The kitchen is my favourite part of the motorhome. In it we cook spaghetti with ketchup. The motorhome kitchen differs from the kitchen you have at home only in its size. The kitchen has a fridge, a stove and a sink. However, some premium and luxury motorhomes also have an oven, grill or microwave.
Motorhome stove
Every motorhome, motorhome or campervan has a gas cooker. Usually with two burners, sometimes there are 3 burners. In my opinion, 2 burners are quite enough, at least it leaves more space on the worktop. Burner placement is usually as you have it at home, so you can use standard pots and pans.
Premium or luxury motorhome kitchens also have a hood above the stove for steam. If you have a standard or budget motorhome, I recommend fitting a sunroof with a fan, for example. This will change the air and smell in your motorhome quicker. However, if you want a cooker hood, it’s not a problem to fit one to any motorhome. It doesn’t take up much space and runs on 12V.
For vans with large sliding doors, a roof fan is unnecessary. You can change the air in your van pretty quickly. In winter right away, in summer you have to wait a bit longer.
“You can cook everything you cook at home in a motorhome”
I wouldn’t make any restrictions for that reason. Fish, meat, salads, pancakes, spaghetti with ketchup.
Motorhome microwave
This is a fixed built-in appliance in a cupboard somewhere. It doesn’t just sit on your shelf like it does at home. The microwave runs on 230V. You need either a voltage converter or a connection to the electricity at the campsite to run it.
Motorhome coffee machine
Capsule coffee makers are now commonly fitted to premium or luxury motorhomes. They are almost always fixed somewhere in a cabinet, on a shelf or slide out in some way from somewhere underneath or from the side. They need 230V to run, they work if you have a voltage converter or are plugged into electricity at your campsite.
Motorhome oven and grill
As well as the microwave, the oven and grill are built-in appliances. The oven and grill run on gas and are usually only found in premium or luxury motorhomes. The exception is the English, who also fit an oven and grill to a T6. The oven can also be retrofitted, but it takes up quite a bit of space.
An alternative to baking in the oven is baking in a special Omnia pan. You can bake, for example, a cake in it, heat up pastries or make roasted meat or vegetables.
Motorhome refrigerator
There are 2 types of fridges that are most commonly used. A gas fridge or an electric fridge. Most fridges also have a freezer which freezes well. The cooling and freezing intensity of the fridge can be adjusted either directly on the fridge or on the control panel of the motorhome.
The gas fridge can also run on 12V while driving, or on 230V when connected to electricity at the campsite.
The compressor fridge for electricity is mostly fitted to smaller motorhomes and campervans. It operates exclusively on 12V. It cannot be switched to either gas or 230V.
The fridges vary in size, from a very small drawer fridge, to a top loading fridge in a VW California, to huge double door fridges almost like you have at home.
A huge fridge uses a lot more gas, so it’s something to consider if you need one. As I’ve written before, I think shopping for local food or a beer at the corner bar are just some of the more interesting parts of traveling. You’ll get lost, find something new, or meet someone who can tell you where they have good fish.
“If you keep a little stuff in a huge fridge, it’ll just fly by on the way to the passo dello stelvio.”
Motorhome kitchen utensils
Any pots, plates, glasses and cutlery can be used in the motorhome. Pots with folding handles are quite convenient, they take up less space.
Plates and cups are mostly plastic. They are lighter and should be less prone to breakage. However, they cost about 20 times more than the ordinary crockery you have at home. It’s quite nice to have dishes with rubberized bottoms, so if you’re standing crooked, your plate doesn’t slide around on the table.
Luxury motorhomes have a special cabinet to store wine or chimp glasses. We keep our wine glasses normally in a drawer, wrapped in foam from the DIY store.
A cast iron grill pan has worked quite well for us, you can grill meat and veggies on it inside the motorhome or even outside. So you don’t need a special grill for outdoor use, just a stove that you can cook spaghetti and ketchup on.
Our experience
We had a gas fridge in Knaus. It ran on gas almost nonstop and the fridge smelled quite bad when the gas was burning. In strong winds, you could smell the fumes even inside the motorhome.
Club Joker has a compressor refrigerator. I find it more efficient, it doesn’t smell and there is absolutely no problem with it. For us, the compressor fridge is definitely the winner.
