Refrigerator size question

[MookieKat]

There are two of us that will be traveling. However, we eat a lot of fresh organic vegetables...we cook from scratch almost every day, so we stock a lot of veggies in the fridge.

As we have shopped, I saw that the single ref/freezer combo units are quite small. Have any of you that cook like we do found it to be adequate, or do you think that we should opt for the rig with a double combo unit?

We will be living in the 5er while we remodel our house and then in CA for another 6 months or so, with traveling to parks off and on in-between.

[korbe]

a lot of our fruits and vegetables don't need to be stored in the frig - high consumption rate.

[720Deere]

Absorption fridges are somewhat of a joke, but if you do any boondocking, a residential unit really isn't a good option. My last camper had a 6 cf fridge and now we have the "4 door" 12 cf. The 12 does a good job, but it needs a little bit of help on the really hot days. I have installed 2 of the 12v dual fans that are rather affordable on ebay and the air circulation all but fixed the temperature issues. You still need to manage how often and how long you have the doors open on really hot days.

It is still a compromise with any absorption fridge when you are looking for things to cool down fast. I have a hard time convincing my wife and kids that they can't come home from the store and stack 20 warm water bottles in the fridge and expect it to cool them down.

[ontheroad101]

X2, the "thecampingman" is right on. We switch to a residential refrigerator and it is 100% better. We now have a Samsung and love it. It also eliminates the fire hazard. See our blog and click on Tragedy at Timothy Lake to see what a refrigerator fire looks like. Also you can see our refrigerator installation.

[NC_Hauler]

As also stated, if a regular fridge isn't an option, go with the 4 door fridge. We have one in our 06' and have never had the first issue and it is twice the size of the 2 door fridge...

[thecampingman]

I agree with Atom Ant. We had a double wide 4 door ref/freezer with ice maker for 9 years. 14 cu ft, the largest in the industry. Hated-every-minute-of-it!
FINALLY it died. Considered replacing the absorbtion fridge at $3,600 and opted for a 20 cu.ft. Samsung French door bottom freezer w/ice for $1,000.
What a vast improvement! Lights you can see with. Shelves you can clean. Thermometer right in the door header. It will "hold the cold" for a full day's traveling. Which is good enough for us. But if it wasn't I'd go for a generator before I'd go back to the absorbtion refrigerator.
Residential grade fridges are an entire category better than the gas/electric fridges. The plastic liner is a better grade of plastic. The insulation is thinner and better. Recovery on a compressor cooled fridge is much faster than an absorption fridge. The frost free feature for the freezer alone is worth it to make the switch. And they work in a greater ambient temperature range. When we had the old absorbtion fridge, when the outdoor temps got over 90 the food would warm up. And it never kept the ice cream solid. They're not only better, they're cheaper, unless you have to have alternative power source.
We've only been without shore power once in ten years. Once the truck had a problem and we were stuck at a gas station on a hot day. I got out an extension cord and plugged into the gas station for just enough juice for the fridge.

It may not be an option for you to find a unit with a residential type fridge. But it's not that hard to upgrade. Truthfully, it was more difficult trying to figure out how all of the plastic parts went back into the fridge than it was figuring out how to install the fridge. The ventilation panels are already in the side of the camper. Just don't block the air flow and everything's cool.

[Ohiojude]

MookieKat wrote:
There are two of us that will be traveling. However, we eat a lot of fresh organic vegetables...we cook from scratch almost every day, so we stock a lot of veggies in the fridge.

As we have shopped, I saw that the single ref/freezer combo units are quite small. Have any of you that cook like we do found it to be adequate, or do you think that we should opt for the rig with a double combo unit?

We will be living in the 5er while we remodel our house and then in CA for another 6 months or so, with traveling to parks off and on in-between.

Try to find a unit with double door fridge, it will make a big difference.

[Atom_Ant]

If you are going to live in it, I would opt for the units with the full size residential fridge. They are nearly twice the size of the double wide RV fridges.