DIY Camp Kitchen (In Progress)

[Dark-Fx]

One of the biggest reasons I ordered the R1T was that Rivian was planning on actually having the camp kitchen produced. After basically being forced to remove it from my configuration under duress, I decided to try to build my own instead, using a lot of the equipment that Rivian is using. So if Rivian actually starts shipping the gear tunnel shuttle and kitchen before I finish with mine, you're welcome.

I ordered a Dometic CI21 induction stove, and it's currently sitting in my garage in a box. I was hoping to have it unboxed last night but I ran out of time to do it. On the Dometic webite, the CI20 is listed as being discontinued, and the CI21 stove doesn't exist. The retailer sent me an e-mail after I had already gotten a notification that it was shipped, to say that Dometic said it was backordered until mid June (perhaps that message was actually for Rivian?).

I also ordered a pair of 600 lbs 60" drawer slides from Accuride I am planning to mount much like Rivian has theirs, as well as the necessary cable track parts. Slides should come sometime next week. I'm hoping they are strong enough to forgo the foot stand, but it's possible that the attachment points in the truck are what won't cut it.

I'm not completely sure how Rivian has the gear tunnel shuttle mounted, but there are two unused threaded bolt holes on each end of the tunnel and no other threaded holes that I could find.

My hope is to use as much of the length of the slides as possible, and make a pocket inside the driver's side door to house unrelated stuff. I'm also going to look at pulling up one of those unused seals/grommets to see if I can use it as a passthrough for a water pump/tank in the void space behind the battery, instead of stuffing it in the end of the camp kitchen.

Since I'm dedicating the space strictly to a kitchen, and not an adaptable shuttle, I think I should be better able to make use of all of the space involved.


Feel free to suggest ideas here for things to add. I've never made one of these before, so I'm pretty open book right now. My goal is to come in under the pricepoint that Rivian is selling this stuff for, but it's surprising how expensive all the stuff actually is! Since my labor is worthless free, I'm hoping it'll be possible.

Sponsored

 

[Joints4Sale]

Perhaps you could adapt one of the 12V fridges to fit on your slide. Then you can power it from the 12V in the gear tunnel without having to turn on the 120V outlets.

 

[Dark-Fx]

Perhaps you could adapt one of the 12V fridges to fit on your slide. Then you can power it from the 12V in the gear tunnel without having to turn on the 120V outlets.

I haven't tried using mine on 12V but supposedly the 12V outlets are turned off if the truck is in sleep mode and the 120V system isn't on. I'm guessing that means the inverter runs off of 12V and the truck forces the HV system to stay connected when the inverter is on.

 

[Lil'O Annie]

OH BOY!! This will be fun to watch!! Keep us updated.

 

[moosehead]

Subscribed. Those four threaded holes look spot on to mount the shuttle and will give you a ton of cantilevered foundation, especially with the 600 lb slider gear you are ordering. Feels like you may still want the fold down legs/foot stand as insurance against wobbling or damage?

 

[crashmtb]

these look like threaded bosses. Are they not?

 

[sub]

Here are things I would consider adding.

• 120V Power outlets for small accessory appliances (blender, sous vide, hand mixer, etc)
  
  
• Microwave / Toaster / Air Fryer combo oven
  
  
• Fridge or Ice Maker.

I would gladly give up some of the dish & utensil storage for some of the above.

An ice maker might be better than a fridge because you could use the ice to chill a much larger cooler that lives in the bed/frunk.

 

[Dark-Fx]

these look like threaded bosses. Are they not?

They just look like donuts sitting on top of the sheet metal. No threads that I could feel and the holes don't go through the bottom sheet metal. I'm curious what the other side is. I'll likely try to pull the underside panels off the truck this weekend. It's possible Rivian uses them to help locate the gear shuttle when they are installing it.

 

[crashmtb]

They just look like donuts sitting on top of the sheet metal. No threads that I could feel and the holes don't go through the bottom sheet metal. I'm curious what the other side is. I'll likely try to pull the underside panels off the truck this weekend.

I’d bet the gear tunnel shuttle keys in to those bosses, threaded or otherwise.

 

[BigE]

Brian, I'm very interested! I won't have my R1T until October, hopefully? I'm currently doing a total gut job on a 1969 Shasta camper that my wife thought we could do a slight remodel on, lol. We are also hoping to get the camp kitchen. The camper kitchen originally had a gas range/oven. I'm putting in a True Induction cooktop, seems like a pretty good one. I look forward to seeing what you learn/build. I wish I had ours already.

https://www.homedepot.com/p/True-In...ck-with-2-Induction-Elements-TI-2B/306164018?

 

[SlaterGS]

Wait a second.
They haven't shipped any R1T's with camp kitchens???

I had no idea. Definitely a bummer but excited to see how your project progresses. Good luck!

 

[Budman]

Does anybody know how many amps the 120V outlets can provide?

 

[Dark-Fx]

I would gladly give up some of the dish & utensil storage for some of the above.

That's a good point. No reason serving equipment couldn't be stored elsewhere and strictly keep the kitchen slide-out for food prep. I have my cable track space planned to be able to run an additional 120V circuit to another inverter for accessory devices. I wish Rivian put a larger 120V system in, but I'm not completely sure I'll need the extra circuit yet.

 

[Dark-Fx]

Does anybody know how many amps the 120V outlets can provide?

I believe the entire system is rated for a full 15A circuit, but Rivian says not to use any devices that need more than 1500W, so it's probably 12A continuous load (which is 80% of 15A)

 

[Dark-Fx]

Brian, I'm very interested! I won't have my R1T until October, hopefully? I'm currently doing a total gut job on a 1969 Shasta camper that my wife thought we could do a slight remodel on, lol. We are also hoping to get the camp kitchen. The camper kitchen originally had a gas range/oven. I'm putting in a True Induction cooktop, seems like a pretty good one. I look forward to seeing what you learn/build. I wish I had ours already.

https://www.homedepot.com/p/True-In...ck-with-2-Induction-Elements-TI-2B/306164018?

I think the 1800W stoves can draw too much power for the Rivian. I also want a little headspace for low powered accessories.

A couple years back I bought a 5000W inverter that's just been sitting in my basement with LFP batteries hanging off it acting as a UPS. I wanted to build those into a teardrop, but if I can cram everything I need, excluding that stuff, into the R1T in a reasonable way, it makes it a lot easier for me.

Sponsored