How important is it to access the bed with slides closed?

travelnutz wrote:
Jane,

If you are going to basically live in the RV for about a year, you may want to forget even considering one with a 6 cu ft fridge. It's tiny and only about 1/3 the size of a small home basic fridge. Better have a grocery store very nearby so you can get refrigerator required items real often and thus using their in store fridge units as yours. Heck, we even have a 6 cu ft fridge in our Lance truck camper and that's due to physical size/room. In one of our wheeled RV's used for traveling for touring/RV'ing, never! Let alone being used for months of living in the RV.

I agree! I have wondered about this aspect myself, as I cook every meal from scratch, we need a lot of produce in the fridge. we live 30 miles from the nearest grocery store, so we tend to buy in bulk.

So now...a 5er with a double fridge that is 35' and under, with rear living, curbside dining, plenty of counter space, and access to all areas with slides closed...is this a "pie in the sky?" Or can you point me to one of those?

rhagfo wrote:

Nutinelse2do wrote:

janegowest wrote:

MainerBob wrote:
We've never been in a situation where we couldn't get the slides out. We can reach into the frig to get stuff out and lie down on the bed if we had to but never have had to. We put the slides out in rest areas, Walmarts, wherever. With two adults and two dogs it can get pretty cozy. Just make sure you are reasonably level before putting out the slides.

This is cool! Just happened to land on a prime example!!

Nope... Can't access the fridge with slides in. Everything else, yes.

OMG can't get to a cold brew when stoping for lunch!!!!
While many see this little issue as a deal breaker, way too many other positives to the floor plan the write it off for that.
Huge kitchen, yer similar to ours, I just measured ours and we have 15 sq. ft. of open counter space useable 100 percent of the time! This doesn't include closed stove top or a filled in sink.
In addition huge Master Suite, not 8" on each side of the bed, large space on the shower side and roomy.
Full 8' closet and large Chet of drawers at foot of bed four large drawers and three smaller.

We find this general floor plan very livable, worried about no aces so refer with slide in, we need to climb over the counter to access the kitchen area, would not trade access to it with slides in, as the great expance of counter space.
The Everest has a drop down table leaf to allow you to squeeze through.
We don't live in our 5er with the slides in, we only tow and store with the slides in, living is done with slides out!

:B
This floor plan rocks! We have a 1.8cu ft fridge that is a beverage only fridge. We changed out the dinette for an ikea, fold down desk, that has room for my sewing and crafting supplies, or a place to work on the Mac Book ( scanning, printing, etc ). It can also be opened to be very large for puzzles and stuff on rainy days, though we have yet to do that. The desk isn't as deep as the dinette, so I can acess the kitchen with the slides in.
We changed the living room area to a tv console, across from 2 lazy boys, and use the old television area as food pantry.
When we travel, we keep a cooler in the truck and car, so, no need to access the fridge anyways. If we stop for lunch, we have never been in a position to not be able to open the slides, so, it's a non issue.
We upgraded the fridge to a 10cu ft Norcold, that fit the same area as our old, little Dometic. Love the counter space. I cook more now since I retired, since I love cooking, and now I actually have the time to do it.
It is perfect for us, which is all that matters. We are considering going back to a DP, and I am already getting sad thinking of losing this floorplan.

Jane,

If you are going to basically live in the RV for about a year, you may want to forget even considering one with a 6 cu ft fridge. It's tiny and only about 1/3 the size of a small home basic fridge. Better have a grocery store very nearby so you can get refrigerator required items real often and thus using their in store fridge units as yours. Heck, we even have a 6 cu ft fridge in our Lance truck camper and that's due to physical size/room. In one of our wheeled RV's used for traveling for touring/RV'ing, never! Let alone being used for months of living in the RV.

For us , it was this order -
1-access to bathroom
2-access to fridge

Our fifth wheel gives us those options , and with having 2 slides in the bedroom , if we need to , we can deploy the smaller one that is about 24" , that gives us full accessibility to the bedroom . .

Everything else really only matters to you depending on your travel plans..

If you only travel 4-6 hours a day , you wont ( shouldn't ) need access to the bedroom.... if you travel long periods a day , and pull over in a rest stop for small cat naps , you will need access to the bedroom . .
Its really up to you , and YOUR travel habits . .

That would be a deal ender for us. I can access all with slides in, as should be.

janegowest wrote:
I am looking at a unit with access to fridge and bath when slides are closed, but no access to BR. I was wondering how important/unimportant this might be?

Thanks for your help in advance!

Ours is the same way. Only access to fridge and bathroom. It has not been a problem. When we travel we keep around 350 to 400 miles a day and always stay somewhere that we can open all slides and relax.
Of course we have that luxury being retired.
Even if we had to open bedroom at a stop it only goes out about 18 inches or so.

Nutinelse2do wrote:

janegowest wrote:

MainerBob wrote:
We've never been in a situation where we couldn't get the slides out. We can reach into the frig to get stuff out and lie down on the bed if we had to but never have had to. We put the slides out in rest areas, Walmarts, wherever. With two adults and two dogs it can get pretty cozy. Just make sure you are reasonably level before putting out the slides.

This is cool! Just happened to land on a prime example!!

Nope... Can't access the fridge with slides in. Everything else, yes.

OMG can't get to a cold brew when stoping for lunch!!!!
While many see this little issue as a deal breaker, way too many other positives to the floor plan the write it off for that.
Huge kitchen, yer similar to ours, I just measured ours and we have 15 sq. ft. of open counter space useable 100 percent of the time! This doesn't include closed stove top or a filled in sink.
In addition huge Master Suite, not 8" on each side of the bed, large space on the shower side and roomy.
Full 8' closet and large Chet of drawers at foot of bed four large drawers and three smaller.

We find this general floor plan very livable, worried about no aces so refer with slide in, we need to climb over the counter to access the kitchen area, would not trade access to it with slides in, as the great expance of counter space.
The Everest has a drop down table leaf to allow you to squeeze through.
We don't live in our 5er with the slides in, we only tow and store with the slides in, living is done with slides out!

We have owned rv's for 40 years and have always had full access to everything with slides in. That is really nice. After leaving full-time we just bought a small pull-trailer where one chair has to block the rear door when the slides are in. Just had to have a RL floor plan. To access everything we have to open the slide about 8" to go in through the bedroom door. It is a hassle but small price to pay for the RL that makes a huge living area in a smaller trailer. All things equal, total access is better--but RVing is always about compromising.

janegowest wrote:

MainerBob wrote:
We've never been in a situation where we couldn't get the slides out. We can reach into the frig to get stuff out and lie down on the bed if we had to but never have had to. We put the slides out in rest areas, Walmarts, wherever. With two adults and two dogs it can get pretty cozy. Just make sure you are reasonably level before putting out the slides.

This is cool! Just happened to land on a prime example!!

Nope... Can't access the fridge with slides in. Everything else, yes.

Not important.