I just ordered and rec'd the REI Camp Kitchen.
It's nice but, oh that sucker's heavy.
30# just like the specs say ! I thought it was in the table tops (which I would change out) but it's the steel frame.
http://www.rei.com/product/765279/rei-camp-kitchen
Gotta a hella deal at $83 on sale, but it's going back.

I am leaning toward the Kelty now.....
http://www.kelty.com/p-94-basecamp-kitchen.aspx?category=basecamp
17# and I think it stores in a rolled shape.

This is for truck camping and for boat camping, etc.
Need to get off the ground with stuff.

Anyone use a camp kitchen ?

(mods, please move this if it doesn't fit)

They're both better than mine, which often consists of huddling in the rain cooking stuff on a rock next to a smoldering smoke fire in the rain in the lee of a boulder

Fish on...

Todd

Been there, still there sometimes.
I'm getting more civilized, although no ascots that I can see on my horizon.

I made a camp kitchen from plans by Ted Trueblood in a very old Field & Stream, or was it Sports Afield he wrote for?, magazine. I made it of 1/4" plywood with pieces of 3/4 x 3/4" wood screwed and glued along all the seams. I made it with partitions to hold a 2-burner Coleman propane stove just under the top, and compartments within for various pots, pans, tableware, condiments, etc. It was about 30" long by 16" by 16" + or -. The front was hinged and had brass drop chains so that it hung horizontal as a food prep surface - after taking the stove from its slot and placing on top. I fashions side brackets that accepted 2 1 x 4s with angle cuts that created a wedge fit inside the bracket and cut to sit level on the ground.

Worked great on extended BC fishing trips and family camping trips. It wasn't heavy and looked good enough to draw complimentary comments everywhere I used it. I sold it at a garage sale after the kids were grown and I simplified my approach to camping, where things are now designed around a single burner little Coleman white gas backpacking stove.

Sg

A chuck box....sounds nice.
I'm a one burner fan as well.
Phoebus 625 (white gas, old faithful)
Coleman Power Pack (propane, great for heavy camp)
MSR Pocket Rocket (isobutane, new addition for light camp)

MSR Reactor or Jetboil for ultralight mission or super quick streamside hot drinks!

A friend has one of these. Coolest one burner I've ever seen.
Tiny, white gas.

Svea 123

Wow. Old school. I have never seen one of those.

Swedish.
My Austrian Phoebus 625 is of the same design but larger and of steel.

Mountaineering stoves.
I can't say that my Phoebus has kept me alive, but it's kept us damn comfortable at times, using it as a heater.

Paid $11.00 for that Phoebus at the 1975 REI Spring Sale in Seattle. It was advertised as "used" on a REI-sponsored expedition.

Dude. Watch out for using stoves as heaters. I have picked up dead bodies that thought that was a good idea. Carbon monoxide = no bueno.

I know, this would be outside and not in a confined space.
Thanks for the heads up, though.

Unfortunately, that CO poisoning scenario is played out year after year, as you know.

DD,

My first and oldest camp stove is my absolutely beloved Svea 123. Love that little brass piece of heat. Thing about the Svea is that it doesn't simmer for [Bleeeeep!]; it's either roaring or nearly roaring or off, but it excellent for boiling, and about the most fuel economical of any stove I own. For one or two nighters I modernized a few years back to the MSR Pocket Rocket with the convenience of a gas canister, not very green I know, but they are damn convenient. I use my second Coleman one burner, I forget what they are really called because I named my first one Krakatoa for its heating prowess. Used it backpacking before I decided I like the weight weenie approach and now use either a Jetboil or the Pocket Rocket.

Yeah, the chuck box was a lot of fun, both to make and to use. Then I did make a compact version with some left over 1/4" oak ply with a formica top, but I may have left it behind a couple moves ago. I could do another since I have a sheet of 1/8" cherry ply in the garage.

Sg

Yeah the Svea is a dandy.
It was said that the tank could be pressurized by holding/grasping it firmly.
Can't remember how long you had to hold it....never tried it.

In a survival situation I would grab the Phoebus or Svea and a can of white gas over any of my fancy propane numbers.

I have a Primus Number 71 stove. It's an ugly cousin (needs polishing) to the Svea 123. Here's a link to a video that shows how to prime and light these small camp stoves. I tried to embed this video but there were pop-ups and other problems.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-SU3K_GIKcY

That 71 must be built on a Svea patent. Nice stove.

I used to light my Phoebus in a similar way but have been using denatured alcohol for a long time.
I have a little eye dropper/bottle I carry in the kit. Keeps the stove muuuch cleaner.

first time i ever used an msr whisperlite, i wondered "why do they call it a whisperlite, it makes so much noise" i climbed in alaska and took along an msr xgk, sounded like a jet engine taking off! great to melt snow, boil water--no simmer in sight. that particular stove broke on the mountain, sent it to msr (i'd bought it for $10 at a mountaineer's sale) sent me a new stove. still have it, it's my go-to stove for coffee in the am.



willy

ps like the svea! probably the first of the self-pressurizing stoves, maybe?

Mountaineering stoves fascinate me I think, because of their power.
They can save your life or at least provide comfort in difficult conditions.


And they're just plain cool.

+1 on the Jetboil. So quick and easy to use.

I use REIs Pocket Rocket and love it. I swear it will biol, coffee quicker than a microwave. Downside is it tippy as hell. Last trip we had spam, corn and pine needles if you get my drift.