Camp Kitchen in a Field

Organization is trending in the world of camp kitchens. People are tired of fumbling around for pots and pans so they can cook their kids’ pancakes by the lake.

The term “camp kitchen” once led my mind to milk crates and storage bins — and a camp stove that would never be as clean as the day it was bought. It’s now filled with innovative solutions that are filling the market. These solutions are aimed at keeping everything but your food in one place so you can store it, transport it, use it, and shove it back in the shed again, just to do it all over again another weekend.

I love it.

I’m big into being organized when we go camping. I have to be — mostly for the drive there and back. My kids aren’t getting smaller, and my 4Runner won’t die. So I need to use every bit of cargo space I have available. I also like everything to be in one place so that if we show up late at night, or one of the kids wants to help set up or break down, there’s no question as to where something is or where it needs to be when we leave. 

With the Aioks from iKamper, all of my desires are fulfilled. This is a compact and easy-to-maneuver unit, and everything we need to get cooking is kept inside it. As the de facto camp chef, I have everything at the ready that I need to prepare a gourmet meal for my kids and me at the campsite. 

The Aioks even has a built-in two-burner stove. Not only is this innovative and efficient, but it’s less of a mess. Have you ever taken your favorite family camp stove and put it in the back of your vehicle only to have grease drip out of it?

We go camping to relax. And though I have a million amazing memories of a lifetime of camping on campsites all over New England, the Aioks has made an unavoidable chore something fun and easy to do.

In short: iKamper’s Aioks is literally everything but the kitchen sink. This all-in-one camp kitchen is compact, lightweight, and includes two burners so you can get cooking within minutes of getting to wherever your adventure takes you.

To see where the Aioks fits into the larger camp kitchen universe, check out GearJunkie’s Best Camping Stoves Buyer’s Guide.

iKamper Aioks Review

iKamper’s Aioks is an all-in-one kitchen system designed for family camping, overlanding, or whenever you want to have a cook-out in the remote outdoors and aren’t worried about stuffing your equipment in a backpack.

The all-inclusive unit comprises a stovetop with two 7,500-BTU KOVEA burners, three tabletop sections, and a large storage area to carry everything you need to cook, except for the food. The burners can run off of isobutane camping gas or propane.

Made from powder-coated 5052 aluminum and featuring premium birch plywood table tops, the Aioks is compact and lightweight for all that it offers. The base weight of the Aioks is 20 pounds. With all of our cooking gear stored inside for transporting, the whole unit only weighed 23 pounds.

Additionally, the  Aioks can be rolled around like luggage with its telescoping handles and injection-molded wheels. This also allows you to use the top of the box to move around camp anything else that will fit — like a hand truck.

Aioks First Impressions

I’ve had the iKamper Aioks for around a year now and am still wildly impressed with its overall size versus the amount of storage inside. Within the box’s cavity, it can store all your pots and pans, plates and bowls, utensils, and two gas canisters. This is in addition to storing the stoves and legs for the tabletop. This is truly a study of innovation and organization.

Additionally, when it’s fully loaded, it still weighs less than 30 pounds. This makes it easy to take in and out of the truck, where it also stores/transports nicely, due to its compact size.

The Aioks has two injection-molded tires for moving the unit around. Although they seem a little undersized for the beach, you can always pick the box up and carry it when you get to the sand.

It also comes with a luggage-style telescoping handle. This not only makes it easy to move the unit around but it also creates a platform to store and transport other gear from one place to the next.

At 7,500 BTUs each, the KOVEA burners seem a little underpowered compared to what we’ve decided are the Best Camping Stoves of 2024.

The Aioks is built to be part of the conversation. Instead of being isolated as the camp cook, you’re sitting with everyone else while you’re cooking. I won’t go as far as to call the Aioks a hibachi on wheels, but with enough sake, you could totally make it work for you and up to three more folks.

The Aioks is set up to use isobutane off the shelf. However, it can also use propane by purchasing an additional adapter for each stove.

Free to Roam

One trend we’ve seen that originated in overlanding and has spilled over into family camping is the rollout kitchen designed to pull out from the cargo area of your vehicle. Though I think those setups are wicked cool, they take up a lot of storage space, semi-permanently. 

One of the benefits that this camp kitchen has over those built-in camp kitchen solutions is that it’s not attached to your vehicle or camper. The Aioks can be set up anywhere you’re camping, and it doesn’t need to be broken down if you decide to go for a drive or it’s time to get back to civilization. It’s a set-it-and-forget-it solution that makes you feel even more at home when you’re out there. 

Additionally, when it’s time to go home, the breakdown takes less than a couple of minutes, as long as the burners are cooled off. That takes roughly 5 minutes from when you turn them off until they’re cool to the touch — depending on weather conditions.

On the Go

I’m always up for suggestions to improve how I carry stuff in the cargo area of my 4Runner. However, I am also very satisfied with the current setup. That includes a large bin for most things I take with me on a day-to-day basis as well as a YETI 45-quart cooler. So, I am happy to report that the Aioks sits nicely behind the cooler, next to the large storage bin.

I can store our packs, pillows, and stuffed animals on top of all of that and still have a full field of view through my rear window. To give you an idea of how much room I have back there, the vehicle is a 2005 Toyota 4Runner and the overall space is: 48” x 37” x 34”. 

