User Review: Cabela's Camp Kitchen

The Cabela's Camp Kitchen is a kitchen in a bag, so to speak. First, it has a center section that has a storage shelf and a sink, a snap on countertop that covers the sink, an upper utility shelf, and two lantern hanging posts. To each side of the center section is another counter, each with a hanging pantry below, for food and utensil storage.

First of all, this unit is big and heavy. Obviously, it's not intended for backpacking or pack trains. It's really only usable for car camping, or probably more accurately, truck camping. At nearly 3x4x1 feet and 70 pounds packed up, it takes up a lot of room, but that's to be expected, since it includes just about everything - even the kitchen sink.

For camping in or out of a campground, this unit is very useful as long as you can get it to your site. The counters are useful for cooking and food preparation. Each of the side counters is large enough for a two burner camp stove, and the center counter is even larger. By placing a camp stove on one side, the other side and center provide ample room for preparing and serving meals. The pantries that hang below each of the sides can be used for storage of canned goods, utensils, pots and pans, paper goods, or any other type of non-perishable food items where appropriate (be careful in bear country).

The center shelf is handy for placement of larger pots and pans. The upper shelf in the center section is useful for spices and/or cleaning supplies, and also has hooks below for cooking utensils or cups/mugs.

Finally, the two lantern supports are useful for just that-supporting lanterns. They can also be used for holding rolls of paper towels, but be sure to secure them, or they could unravel in a moderate wind (I now know this - LOL).

One really neat feature of the Cabela's Camp Kitchen is the kitchen sink. By pulling up on the center countertop section, you can unsnap it and remove it from the supports, revealing the sink below. Fill it with warm soapy water, and washing the dishes after dinner becomes relatively painless. Once you're done, open the valve at the bottom to drain the washwater, but be careful to not allow large food items to clog it, as the valve is fairly small.

One thing I plan to do with my camp kitchen is to rig a solar shower from the upper shelf, so I can have warm wash water after dinner without having to heat it on the stove. So far, I haven't done this, but it should be easy to do.

Overall, I'm very pleased with the Cabela's Camp Kitchen. As stated above, it's large and heavy, so will only be used when truck camping. Also, when it arrived, there were some minor cracks on both of the side counters, but they were only cosmetic, so I didn't attempt to return it to Cabela's. These are the reasons the product did not receive five stars.

I would recommend this item for anyone needing additional space for preparing food while camping. It works well for setting up a base camp, or for truck camping, or even tailgate parties. It can also be used at home for grilling and backyard parties.