Community Forums

Land Yachter · 02-24-2016, 12:17 PM

We are within inches of buying our first motorhome. Selling our brick & stick (love the new terms I've learned reading these posts), retiring and hitting the road full time. Gulp! I am wondering if there are issues with dishes, etc. in the hutch of the Entegra Anthem DEQ while traveling. Will we need to empty the top out each time we are hitting the road?
Appreciate any help you can give us. This is all so new and so exciting to us.
Thanks

lincoln20 · 02-24-2016, 12:54 PM

Congrats on your new endeavor. Many people will chime in, but we use a lot of fabric type of storage bins and cut out small squares of that non-slip mesh material people put in drawers, etc and place them in between the plates. They don't rattle and they stay in place in the storage bins we use. Some of the 8-9 compartments bins are perfect for glasses, mugs, stemless wine glasses, etc. That being said, I don't like loading up the RV with too much stuff.. we don't live in it so you may have to have more items than we do, but the hutch works great for your day to day stuff.

Good luck!

Wineman · 02-24-2016, 02:33 PM

We use a little dab of museum putty under the wine glasses to hold them in place and never had a problem.

dcphil_98 · 02-24-2016, 04:00 PM

We don't have an Entegra but our hutch is identical. In the upper shelf my wife usually stores boxed/bagged like crackers, chips, etc. No problem with falling out.

4-5 years ago we basically got rid of all glass plates, bowls, cups, etc. We now use paper plates and small bowls and plastic for cups and serving bowls. (My wife was keeping a full set of everything in case we had company !) Almost everything gets tossed after eating. Only run the dishwasher about every 4-5 days.

Good luck on your new coach and don't be shy about asking questions.

Sunsetranch · 02-24-2016, 04:33 PM

Works great! See Example...Good Luck!

Sunsetranch · 02-24-2016, 04:34 PM

oops... a little sideways Hahaha! you get the idea!

grr2000 · 02-24-2016, 05:39 PM

We have the DEQ and we stored "non-breakable" dishes in the upper part...according to my DW I intentionally tested the non-breakable when I locked up the RV to miss someone in my lane pullin a boat. The slides were in so the hutch doors only open about 4"...To this day I am still finding pieces of those broken dishes. Works fine hauling the chips and boxed goods in the upper part.!!!

Also put "check that hutch door are closed" when slides come in on your check list...I haven't tested that yet!!

rbr · 02-24-2016, 06:50 PM

We use ours for real glassware and bar. DW doesn't mind packing for travel in the collapsible fabric bins mentioned earlier, and reloading it when we're somewhere for more than a couple of nights. She wants it that way as she likes the look and likes having real glassware. It's pretty full when we stay somewhere for awhile (winter in Florida, for example) but we thin the stock out some when traveling.

waterboy10 · 02-24-2016, 09:01 PM

Dont forget to check the hutch drawers before moving the slides. They can come open during driving. Dont ask how I know.

Katty · 02-25-2016, 04:39 AM

Lucky for us Matt is a great cabinet fixer/builder.

Land Yachter · 02-25-2016, 07:46 AM

Thank you Everyone! Great info and I feel better about it now. Can't wait to start this adventure

weirba · 02-25-2016, 08:21 AM

We full time with a DEQ. We had many worries about the hutch shelves when we started, but have had no issues. We put rubberized shelf liner down on all the shelves in the coach, including the fridge. For the hutch, glass shelves the liner does impact the look of the backlight, but works incredibly well to keep things in place. We use the hutch to hold/display some crystal glasses, serving bowls, salad bowls, etc. We don't do anything special prior to travelling, except laying down tall skinny items, like flower vases. Never had a problem.

Terribeck01 · 02-29-2016, 08:00 AM

I added the rubber liner to the bottom 2 shelves and store our booze bottles on the bottom, they are packed pretty tightly. I store glassware on the 2nd shelf with heavy side down. On the top I have baskets for my produce. In route I simply stuff bubble wrap or hand towels around the front of my glasses then add a spring drapery rod across the front of the glassware & bar shelves. I tie the handles together with a giant "twist tie" from Lowes. We have not had any issues doing this. Always check though that the doors haven't opened before extending the slide 😄.