KITCHEN APPLIANCES
STEP 7
CHOOSING YOUR KITCHEN APPLIANCES
Choosing your kitchen appliances is a very personal choice. You want to do what you’re most comfortable cooking with and will enjoy as it’s generally a multi-daily practice. Factors to consider are as follows:
ENERGY: Are you comfortable with propane or do all your appliances need to run off of electric? Be sure to research the energy usage so to have enough solar to run all your electric appliances. Generally anything that heats/cools with electricity draws a LOT of power.
LIFESTYLE: Will you be living in your van full time or are you a weekend warrior? If just a weekend warrior you may be able to get by with less. Would you like to cook outside or inside the van, or both? Will you cooking for a lot of people or just you? What does your daily clean up look like and how much water will you use when cleaning dishes?
SPACE: How much space are you working with? When living in a van you generally can’t have it all so you’ll want to pick and choose your top appliances you can’t live without.
PROPANE VS ELECTRIC: Before you dive into choosing your kitchen appliances let’s go over some of the main points between propane vs. electric.
Propane uses less electric energy (duh!)
Propane has portable options
Propane can heat to higher temperatures faster, therefor it may cook food or boil water much faster compared to electricity
If propane is not stored safely and properly, it’s gas is lethal whereas electricity doesn’t have this risk
If cooking inside, the kitchen will be less hot when cooking on an electric surface. It’s also flat so may be easier to clean
Electric is noiseless as propane may give off slight sounds
Both as recognized as “green energy” so they are similar in environmental impacts
Dependability - Propane is safely stored in storage tanks, while electricity is subject to power loss
*If you do use propane be sure to purchase a Carbon Monoxide Detector and keep inside your van for safety.
OUR KITCHEN APPLIANCES
We went with 3 main kitchen appliances, a 3 burner built in stove & oven, a mini fridge and a kitchen sink. Because we have enough solar we’re thinking of adding a plug in blender for smoothies.
Built in Stove/Oven - runs off of propane
Magic Chef Retro 110v Fridge - runs off of electric
Collapsable Water Boiler - electric plug in (used for morning coffee/tea & oatmeal)
*Our water pump & water heater also run off of electric and are both on light switches so we can turn them on or off, saving electricity