Car camping is fun. Eating nothing but canned food, jerky, and energy bars, not so much. That’s why we go through the trouble of bringing cooking supplies to camp. While you can easily put together your own cooking setup, the Nomad Kitchen offers to make things a whole lot simpler.
Designed to turn the boot of a car into a functional kitchen, it gives you everything you need to prep, cook, and dine as comfortably in the outdoors as you do at home. We know, it doesn’t allow you to order from Postmates, which is what you normally do at home, but if you want to enjoy proper cooked food while slumming it in the wild, this offers one of the simplest ways to make sure you’re properly equipped for the job.
The Nomad Kitchen is an aftermarket add-on that mounts to the boot of most vans, SUVs, and hatchbacks, giving the erstwhile normal vehicles a pull-out camp kitchen that can be quickly deployed at camp. Essentially, it turns the rear of your car into a mobile kitchen – one where you can do essential tasks, like preparing ingredients, cooking on a stovetop, and even washing your dishes, all without the inconvenience of having to tow a trailer.
What does this pull-out kitchen get you? There’s a bamboo cutting surface for all your chopping and slicing tasks, as well as a pull-out drawer designed to accommodate a two-burner stove (sold separately, so you can use your existing unit) and a strap next to it for attaching your fuel canister of choice. There’s also a stainless steel washbasin for cleaning up after a hearty meal, a drying rack for letting those wet dishes drip before putting them away, and a rope-secured rack for holding most portable sizes of water tanks. Naturally, there’s storage, too, including multiple drawers for all your cookware and dishes, as well as hooks for hanging spice racks, trash bags, and any other gear.
The Nomad Kitchen doesn’t install permanently to your car, either. Instead, it uses a patent-pending system that relies on hooks and tie-down anchor points, essentially securing the rig while making it easy to remove when you need to use the boot for something else. When collapsed, the entire pull-out kitchen measures 25.5 x 14 x 20.5 inches, making it compact enough to fit inside the boot of all but the smallest vehicles, all while weighing just 70 pounds, so one or two people (depending on their physical abilities) can handle carrying it in and out.
It can fit any two-burner stove measuring up to 23.75 x 13 x 4.5 inches (width x depth x height), so many common models from Coleman, Camp Chef, and GSI should fit right in. As for vehicle requirements, the first criteria is that your boot can accommodate the unit’s size as listed above. They also require a minimum of three tie-down anchor points in the boot that are no more than 13 inches above the bed.
The Nomad Kitchen will come out sometime this year. Price is $1,099.