Pantry & 8 cu ft Fridge, or Just 12 cu ft Fridge

[dbear]

Much research has shown that you can't have both a larger fridge and a pantry as the 12 cu ft requires deletion of said pantry, at least in the floorplans we find most appealing. So, for extended 5er living (snowbirding), which do you feel is more important?

[Raven13]

If I had to choose, I would say larger fridge. When we are expecting company, we have to put all drinks in an ice chest and use the fridge for food only. I think you can put extra panty items in a tub and store underneath somewhere, if necessary.
Have a happy day!

[Mr. M]

An 8 cu foot fridge is fairly small. Is there other storage that can serve as a pantry?

It's all about how you plan to use it. Do you plan on large meals? Just two of you or a family? Will you shop daily, or do you want to stock up for a long outing?

[Easy Living]

We chose the larger fridge for full-timing. However, our 5er gives us more than adequate room for a well-stocked pantry.

[jpharley]

I would choose pantry over fridge and that is what we decided in our current 5ver. We have a slightly larger fridge, a 10 cf that fit into the same space as an 8 cf fridge. We have a double door floor to ceiling pantry. We shop.often enough that the smaller fridge is not an issue. I can store a wide variety of things in the pantry.

[missourijan]

I have a 12 cu ft frig and a large pantry. You just aren't looking at the Drv's.

[Bill Davey]

We chose to carry a 4 cu. ft. "dorm" style refrigerator instead of ordering the 12 cu ft and sacrificing the pantry. We keep all beverages in the small one and use the freezer section too. Of course we also have an 8 bottle wine refer that sits on top of the dorm refer in the garage area of the TH. I've seen many that put a small refer outside for beverages to save trips in /out of the RV.

[Infinityrver]

DRV's & Redwood 36's & 38"s have a pantry with 12 cubic foot or residential fridge. You pick.

[dbear]

Originally Posted by Infinityrver

DRV's & Redwood 36's & 38"s have a pantry with 12 cubic foot or residential fridge. You pick.

Thanks, but I don't like a single Redwood floorplan (can't stand dual entry baths and rear entertainment centers), and closest DRV dealer is 200 miles away.

[tuffr2]

Trilogy has a very nice pantry plus a residential refrigerator in their 3800 model.

[dbear]

Originally Posted by Bill Davey

We chose to carry a 4 cu. ft. "dorm" style refrigerator instead of ordering the 12 cu ft and sacrificing the pantry. We keep all beverages in the small one and use the freezer section too. Of course we also have an 8 bottle wine refer that sits on top of the dorm refer in the garage area of the TH. I've seen many that put a small refer outside for beverages to save trips in /out of the RV.

That's a great idea that even my wife likes. I've actually been trying to steer her into a TH to make it easier to take my HD along, but the concept of a "multi-purpose" room wasn't a selling point to her. I might just stand an even chance now. The other plan was to get a class 4 or 5 chassis cab with 84" CA, and mount a bike loader behind the cab to tow a conventional 5er.

[TXiceman]

No pantry is a deal killer for us. It is nice to have a larger frig, but you still need pantry space for all of the non-refrigerated dry goods. We have the 12 cu.ft frig and a pantry in our Cameo, plus a coat hanging area that I added raised panel doors and shelves to make a large spice cabinet.

So living in it long term would require a pantry. For a week end or short term, you might get by with no pantry...or plan to eat out a lot.

Driving 200 miles to get the right trailer should not be an issue. Shoot we drove 1000 miles round trip to get the dog we wanted. Recently we drove 200 mile and then back to look at a trailer and back a week later to pick it up.

Ken

[wingnut60]

A larger fridge was a necessity on our Alaska trip--4 months--we would not have liked not having the cold space. Pantry--well, canned foods store a lot of places frozen foods won't.
joe

[Cumminsfan]

If your worried about a 200 mile trip to look at a 5'er, then you may not get too far full timing. We drove 300 miles to get our latest 5'er.
As to the fridge issue. I look at it as like being at home. Most things such as veggies or opened container goods don't keep longer than a week anyway. Unless you cook 5 course meals then a 8 cu fridge would be fine IMO. You'll need to hit the grocery store at least once or twice a week anyway. A pantry is real important, you need a place for dry goods and it also will give you additional space for other items. We have a double door fridge at home and very rarely is it full. Only exception is when we are having some kind of family get together.