Compact Convenience: GCI’s Slim-Fold Cook Station Review

GCI Outdoors Slim-Fold Cook Station

You would think by the looks of this article’s title, it sounds like we’re about to dive right into some sort of weight reducing diet recipe. You wouldn’t be far off, except instead of food, we’re referring to camp kitchen equipment. You know how it is, cooking stuff can get heavy and bulky real quick. As we discovered, GCI Outdoor’s aptly named Slim-Fold Cook Station is as slim as camp kitchens come and pleasantly lightweight to boot.

Food and food preparation are the cornerstones of any camping trip and the camp’s kitchen can be considered a campsite’s command center. Getting a kitchen’s worth of gear to a site often demands much space in your vehicle’s already space-limited stowage area, and that’s only part of the problem. When you finally get to your location, oftentimes there’s a bit of a hike to get to where you’re setting up camp. The people at GCI realized this and created a solution to this problem.

The Slim-Fold Cook Station folds like a camp chair and is as nearly as compact. It opens up quickly and is sturdy even when fully loaded.

Packing the Slim-Fold Cook Station in to the back of our truck and transporting it around the campsite reminded us of a sturdy camp chair. It’s light weight and compact considering it’s a mobile kitchen with six cook and storage surfaces, weighs in at a tad under 19 pounds and is less than four inches thick when folded. Its construction is made up of a powder-coated steel frame with an aluminum tabletop and plastic shelving.

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The entire footprint of the kitchen when folded is roughly 21 by 34.5 inches, so length-wise, it still demands some space in your cargo hold but not much. What you get in return is a kitchen that folds out to include plenty of work space in the form of a metal table top, four shelves, and a steel wire storage rack.

We found the kitchen was easy to pack and transport and just as easy to set up. In fact, we had it set up in about a minute or less. GCI designed sturdy plastic push-pull tabs that help you avoid unpleasant finger pinches from its metal hinges, which is a nice touch. The entire unit is sturdy feeling and hosted our kitchen equipment without any problems. Its aluminum tabletop is rated to take up to 48 pounds of weight and its plastic side shelves are rated to 30 pounds. The side shelves, include many features designed into them including beverage holders, stem glass holders and hooks that can be used as a garbage bag holder or to hang cooking utensils. There’s even a built-in paper towel roll dispenser.

At a retail price of $80, this is a bargain for what you get in usage. Not limited to cooking duties, our handy slim-fold unit has already been used as a mobile workbench and beach gear organizer as well. Our only question is if it will hold up over time. Only time will tell, but it’s good to know that GCI does back the Slim-Fold Cook Station with a limited lifetime warranty.

GCI Outdoors/Slim-Fold Cook Station
MSRP: $80
gcioutdoor.com