Rear Kitchen 5 TH Wheels

[HERBN]

I'm looking to upgrade to a used 5th wheel and from previous threads understand that Keystone is not the best choice. The maximum length from spare tire to end of hitch is 29 ' that will fit in front of my home and the state parks. The floor plans that I'm interested in that will accomadate this size are Keystone Cougar 276 RLS and a 278 RKS. I may have to remove the spare tire to acheave the 29 foot length. 27 or 28 woul'd be better ,but, I haven't found accepetable floor plans in these lengths.

My question is? A sales person told me customers that have rear kitchen would never purchase one again do to broken dishes. Is this true?

The rear kitchen I'm looking at on the 278 RKS has the refrigerator located over the back curb side tire with the sink in the back curb side rear corner.

 

[Hoefler]

Very true. Think of your trailer as a see-saw; when your tow vehicle hits a bump, the rear of the trailer moves down abruptly, contents in the rear tend to get some air time. When the trailer suspension hits the bump, the rear jumps up and smacks what is having hang time, or will launch them air born. Need less to say, unless you travel glass smooth high ways, I would reconsider a rear kitchen.

 

[GaryOwen]

I've never experienced a single broken dish with my rear kitchen fifth wheel. Things generally stay right in place. My wife would have nothing else. I have also heard all the horror stories, but sure haven't experienced any problems. I have shocks on my fifth wheel, so maybe that makes a difference.

 

[Nigel]

We've never broken any dishes in ours but the wife always takes the accent cushions off the couch and bed and stuffs them in the cupboard so the dishes can't bounce. We did a trip up the James Bay Highway to Radisson Quebec about six years ago. The highway is about 300 miles of frost heaves and we broke some drawers and shelves that had heavy items like pots and canned goods. Now anything heavy is in a box on the floor. On that trip we also had stuff knock the rear cupboard doors open and land on the floor behind the slide. Always look behind the slide before you open it. If you reallly like the layout buy the trailer but you just have to be a little more careful in how you pack. See if that salesman will cut a better deal because the rear kitchen is less desirable, I bet he won't.



Nigel

 

[HBarlow]

Generally speaking, rear kitchen floorplans tend to break dishes and glassware and if heavy pots and pans are stored above the floor, may damage cabinetry.

That floorplan is seldom if ever used in larger, more expensive fifth wheels.

Ultimately, what you select will depend on your needs, budget, and how you will use the trailer. There are lots of rear kitchen trailers in service.

 

[mwilson]

I have a 290RKS and is the second rear kitchen fifth wheel that we have owned. Wife likes that layout as she has her work space and doesn't have to fight any foot traffic to the living room while she is doing her thing.



She's happy, then I'm happy. :-laf



We do pack it carefully and have only broken one glass in 5 years. That was the first trip out and had glassware in the wrong spot. No broken shelving but as mentioned above we have the heavy stuff down low and the half-gallons ride in a floor level cabinet. Do not want the most important cargo to break, not to mention my big tears if the Crown Royal breaks open. :{



If you make a few adjustments in your packing it will be fine for you.

They just are not as popular or sought after as the mid or side kitchen models.



Keystone has some issues but as we have discussed on here before it depends on how much and how far you plan to tow it. If you have mechanical abilities and common sense then you can get by with a lower end trailer by keeping a close eye on the trailer and making repairs as needed. Pay attention to your gross weight as the axles are the bare minimum for capacity and will bend under the right conditions if overloaded.



Good Luck and Happy Shopping.

 

[Jim W]

My DW and I had a 2006, Summit Ridge F270RKS built by Ameri-Camp, that was a rear kitchen. We had no issues with this style of unit and would have bought another unit if there was a larger unit on the market for sale. Sorry to say in the larger size units most of the units we reviewed were side loaded kitchens, and could not find a rear kitchen unit. We did learn early on to pack this correctly and place the pot and pans in the lower cabinets. Stuff the upper cabinets with paper towels and throw pillows when traveling. In fact we still do this with our side loaded kitchen. We have broken a bowl in the side loaded kitchen this trip when one of the upper cabinet was not packed correctly. So any style of camper can break dishes in my opinion.

