggles with beans on toast.

 

[colin-yorkshire]

yep as with the others use the kitchen to it's full extent just like at home roast beef and yorkshire puds on sundays ect

the only moan is the rubbish bin the vans not got one as standard so it means using a swing bin in the awning

 

[LMH]

Hi

Yes, we use ours to its maximum capacity!

We use the oven all the time. Ours has three gas rings and a ceramic ring too. The oven cooks better than the aga we have at home. I could do with a bit more space in the kitchen area but I tend to use the small table adjacent.

If we put the awning up, we put a table in there and put the cups, tea, coffee etc out there with the kettle. We have one of those 12V/electric fridges out there too for the milk etc.

Storage is fine but I'm not happy with the cuttlery drawer. It's not long enough for big knives so I use another cupboard for those.

The sink is small but perfectly adequate. I use a sink drainer which I find gives a bit more space on the drainer. I also use a chopping board. Along with good knives, the chopping board is the one item I wouldn't be without.

We have plastic glasses for soft drinks but I do keep two cut glass flutes in the van as I can't drink wine out of plastic! So I guess that's another two items I wouldn't be without.

We have a small rubbish bin in the awning but if we don't use the awning, we use a carrier bag on a hook in the van.

We did buy a bbq and take that with us but we've never used it so that is in the shed now unused.

I tend to do the cooking in the van and my husband does the cooking at home.

Although I stated when we bought this van that the dogs wern't going to be allowed in it, we have been away a few times recently without the child and only the young dog (rather than both dogs). It's funny but as soon as you make a move towards the fridge or the oven to get something out, the dog seems to beat me and his head often gets caught up on the fridge door. How he hasn't burnt himself on the oven door, I'll never know.

Lisa

 

[thehoods]

H,

My wife uses the kitchen all the time. I take the chain that I use for her at home! Also she has got small feet so she can get quite close to the kitchen sink. All this is happening while I'm sitting out side getting through a crate of Stella. Can't beat it!!

 

[Oldfogey]

Couple of thoughts generated from posts so far.

Completely agree about wine and plastic. We use a couple of stainless steel goblets - light and unbreakable.

We also prefer to wash up using site facilities, but a washing up bowl is not the ideal thing to carry; we use a square bucket, which holds more and is much easier to carry. Lots of people have commented favourably, but not seen anyone else doing it yet!

 

[gavin_5121842]

Just spent 2 weeks in the van and never ate out once. As far as gadgets go we never leave home without the steamer. Saves on the gas, and you don't have all the steam coming from three separate pans you would be using otherwise. The other essential is obviously the bottle opener and cork-screw. 'Nuff said.

We almost bought a cheap microwave out of Tescos before we left as there handy for doing baked potatoes in a hurry, but decided against it for space and weight reasons.

I suppose we split the cooking pretty much 50/50, and the washing up of course,

Gavin.

 

[Lol1]

We use the kitchen, but not an awful lot. One of the problems is when frying, oil gets splattered all over the place, no matter how careful you are. Combine that, with carpets in the kitchen and you see why I like to do the simplest of cooking. It's a shame as there's nothing quite like a fryup in the morning to start your day. The two square sinks come in handy for preparation and cleaning. The oven is used, but not over burdened, no roasts or anything that can make a mess. The microwave is along for the ride only, we hardly use the two at home, so the one in the MH, lies idle.

Don't some of the warmer countries, such as the USA or Austrailia, favor out door kitchens?

 

[Val & Frank]

We take a George Foreman grill for the for the bacon and sausage. Saves any grease from splashing, also we poach the egg. Not quite up to the Full English but not bad.

Val & Frank

ps Val says she would like a larger square sink as well.

 

[Anne_374300556]

Just had to have an oven to heat up those rolls and croissants. Now we don

 

[Lol1]

Just had to have an oven to heat up those rolls and croissants. Now we don

 

[trucker]

Kitchen fully used in our van. Away in van for xmas 2006 and full xmas dinner for 2 was a great sucess.

We had my parents over at the house for new year 2006 as well, and the oven packed up 15 mins into cooking the turkey so caravan oven lit and roast turkey in the van, but we did eat in the house. Had to cut the legs off the bird as it wouldnt fit in the oven dish for the caravan.

Kevin H

 

[MrsRobinson]

We use the kitchen for breakfast (bacon sandwiches at least), but if it's fine cook supper on the barbecue - then it's husband in charge, otherwise I cook simple stuff in the oven. It always takes me a few days to get used to the cooker, and waiting for it to heat up, as we have an Aga at home. I wash up in the van, I don't see the point of carrying pots across the site and back again.

 

[AnnM1]

We (as in the Royal We) use our own cooking facilities all the time. All freshly home made and nothing comes out of a packet. We do have a microwave oven but tend only to use it for defrosting (meals taken ready home made from our home freezer) or cooking the odd jacket spud.

I suppose I am lucky - I have my own 'built-in' chef!!! I do help with the prep and washing up - which we also do in our caravan kitchen.

If the weather is particularly nice my chef will occasionally consent to using the bbq!

 

[Oldfogey]

Interestingly we seem to be getting quite a lot of reports that it is the man who does the cooking, and not just on the BBQ or just in the van, but as a matter of course.

Personally, I enjoy cooking, and my wife agrees I'm better at it than her, so I do almost all the cooking.

 

[brightredrover]

we use the kitchen a little but do most of the cooking on the cadac. if you havent got one, you should.....