When Josh and I were house shopping in 2011, we started classifying kitchen sizes by how many butts they could fit.
A tiny galley kitchen like the one in my apartment? A two-butt kitchen.
The house we bought? A five-butt kitchen.
Our RV? Decidedly a one-butt kitchen.
We have five drawers, two double-door upper cabinets, one lower cabinet, and a faux drawer that holds our sponge. That’s it! But our RV kitchen is no different from most.
For those of you who are considering the leap to a house on wheels, you may be wondering what kitchen supplies you can fit — and which ones you really need.
Most days, I cook three meals (plus snacks!) in our kitchen, and I’m here to tell you that you can fit everything you really need in your RV kitchen.
Here’s our recommended list of essentials.
On the Countertop
We have two identical mixing bowls that nest. Why two? One holds our fresh produce, and the other can be removed out from under it for salads, popcorn or anything that needs mixing.
I hang one of these utensil holder clips upside-down from our oven hood. There, it can suspend a spoon over a pot on the stove, keeping the counter clean and spoon from getting too hot.
Without a dish washer, everything gets washed by hand and dried by the air. This tiny dish drainer fits perfectly in our RV sink and has been a total lifesaver.
Our compact knife block fits easily in the cabinets when we move but provides convenience for chopping when we’re stationary. Plus, the knives double as (mismatched) steak knives.
My sweet mother-in-law gave me salt and pepper shakers very similar to these for Christmas, but it turns out they’re perfect for the RV in more than theme. Because they don’t topple easily, we just set them in the front of the cabinets when we move, and they don’t spill on the drive. If you get some shakers, I recommend getting low-profile ones like these.
In the Cabinets
We use ceramic dishes. Yep, breakable plates, bowls and mugs. And we haven’t had one break yet.
Before each move, I wrap the dishes with clean rags to make sure they don’t get smashed on the road. And if they do break, replacement Fiestaware can be found all across the US.
We have unbreakable cups that can be used for soda, water, beer, juice, etc. Glass cups should also work; for the first few times you move, you might want to consider protecting them from breaking with cloth until you figure out how sturdy they are.
Our wine glasses were a gift from RV Wanderlust, but we’ve been told by other RVers that these unbreakable wine glasses are a good buy.
Our NutriBullet is more compact than most blenders, and it’s more powerful.
Josh’s trusty two-serving George Foreman grill from his bachelor days still gets plenty of use. Yes, we love to grill outside, but when it’s rainy or cold, or if we’re out of propane bottles, it’s nice to be able to prepare pork chops or steak inside.
We have two sizes of nesting Rubbermaid food containers that get used with lots of regularity. Keep it simple, with only one or two lid sizes.
For baking and storing food, I have a Corningware casserole dish that has both a plastic lid for the fridge and glass lid for the oven.
In the Drawers
We keep a silverware setting for four, plus serving utensils, organized in a small, adjustable utensil tray.
Our food measurements are taken care of with a 2-cup Pyrex liquid measuring cup, nesting measuring cups and spoons, and a battery-operated food scale.
We nest colanders that doubles as vegetable steamers in a drawer, along with a small sauce pan.
We have a set of flexible cutting boards that take up hardly any space.
I store a ceramic frying pan in the drawer under the oven. It’s amazingly, beautifully non-stick. (Love you, frying pan. Mwah!)
Odds and Ends
Two baking sheets, a cooling rack, a loaf pan and a muffin tin live inside my oven. When I bake, I just pull the extras out.
We keep a large stock pot in the cabinet above the fridge.
We really enjoy our Instant Pot, which includes a rice maker, pressure cooker, slow cooker, steamer and more. It makes meal preparation so much easier. When it’s not in use, it lives in an exterior storage compartment.
When we’re boondocking, we boil water on the stove using a super-lightweight kettle that doubles for tent camping adventures. When we have shore power, we use an electric kettle.
We used to have a Keurig coffee maker in our fifth wheel, but with even less countertop space in our new motorhome, we use a hand coffee grinder and an Aeropress.
Of course, we also make room for pot holders, dish towels, sponges, chip clips and other essentials, but if you stock your RV kitchen with these items, you’ll go a long way towards having everything you need.
Anything I’ve forgotten that you can’t live without? Say so in the comments.
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