Social Meals

My kids and I are all about Taco Tuesday. On one of the camping trips with the Aioks, soft tacos with all of the fixings were on the menu. 

The girls were out of school on vacation, and I decided to take them for a day of adventuring that required four-wheel drive. At the end of our journey, I settled us into a spot in a field in one of our many state parks.

My kids, who are 8 and 10, like to play Roblox on their phones before dinner, so while I sat and cooked — they sat and played. At home, they generally hang around the kitchen when I am cooking, so it was nice to see us all together — where they otherwise might have been sitting at a picnic table while I huddled around the stove.

Due to the lower height of the Aioks, I found that the Helinox Chair One and our cooler were perfect for sitting around it. Based on that fact, almost any foldable camp chair (or cooler) on the market will suffice.

Aioks Setup

Setting up the Aioks is about as simple as it gets. I attached the legs as I was unfolding the box and it made for a quick initial setup. From there, I adjusted the legs so that we were about as level as could be. Each leg operates like a trekking pole and can be adjusted independently to compensate for uneven terrain. You can really go mad trying to make this thing perfectly level, so just remember — you don’t need to. Just get it as close as you can.

iKamper Aioks Cooking

When it came to cooking, the 7,500 BTU burners performed excellently. Both burners are independently fueled and adjustable, which is great if you’re cooking a variety of things. I like to cook meat at lower temperatures to get the juices mixed in with the spices. So, at no time did I feel as if the burners were underpowered. If anything, the lower BTU rating will allow for those gas canisters to last longer.

Regarding the gas we used, I chose to go with the classic Coleman 16-ounce propane tanks because you can find them anywhere and everywhere. They can also be used with a variety of other camping equipment, which could come in handy. You will need an adapter to use propane.

In the end, after a fantastic meal, there is generally no messy clean-up. Cooking on the Aioks is more like cooking on a traditional stovetop instead of a camp stove. All I had to deal with was cleaning the pots and pans and our plates.

The added benefit — aside from not having to deal with gooey drip trays and a stove that will never be the same — is that you don’t have to worry about a bear coming in the night and taking the Aioks away.

Blink & You’ll Miss It: Pot Stabilizers

The two 7,500 BTU KOVEA burners are a substantial size for smaller pots and pans, but at first glance, they look undersized for larger ones. This is why I am happy to let you know that each support leg of the burners has a built-in extension you can unfold to increase overall stability.

I am happy to fully admit that the first time we used the burners, I didn’t even see the support leg extensions, which made stirring oatmeal a real challenge.

Pots, Pan, Etc.

iKamper sent along a few camp kitchen accessories to test out along with the Aioks. One of them was its nine-piece Camp Cookset. Made from tri-ply stainless steel, these pots and pans are designed for high heat and exposure to a direct flame, but could work just as well with an electric stovetop.

The set comprises 1L, 3L, and 6L pots with matching lids. There is also a medium-sized frying pan, strainer, and detachable wooden handle. Everything nests together and comes in a storage bag that could double as a camp sink in a jam.

iKamper also sent along its Kitchen Utensil Rack and its Light Stand, which made this setup even more all-inclusive, aside from the food and spices of course.

Room for Improvement: The Propane Adapter

Though I couldn’t find anything fundamentally wrong with the Aioks, I did run into a snafu with the propane adapter that’s worth pointing out.

First and foremost, for the price of the Aioks, I think the propane adapters should be included. Otherwise, the propane adapter is knurled so it can be taken on and off the tank easily. However, the collar on the stove, which also screws on, is not.

When breaking down the Aioks, removing the propane adapter from the stove collar is nearly impossible. It’s not a big deal having to take both off together, but now you cannot switch back to isobutane if you want to.

iKamper Aioks Review: Conclusions

In a world where you can buy a camp stove for less than $100 at Walmart and plop it on a picnic table at any campsite in the country, the $500 investment for the iKamper Aioks is a big ask.

But, what happens when you head out somewhere that doesn’t have a picnic table? Even more, what if you have a smaller vehicle and need to be really specific about how you use your storage space? The Aioks eliminates the need for additional storage bins.

It’s also efficient. Having everything in one place takes the guesswork out of cooking culinary masterpieces in remote locations.

That being said, for anyone who spends a lot of time family camping, overlanding, or eating in the outdoors, I think the iKamper Aioks is one of the best solutions you could invest in.

I’ve been slowly transitioning to griddle-style cooking or dedicated pot and pan cooking for family camping for a while. It’s quicker and easier, all around. Sure, you eliminate the nostalgic experience of grilling hot dogs and hamburgers, but most established campsites have built-in grills to fill that void.

I personally can’t remember the last time I grilled anything out camping with the kids. And they’re the people who I am going to be doing this kind of camping with.

Big picture — we head out camping and adventuring to have fun. We can’t avoid having to cook when we’re out there, but it can be easier. My biggest complaint has always been cleanup. I have three stoves in my shed that I have scrubbed religiously and they still have grit and grime baked onto them.

With this all-in-one kitchen system, you just need to worry about how you treat your pots and pans. Additionally, it gives everyone a spot to sit around, relax, and enjoy one another’s company.