You’ve all heard the line before: “It’s got everything but the kitchen sink.” Well, at ARB, we like to consider ourselves a solutions-based business, so here it is, the fully on-board, integrated and perfectly practical ARB Slide Kitchen, complete with sink. While contained within an ARB modular drawer frame, the Slide Kitchen is not a drawer but a complete, stainless steel, slide-out kitchen with bench space, a three-burner cooktop, kitchen sink and its very own utensils drawer. While some 4WD accessories are downright practical, others are downright cool. What an awesome product to have in the back of your tourer!
WHY AN ON-BOARD SLIDE KITCHEN?
As 4WDers, we love exploring but the setting up and packing up parts are inconveniences that get in the way of even more time for exploring and relaxing. Having a fully contained kitchen that you can quite literally slide out of the back of your 4WD (and in seconds) is a huge convenience. From the campsite to the worksite, from roadside to trackside (and who could overlook the riverside), just imagine landing a nice fresh catch straight onto the pan out the back of your 4WD. The ARB Slide Kitchen will seriously transform your dual-cab tub.
COMPLETE VEHICLE INTEGRATION
The ARB Slide Kitchen has been designed specifically to be integrated with existing or future ARB drawer installations. The new modular unit is built to the same dimensions of our existing full height dual-cab modular drawer profile. The Slide Kitchen slots right in and can be accompanied by any
of ARB’s dual-cab roller, mid-height or full-height drawers, and finished off with existing vehicle-specific side panels. Due to the length required, the Slide Kitchen is only available in our 1,355-millimetre deep dual-cab drawers, suitable for back-of-tub applications. That said, of course, the Slide Kitchen can be installed independent of any other drawer as a stand-alone unit for use in custom builds such as wagons, vans, camping canopies and camper trailers.
OPERATION
Accessing the kitchen is no different to opening any 4WD drawer; you simply pull the mechanical latch and roll the 1,250-millimetre stainless steel bench out. Once fully extended, the bench locks into place and you can operate the kitchen as a simple bench top with drawer or you can release the swing-away stove and sink by lifting the red locking tab. The three-burner gas stove and sink holder swing out to the left and are locked into place with a red latch. From here you might start to notice a theme; all the locking and unlocking components are highlighted in red to help guide the user through the set-up and pack-up steps.
Once the stove is locked into place, you can fold down the sink holder and insert the 12-litre collapsible silicone sink. The whole kitchen is easily set up or packed up in under 30 seconds. First and foremost, the Slide Kitchen is designed for practicality and convenience. The main stainless steel bench top has a 30-kilogram max limit, while the swing away stove and sink can handle 20-kilograms including water in the sink, cookware and food. The total capacity of weight added to the slide must not exceed 50-kilograms.
WHERE FORM MEETS FUNCTION
Two serious design aspects to marvel on this slide are:
Fully Retractable Over-extension Roller Design
While the stainless steel bench top is a whopping 1,250 millimetres long, the rollers carry and extend the kitchen over 210 millimetres past the end of the slide housing to provide complete clearance of the vehicle. Once fully extended, the bench locks into place.
Completely Freestanding
Despite the fact that this is a serious unit, with stainless steel bench top and shelving, carrying a three-burner stove and the provision for a 12-litre sink, the whole unit is completely freestanding. There is not a support leg to be seen and it is still rated to hold up to 50-kilograms on the kitchen’s preparation surfaces, cooking surface and storage areas combined.
THE STOVE
The three-burner stove is designed and manufactured in England by the market-leading appliance manufacturer Thetford. The burners are housed within a recessed stainless steel dish, providing its own level of wind protection and easy clean-up. Two smaller burners and one larger rapid burner are all controlled by individual adjusters on the righthand side. The design of the stove provides a contemporary feel and finish similar to that of a home gas stove.
The stove is suitable for pans or pots up to 22 centimetres for the larger rapid burner and up to 11 centimetres for the two smaller burners. The stove features a battery-powered (electric) igniter and a total of 5.5 kilowatts (18,767 BTU) of cooking power. Built into the toughened glass lid are some excellent safety features, including the automatic “flame-out” function that instantly cuts the gas and flame the moment that either the lid is closed or the flame becomes extinguished.
Gas is delivered via a quick-connect bayonet gas connector, which can only be connected after set-up and has to be disconnected to store. A 2-metre quick-connect EU approved hose with approved regulator type EN61 (PS16bar,pd=29mbar) is also supplied.
THE BENCH TOP
Measuring in at 1,250 millimetres long and 485 millimetres wide, the kitchen-grade stainless steel bench top is the perfect space for meal preparation. The hairline stainless pattern matches the stove finish and provides a timeless look.
With the gas cooker retracted in its operating configuration, the bench also offers a second, lower shelf that is suitable for storing small things while cooking. When the stove and bench top are in their operating configuration, access is still readily available to other ARB drawers and/or ARB fridge freezer, which would be positioned beside the kitchen on the driver’s (right-hand) side of the vehicle.
THE DRAWER
The utensils drawer is positioned at the end of the slide-out bench. This powder-coated aluminium drawer is lightweight and rolls out beautifully on its own set of bearing rollers. With its internal space measuring 345 millimetres wide, 450 millimetres deep and 140 millimetres high, the drawer offers ample space to store your favourite cooking utensils and kitchen essentials and/or a sensible place to store your gas hose and collapsible sink so they are never forgotten.
THE SINK
It’s the little things that make all the difference. A place to quickly clean your utensils on the fly or finish up your efforts by washing your crockery in some hot, soapy water is a must in any kitchen. Space and weight were always at the forefront of the engineers’ minds when putting this together and as such, they have opted for a drop-in collapsible silicone sink. The 10-litre sink incorporates a dish-drying base, cutlery hold and removable plug with strainer.
MEASUREMENTS
Bench dimensions: 1,250mm (L) x 485mm (W)
Sink max limit: 12L
Combined sink & stove max limit: 20kg
Bench max limit: 30kg
Overall installed weight: 89kg
