Hi Everyone. Well, after 15 years the RV-Dreams Community Forum is coming to an end. Since it began in August 2005, we've had 58 Million page views, 124,000 posts, and we've spent about $15,000 to keep this valuable resource for RVers free and open. But since we are now off the road and have settled down for the next chapter of our lives, we are taking the Forum down effective June 30, 2021. It has been a tough decision, but it is now time.
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I don't own an RV, but I'm building a small off-grid house. For cooking, heating and plumbing I face some of the same challenges RVers contend with: how to fit lots of functionality into a small space, how to do things without electricity or with minimal electricity.
For the kitchen in the house, I'm considering propane-fueled stoves/cooktops/ovens made for RVs or boats. These appliances could work out well for my situation because they tend to be small and they have features that are ideal for off-grid use.
But I'm concerned about some of the specs for the burners on cooktops and stoves for RVs and boats. For example, one stove I'm considering has two 6500-BTU burners. Another has one 7200-BTU burner and two 5200-BTU burners. And there is a really nice little 3-burner stainless-steel cooktop made for a boat, but the BTU specs for the burners are 3400 6000 8500.
Can I actually do serious cooking with appliances like these? I mean, would I be waiting a long time just for water to boil - would I need to spend an inordinate amount of time to fry an egg or a hamburger...??
Note that I would not attempt to do canning with a stove or cooktop like this, as my house will have a second kitchen a.k.a. canning room in the basement, and the canning room will have a gas stove with burners whose BTU ratings are much higher than what I mentioned above.
Any advice from experienced RVers - especially those who live fulltime in RVs - would be very much appreciated!
I have no idea what the BTU's are but we have a standard RV stove/oven and I have cooked a lot with it, including 8 quarts of clam chowder, 5 lbs of potato salad, just to name a couple things. I have also used the oven for carrot cake and baby back ribs among other things.
I do keep a 13 inch pizza stone on the oven to help with heat distribution.
The only limitation my wife finds is the distance between the burners limits the size and number of pots/pans she can get on the cook-top (many if not most RV propane stoves are 3-burner models). She's a serious cook and loves to cook on gas. The oven is a bit small, but like Bill and Kelly, we keep a small pizza stone in it to even out the heat. Does fine for small pizzas, biscuits, etc.
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2012 F350 DRW Lariat 6.7
PullRite OE 18K, Demco Glide Ride pinbox
2020 Solitude 310GK-R, MORryde IS, disc brakes, solar, DP windows
You don't say where you are from but if there any Amish communities near you they use all manner of off grid appliances and probably have a store you can browse and or purchase. Other than that, yes you can cook on an rv type stove and use a gas refrigerator. We live and cook in ours for extended stays all of the time.
I cook all the time with my stove and burners. Large batches are tough because of the size of the pan but can be done , just takes a little longer. Baking seems to be a problem for some folks, but since I am not a baker haven't had that issue. Anyways, I love my stove and use it all the time.
