Sunnyfalls
Well-known member
For those interested in this sort of thing, here the excerpt from our Casita trailer writeup that details what we did. It is pretty long...and will get longer once Gayle has time to add my construction details... And I still have to forge her custom design wrought iron towel handle that will go on the black walnut front piece. There is also a homemade black walnut cover that goes over these cooktops to increase our kitchen counter preparation space.
"We want the ability to use propane for our kitchen cooktop while dry camping, but NOT use any propane when we are paying for electrical shore power. We prefer electric induction as it enables more precise control of cooking temperature and has the ability to heat water much faster than other electric or propane cooktop options. Given that we now have 240VAC and 50A capability (i.e., 12,000 Watts), we also want to take advantage of this to enable having more powerful and higher wattage induction capability than 120VAC can provide. In reality, given our added 3,000 Watt Inverter which can be used independently and in addition to shore power, we now actually have a total of 15,000 Watts of 120/240VAC power capability.
The challenge with this project is finding a way to accomplish our objective given that our Casita trailer used an OEM Suburban Propane Cooktop, which is a 3-burner propane design (a single 9,000 BTU burner and two 6,500 BTU burners), but unfortunately is a slide-in and NOT a drop-in cooktop. This OEM cooktop weighs 21 pounds and has dimensions of 21-1/2 inches wide by 18-3/4 inches deep on the counter but which also extends an additional 3-3/4 inches past the front of the counter. Our maximum available counter space for a cooktop is only 23-1/2 inches wide by 21-1/2 inches deep and given that this OEM cooktop is a slide-in and not a drop-in, we also have to “fill-in” the opening in the counter top front. The other issue is providing acceptable propane burner clearance from the back and side walls. However, we love a good technical challenge…
We considered using a True Induction Cooktop, which is a 1-burner induction and 2-burner propane design, uses 120VAC, but only provides 1,600 Watts of induction capability and 6,500 BTU capability at each propane burner. This cooktop weighs 28 pounds and has dimensions of 23-1/4 inches wide by 20-1/2 inches deep enabling it to fit within our counter space. However, this cooktop requires 2 inches of clearance from the back wall and 6 inches of clearance from side walls which isn’t possible for us given the location of the propane burners. And given that the propane burner caps are loose and are not permanently attached, this cooktop isn’t at all well-suited for RVs either. And finally, we found customer service to be non-existent from this company.
So after much research, we concluded the current best way to accomplish our objective was to get two separate cooktop units (i.e., a dedicated 240VAC induction cooktop unit and a dedicated propane cooktop unit) that we could integrate into our available counter space. This approach enables placing the propane cooktop adjacent to the kitchen sink thereby avoiding the side wall clearance issue. And the induction cooktop can then be placed close to the side wall without any clearance issue. We then just had to find two cooktop units that when placed adjacent to each other would fit within our available counter space width and depth limits.
For our induction cooktop, we selected the Kenyon Bridge Induction Cooktop, which is a 2-burner induction design that can be “bridged” together to enable large griddle use, uses 240VAC and provides 3,500 Watts of total induction capability…either all used by one burner, shared by two burners or bridged together to create one large size 35,000 burner suitable for our Lodge Reversible Griddle. And 3,500 Watts induction capability enables boiling water unbelievably fast. This high-end marine quality induction cooktop weighs 12 pounds and has dimensions of 12 inches wide by 21 inches deep.
For our propane cooktop, we selected the Contoure Propane Cooktop, which is a 2-burner propane design, has 12VDC electronic ignition, provides 7,500 BTU and 5,800 BTU capability (which are relatively low power burners, but are appropriate for inside a small RV) and which also has desirable safety features including push-to-turn knobs and a thermocouple sensor that terminates the propane flow if no flame is detected. This propane cooktop weighs 6 pounds and has dimensions of 11-3/8 inches wide by 18-3/4 inches deep. So 12 inches wide plus 11-3/8 inches wide is a total of 23-3/8 inches wide which just barely fits within our 23-1/2 inches maximum counter space width limit. And 21 inches deep and 18-3/4 inches deep fits within our 21-1/2 inches maximum counter space depth limit too.
It should also be noted that we mostly do dry camping as a couple and when doing so, we usually cook outdoors using our light weight and portable Camp Chef Everest 2X Stove (with our Lodge Reversible Griddle), which is a 2-burner propane design, has piezo electric ignition and provides 20,000 BTU capability at each burner. When dry camping with family and friends, we usually use our Camp Chef Explorer 14 System which is a 2-burner propane design and provides 30,000 BTU capability at each burner. And to provide convection oven cooking capability without taking up much space or using much weight, we use our innovative Swedish design Omnia Cooktop Oven which we absolutely love as it vastly expands our camping menu options."
