Rear Kitchen

[tomla12]

My husband and I are looking at a 2006 Excel Fifth Wheel with a rear kitchen we really like.
Does anyone have any rear kitchen stories, either pro or con?

[tomla12]

My husband and I are looking at a 2006 Excel Fifth Wheel with a rear kitchen we really like.
Does anyone have any rear kitchen stories, either pro or con?

[ChiefJohn]

Welcome "tomla12" to iRV2.com and the Excel Owner's Forum. I'm sure "RockinTom" will chime in on the rear kitchen -- that's where he lives in his Excel!

[LindaH]

We've always had rear kitchens on all the fifth wheels we've owned, including our Excel 30RKE.

Things can move around in the cupboards, but as long as you pack well, it shouldn't be much of a problem. Of course, we don't carry breakable plates or glasses...ours are acrylic. The only breakable items we carry are our coffee cups, and we put them in old tube socks when we travel.

[MakinSmoke]

Whoa, you wouldn't want to put your cups in any of my old socks!

We have a rear kitchen and my DW really, really likes it. I like what makes her happy. We've had no issues with breakage, but we have had some "jumbling" and we are careful when we open the cabinets after a move. Otherwise, we think it's neat that folks enter into our living room when they come in the ocach instead of the kitchen.

There appears to be more kitchen storage as well.

[D and J]

We don't own a rear kitchen, but one thing we have looked at when shopping a rig is the location of the hot water heater.

I think Excel puts the water heater in a central location, but I have seen some Newmar rear kitchens that have the heater in the front of the rig.

If you are going to spend all of your time in a campground, this doesn't matter. But if you are boondocking, you don't want to waste much water to get hot water to your sink.

[HB Phil]

My wife loves our rear kitchen. With the kitchen in the side slide out, the cabinet and refrigerator doors are flush with the side of the trailer.

Or, the extra space of the slideout is hidden by the door fronts and, IMO, you lose the extra feeling of spaciousness of that slide-out taht you get if it were open with easy chairs, or a sofa with windows, instead of closed off by cabinet doors.

Anyway, IMO the interior feels more spacious with a rear kitchen and the side slidouts with window openings instead of cabinet doors.

[NLOVNIT]

tomla12,

I see this is your first post. Welcome!

While we didn't own an Excel, we did have a rear kitchen in our Cougar. I agree with Linda that you do have to pack well as items in cupboards in a rear kitchen bounce around more than if you had a front kitchen & be careful when opening cabinets after travelling. Even as well as I cushioned items (bubble wrap, towels...etc), I still ended up with some shattered Pyrex pans & chipped Correlle.

Also, if you have a rear kitchen, check to be sure you can gain access at least to items like the fridge when any slides are in. This is important if you have to overnight in a WalMart, Flying J or some other place where you shouldn't deploy your slides. If nothing else, you can at least make a sandwich & get a cold beverage easily.

I, like MakinSmoke, think it's much more inviting to vistors to enter an rv's living room first, instead of the kitchen. My kitchen is usually messy & I feel I can "disguise" it more if visitors see my neat living room first.

All in all, I loved our rear kitchen. There was much more storage space in ours because we also had upper as well as lower cabinets in a penninsula section. I ended up toting much more than I really needed, but then, I had the space to do so.

L-

[rockintom]

Welcome tomla,

It seems all has been said on the rear kitchen. We really enjoy ours. It does make the living area more spacious. We have had 2 really bumpy rides in about 37,000 miles in the almost 3 years of FTing, and where things came out of kitchen cabinets and stuff came out of the shelves in the door of the refer. Very unusual, but it CAN happen. Yeah it does take a few extra seconds to get hot water, but hasn't caused us any concerns. Didn't even think of it until D & J mentioned it! Would do it again. Let us know if you get the Excel! Tom

[LindaH]

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by D and J:
But if you are boondocking, you don't want to waste much water to get hot water to your sink. </div></BLOCKQUOTE>
Ahhh...but you catch that water and save it for other purposes, you don't let it go down the drain!

[D and J]

<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by LindaH:
<BLOCKQUOTE class="ip-ubbcode-quote"><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-title">quote:</div><div class="ip-ubbcode-quote-content">Originally posted by D and J:
But if you are boondocking, you don't want to waste much water to get hot water to your sink. </div></BLOCKQUOTE>
Ahhh...but you catch that water and save it for other purposes, you don't let it go down the drain! </div></BLOCKQUOTE>


I thought I could attract your attention with that statement! I think I have finally convinced my wife that paperplates and plastic forks are the only way to go when boondocking.

On a more serious side, our rig, with enclosed bath and kitchen sink on a common wall, I feel we have less places for water leaks to develope. Maybe it means nothing, maybe it is better that all my water lines are in one place.