Our List of Favorite RV 12V Appliances for Your Traveling Kitchen
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In one of the Facebook groups I’m in, someone asked for recommendations for RV 12-volt appliances. He was looking for a 12-volt coffee machine that uses pods, like the Keurig K cups, so that he could brew a consistent cup of coffee every day.
The poor guy got A LOT of answers…but pretty much none of them answered his actual question.
For Coffee Lovers: 6 Ways to Make Coffee in an RV (Even When Boondocking!)
So, I went on a quest to answer these myself.
And now I know why there was so much difficulty in answering his question! There are a lot of gimmicky gadgets that run on 12v, but not many good quality 12-volt appliances for your small RV kitchen.
Of course, if you’re in an RV with 12v batteries, you can always hook up an inverter to run your normal small kitchen appliances on 110 or 240v power. For many of these appliances, this will be your only option!
I wanted to look specifically at what is available in the 12v range. Since it is so limited, I’ve decided to include manual (no power at all) or battery (AA or lithium) powered options as well.
Of course, when you’re in an RV, you don’t want to overstuff your limited kitchen storage with gadgets just for the sake of it. But here are some kitchen appliances you might want to consider.
7 RV 12 volt appliances
1. 12 volt Coffee Maker RV
I’m sorry to say there isn’t one… except this one with mediocre ratings:
Product currently sold out.
However, there are a couple of other options. You just need to heat up the water and use these manual or battery-powered espresso makers.
I’ll start with the most popular and highest rated espresso coffee maker, the Aeropress. This is getting rave reviews on Amazon and it seems to appeal to A LOT of true coffee snobs connoisseurs.
Product currently sold out.
Or there is the somewhat more fiddly type where you add the hot water and then manually pump the water through the coffee:
Product currently sold out.
Or you can get a similar battery powered one, but no pumping, just press the button and the coffee comes through.
Product currently sold out.
I’m suddenly realizing that I am a coffee snob because this next option is 12 volt but my first thought was “ew absolutely not.”
Product currently sold out.
It has pretty good reviews, though!
2. 12 volt Blender
The options here are limited to mini blenders (to mix up drinks like a nutri-bullet) or a hand-powered blender!
Product currently sold out.
You will also find plenty of these types of mini-blenders; powered by a lithium battery that you can recharge with USB. If you don’t fancy the one below, I would search Amazon for ‘car mini blender’ to get the widest selection.
Product currently sold out.
And if you’re up for the physical challenge, you can go hand-powered all the way!
Product currently sold out.
Similarly, a stick blender may do the trick.
Product currently sold out.
3. 12v Kettle
There are plenty of 12 volt kettles out there. Here are a couple of nice looking ones:
Product currently sold out.
Product currently sold out.
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4. Sandwich press or grill (12v)
Product currently sold out.
Or… this could be the time to collect some firewood, polish off your fire-lighting skills and crank out the cast iron sandwich press or panini press.
Product currently sold out.
May as well toast some marshmallows while you’re at it!
5. 12 volt Frying Pan
Product currently sold out.
6. 12v Slow cooker
Product currently sold out.
7. 12 volt Rice Cooker
Product currently sold out.
Is there a 12 volt microwave?
Surprisingly, I have been able to find a 12 volt microwave. It’s by WaveBox and, while the first reviews it got were pretty bad, the next ones were still bad. It’s no longer in stock and likely no longer made.
Product currently sold out.
RV 12 Volt Appliances
I have to say, I’m really surprised at the lack of 12 volt appliances on the market. I’m sure it has everything to do with power output (or lack of), but I’m still surprised.
And as I said at the beginning, an inverter solves most of your converting-AC-to-DC-problems anyway.
Do you have any RV 12V appliances that you’d recommend? Share in the comments!
For a better selection of appliances for your RV, check out: Best Small Kitchen Appliances for the RV
I love RVing! I share about our journey around Australia, how we came to do this trip, all the planning involved, and snapshots of what life on the road is like.
For a chopper/mini food processor you can use Crank Chop. It pulls with a string like a mini lawn mower. We have a crank chop and it does a great job. will cut up onions, peppers, makes fresh salsa – it just depends on how many times you pull – 1, 2 or 3 how fine the chop is. Ii think there are a few different name brands. also good for coffee is a personal drip – some are made by Melitta. We just got a collapsible silicon one that stores flat. It’s cone shaped and you put a paper filter in it and pour hot water through it; cna make a small pot or do over a Thermos (vacuum bottle) for a larger amount. We are in the process of outfitting our RV for boondocking (free camping) and we are trying to find any appliance that does not require electricity at all. We also use a butane stove, Compact and the cnas that fit in are about the size of a can of hairspray or whipped cream. We have used butane stoves for over 30 years, on the boat, in the trailer, camping and at large gatherings to keep food warm or at a fish fry (we had 3 going on picnic tables) to do appetizers for about 60 people.
Oh wow, thanks for all that helpful information Lora! 🙂
So those crank chops work huh. I had seen some other manual blenders (the ones with the winding handle) and people complained about them but this obviously has a better mechanism and has heaps of good reviews. -Here it is on Amazon if anyone else wants to see what we’re talking about: https://amzn.to/2ISYCyD
We’ve used the butane stoves here too, but we seem to go through the cans at a furious rate. So we now use a gas stove connected to an LPG (propane) bottle.
After doing the research for this post, I’m fully in agreement with you. No-electricity-needed-at-all is the best way to go!