My wife love the extra cabinet and counter space a rear kitchen gives you. She also enjoyed looking out the rear window when doing dishes. One thing we have found out with the rear kitchen units, they tend to be a little coolerin the hot summertime. You get less of a heating issue when the rear of the camper is point south or west do to the sun baking the large windows on the side loaded kitchen campers.



Jim

 

[AABEN]

We have a frend that had a rear kitchen back in the late 80's that broke a lot of things. I have a 38 foot with a frunt living room that we like a lot more than a frunt bed that we had before. It set you up high and it is hard for people to see in. That way you can see a lot more. === GOOD LUCK ===

 

[Grizzly]

We have a 27' Arctic Fox 5th wheel with the kitchen that's only on one side of the trailer, which goes from over the axles to the rear. The 5er came with shocks, which may be the reason why we have never broke any dishes. We don't stuff the cabinets with anything. We do place anything that's breakable over the axles with heavy stuff low and light stuff high. We keep all shelves lined with non skid material. We do go through some rough roads when we go to our favorite fishing and camping spots.



If you have a problem with breaking dishes, get plastic wear.



george

 

[HERBN]

Thank you very much for your prompt reply to my qestion regarding rear kitchens. The rear kitchen I'm looking at has part of the kitchen on the side such as the refrigerator over the back wheel and a few cabinets with the sink in the back rear corner. If I should purchase this model and have problems looks like shocks would be a good to stablize the kitchen ware and your advice keeping the heavy ware low and packing carefully looks to me like good advice for any RV. Thank you all again. It is appreciated and as always I sure will take your excellent advice seriously. HerbN

 

[Troubleshooter]

I do not have a rear kitchen, but have noticed that items in the rear of the trailer tend to be "dynamically re-arranged" during travel.



One thing to consider with the kitchen is to ensure that you can access the fridge and sink when the slides are in. I looked at one where the slide blocked access. Much more convenient when stopping for a quick lunch if you don't have to push out the slides.

 

[KKaminski]

I've never experienced a single broken dish with my rear kitchen fifth wheel. Things generally stay right in place. My wife would have nothing else. I have also heard all the horror stories, but sure haven't experienced any problems. I have shocks on my fifth wheel, so maybe that makes a difference.

Same here. We have a '94 Carri-lite with rear kitchen and wouldn't have it any other way. The myths about breaking dishes are from the people that don't pad the shelves and separate the glass pieces by alternating with plastics or softer stuff.



by the way, if you're lookinig for a good used unit, we're lookiing to upgrade our Carri-lite by a few years (only to another carriage product) and ours could be for sale. Oo.

 

[GOTSOOT]

Don`t see any problem with the R/K!!!

 

[Prairie Dog]

We have a rear kitchen and it works great! The fridge is in the rear most corner and while you would think things would jump around, everything is where we put when we stop. I would buy this configuration again in a heartbeat.

 

[TDRdodgeman784]

We have a 31 foot Sunnybrook 5th wheel rear kitchen we have used it for 12,000 miles now and have run on a lot of vary rough roads and we have not broke any dishes or cabinets and we do have glass dishes . I just looked my wife has some pans in upper cabinets I would not put them up there but thats is my wifes kitchen . The cabinets are still on the wall . Maybe some RV manufacturers are doing things cheep like using staples I see all screws holding are cabinets on the wall. I was looking more into the cabinets at the far rear and found a jar of Ragu sauce on top of a glass plate and nothing is broke I ask the wife how long the jar was there a little more then 2000 miles now in two weeks. I would not put the jar on top of a glass plate but its my wifes kitchen and I don't have to clean up the mess if it did brake. Maybe it comes down to if your 5th wheel is heavy or light weight and shocks. We do have shocks and we are heavy.

 

[DonTX]

We chose our rear kitchen fiver BECAUSE it had a rear kitchen. Wife did not like the idea of guests entering thru the kitchen to get to the living area. First day out, we broke some cheap Wal Mart dishes, bought some that would not break as easy and packed them correctly, never broke another one. I think it is a myth lthat is probably blown out of proportion.

 

[RVTRKN]

Our old 5ver was a rear kitchen model and it had no shocks we were fine with a little common since. The Arctic fox we now have is mid kitchen, but with the large living room pull out, we hardly notice it.