NOKOTA Kitchen Box –  2017

The great outdoors are not usually considered a chef’s paradise. The adventurous often have to settle for freeze-dried food and trail mix when faced with the challenges of food preparation in the wild. The Nokota Kitchen Box removes those barriers for car campers, packing the essential gear for an imaginative meal within its confines and deploying to provide ample workspace.

We worked with our client to realize their vision of a portable kitchen. The utility of the concept has been proven by decades of Boy Scouts and overlanders, but existing commercial attempts left something lacking. Success would be judged against several key metrics: ease of use, maximized work surfaces, portability, and buy-it-for-life construction.

We designed the system to include a table that elevates the box’s work surfaces to a familiar countertop height and nests snugly over the form when stowed. Implements, ingredients, and cleaning supplies are immediately available with no rearranging or digging necessary, due to the considered arrangement of shelves, drawers, and hangers, all designed for an efficient and natural workflow. Dual pull-out cutting boards expand work space even further, at a proximity appropriate for fine motor tasks.

To be at home in a rugged environment, we built the box from premium materials that can take abuse and look all the better for it. When it’s time for the adventure to move on, the box folds and packs down to a portable envelope of hard-wearing and rust-proof aluminum that protects the equipment within.

From research and prototyping, it became clear that rigidity and stability were important qualities for a confidence-inspiring design. Our solution was to give the box a trapezoidal profile. This form increases the overall rigidity and the aids in the stability of the nested table, providing a wider stance to prevent tipping. The depth of the two front doors is exactly the difference between the top and bottom of the box such that when open, the base of the box perfectly aligns with its table.

Large, stable work surfaces are hard to come by in the wilds – the lack of which is one of the most significant limiting factors in food preparation. Through a process of research, case studies, ideation, and several prototypes, we developed a folding arrangement of leafs that deploy quickly and lock into the opened front doors. This secures both the work surfaces and the doors in a single operation.

Compartments and drawers were carefully sized and arranged to accommodate each category of essential good. We provided enough room to allow for a wide range of choice in these goods, while still maintaining an economy of space appropriate for the portability required.

To accompany the product, we developed the name of the brand and its visual identity. For overlanders and car campers, their vehicle is their trusty steed, ferrying them and their supplies deep into adventures and parts unknown of the wild backcountry. Inspired by their historical counterparts, Nokota is named for an 1800’s breed of Native American horse still roaming the badlands of North Dakota. The symbol that completes the mark is inspired by a Native American glyph meaning ‘horse’.