In order to find safe travel options, I’ve been doing a lot of camping and road tripping, mostly in a Westfalia camper van. Not to brag, but I think we’ve finally got our outdoor kitchen setup dialed, pairing a few older camp tables with the GCI Outdoor Slim-Fold Cook Station.
The beauty of this product is in its simplicity. It’s comprised of just ONE piece, which folds down slim with a handy carrying handle. Other kitchens we’ve tried include a lot of bells and whistles, but also take more effort to set up and tear down, and have parts that tend to get lost once the bag they’re designed to fit into (inevitably) tears or gets misplaced.
With the GCI cook station, you get four multi-use fold-out side tables, perfect for placing beverages (I like to cook with wine!), a garbage bag, a paper towel holder, or utensil holder. Plus, there is an aluminum counter top and a lower rack for storage/dry goods (we like to put the camp cooler here).
Our cookstove fits nicely on the main counter top, and it’s nice to have the lower fold-out storage shelves as well, but beware: these are dog height! I love that the whole kitchen fits on the floor of our camper van, taking up very minimal room.
You can pick it up on the GCI website for $80, or in brick and mortar stores like Cabela’s, Dick’s, and sometimes, L.L. Bean. Amazon also has a small stock for you.