"We want the ability to use propane for our kitchen cooktop while dry camping, but NOT use any propane when we are paying for electrical shore power. We prefer electric induction as it enables more precise control of cooking temperature and has the ability to heat water much faster than other electric or propane cooktop options. Given that we now have 240VAC and 50A capability (i.e., 12,000 Watts), we also want to take advantage of this to enable having more powerful and higher wattage induction capability than 120VAC can provide. In reality, given our added 3,000 Watt Inverter which can be used independently and in addition to shore power, we now actually have a total of 15,000 Watts of 120/240VAC power capability.
The challenge with this project is finding a way to accomplish our objective given that our Casita trailer used an OEM Suburban Propane Cooktop, which is a 3-burner propane design (a single 9,000 BTU burner and two 6,500 BTU burners), but unfortunately is a slide-in and NOT a drop-in cooktop. This OEM cooktop weighs 21 pounds and has dimensions of 21-1/2 inches wide by 18-3/4 inches deep on the counter but which also extends an additional 3-3/4 inches past the front of the counter. Our maximum available counter space for a cooktop is only 23-1/2 inches wide by 21-1/2 inches deep and given that this OEM cooktop is a slide-in and not a drop-in, we also have to “fill-in” the opening in the counter top front. The other issue is providing acceptable propane burner clearance from the back and side walls. However, we love a good technical challenge…
We considered using a True Induction Cooktop, which is a 1-burner induction and 2-burner propane design, uses 120VAC, but only provides 1,600 Watts of induction capability and 6,500 BTU capability at each propane burner. This cooktop weighs 28 pounds and has dimensions of 23-1/4 inches wide by 20-1/2 inches deep enabling it to fit within our counter space. However, this cooktop requires 2 inches of clearance from the back wall and 6 inches of clearance from side walls which isn’t possible for us given the location of the propane burners. And given that the propane burner caps are loose and are not permanently attached, this cooktop isn’t at all well-suited for RVs either. And finally, we found customer service to be non-existent from this company.
So after much research, we concluded the current best way to accomplish our objective was to get two separate cooktop units (i.e., a dedicated 240VAC induction cooktop unit and a dedicated propane cooktop unit) that we could integrate into our available counter space. This approach enables placing the propane cooktop adjacent to the kitchen sink thereby avoiding the side wall clearance issue. And the induction cooktop can then be placed close to the side wall without any clearance issue. We then just had to find two cooktop units that when placed adjacent to each other would fit within our available counter space width and depth limits.
For our induction cooktop, we selected the Kenyon Bridge Induction Cooktop, which is a 2-burner induction design that can be “bridged” together to enable large griddle use, uses 240VAC and provides 3,500 Watts of total induction capability…either all used by one burner, shared by two burners or bridged together to create one large size 35,000 burner suitable for our Lodge Reversible Griddle. And 3,500 Watts induction capability enables boiling water unbelievably fast. This high-end marine quality induction cooktop weighs 12 pounds and has dimensions of 12 inches wide by 21 inches deep.
For our propane cooktop, we selected the Contoure Propane Cooktop, which is a 2-burner propane design, has 12VDC electronic ignition, provides 7,500 BTU and 5,800 BTU capability (which are relatively low power burners, but are appropriate for inside a small RV) and which also has desirable safety features including push-to-turn knobs and a thermocouple sensor that terminates the propane flow if no flame is detected. This propane cooktop weighs 6 pounds and has dimensions of 11-3/8 inches wide by 18-3/4 inches deep. So 12 inches wide plus 11-3/8 inches wide is a total of 23-3/8 inches wide which just barely fits within our 23-1/2 inches maximum counter space width limit. And 21 inches deep and 18-3/4 inches deep fits within our 21-1/2 inches maximum counter space depth limit too.
It should also be noted that we mostly do dry camping as a couple and when doing so, we usually cook outdoors using our light weight and portable Camp Chef Everest 2X Stove (with our Lodge Reversible Griddle), which is a 2-burner propane design, has piezo electric ignition and provides 20,000 BTU capability at each burner. When dry camping with family and friends, we usually use our Camp Chef Explorer 14 System which is a 2-burner propane design and provides 30,000 BTU capability at each burner. And to provide convection oven cooking capability without taking up much space or using much weight, we use our innovative Swedish design Omnia Cooktop Oven which we absolutely love as it vastly expands our camping menu options."
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