I hate dinettes

[byhamr]

Have owned, borrowed, rented, and walked all types of rv. That does not make me an expert but it does leave me with some perspective and the more matured I become in my rv age, the more confirmed I am that the rv industry in order to see more explosive growth needs to bring to a rapid end the addition of the proverbial dinette to any and every type of rv. Please just stop! My reasons are several but basically revolve around the simple fact that sitting one for more than five minutes is absolute torture. In fact I wish we could all ship our dinette to Guantanamo. Make a terrorist sit in one for more than 5 minutes and he/she will tell u everything they know. Painful I say and also purposeless. Indoor tables are not needed for meals. Even in our homes very few Americans eat at tables. And if we do while camping, it is the outside picnic table. So why does the rv industry force us to go backwards by 20 years and give us sore backs at the same time? Maybe it is to play games which again I say are so much more enjoyable outside. So please rv industry leaders stop with the dinette. Give us another couch or comfortable chairs or even more bunks for the neighbor's kids. I saw one ad recently for a moderately priced 38' class 8 that slept 8.i had to ask how. The answer was a picture of a dinette area removed to be replaced by floor to ceiling 3 bunks. Genius thought I. Whew... Thanks for listening. I feel so much better having gotten that of my chest.

[ReneeG]

Range Maggot Bob wrote:
I still haven't figured out if everybody is talking about a stand-alone dinette or the built-in three-sided thing. We have the stand-alone, but I really wish I had the booth type.

This is about built in dinettes whether two bench seats or the horseshoe shaped, and not the stand-alone which I interpret as even table and chairs dinette.

[Range_Maggot_Bo]

I still haven't figured out if everybody is talking about a stand-alone dinette or the built-in three-sided thing. We have the stand-alone, but I really wish I had the booth type.

[olfarmer]

I like our dinette! To each his own!

[AJR]

I bought one of those mats sold for people standing in one spot for a long time. It is maybe ½” thick closed cell foam.

Cut it to size and slipped it under the OEM cushion. Works for me.

[Powertour]

I’ve found the seat cushion ‘stuffing’ in many dinettes, & much RV furniture in general, to be abysmal. Sometimes it’s not even foam but rather some fibrous material that squashes down in short order.

The good news is a lot of these cushions have zippers so you can replace the cushioning quite easily. We tossed out our junky OEM stuff by way of going to a local upholstery supply place & getting high quality foam. Night / day difference for $60 & 10 minutes of our time zipping in the new stuff.

[willald]

I wouldn't own an RV without a dinette.

I *like* having a table where we can all sit together and eat, play games, etc. Yes, its more fun to do that outside at a picnic table, but anyone that's camped for a while knows that the weather has a way of making that impossible or very uncomfortable sometimes.

And, that's not to mention the storage space underneath you give up if you don't have a dinette. And, the occasional extra sleeping space is nice, too.

Yes, the seat cushions on some dinettes can be not quite the most comfortable thing in the world. That is why you have to check these things out, BEFORE you buy an RV. If the dinette ain't comfortable, then find another model. Not all dinette cushions are uncomfortable.

If you don't like a dinette, look at units that have the free standing chair and tables. Several brands offer that as an option.

I'd say the RV industry is doing just fine, by offering a choice of a dinette or free standing chairs, table. That way we all can get something we are happy with, without shoving our wants, preferences down everyone else's throats that may prefer something else. 🙂

[CharlesinGA]

I like dinettes. Granted the foam in many is inferior, but with a couch and a dinette, I sit at the dinette. I use the couch to pile stuff on (clothes, laptop, etc). I despise recliners, don't own one at home and never will, and eating off a flimsy TV table or similar sucks. Plus, as someone noted, the storage area underneath is great.

Aside from the weak foam in the cushions, the fact that they slide around is a pain. Solved the Motorhome's issue with sliding cushions by sewing velcro across the back edge of the bottom, and putting a matching strip on the wood bottom, stapled it in place, in addition to the adhesive.

Need to do the same to this trailer.

Charles

[LoudRam]

How about the best of both worlds. Today we picked up two chairs from a local thrift store and I pulled one of the benches out. The wood color just about matches the chair rail perfectly and the chair back pattern matches the Sandalwood design. We contacted Aspen Trail to see if we could buy some material to recover the chairs to match perfectly. If not we'll just use some brown vinyl that matches the rest of the furniture. The chair covers are black vinyl now. My wife wanted chairs because the bench was not good for her back but I wanted the extra storage. So we both got what we wanted.

https://photos.app.goo.gl/kkppXA8ga65PYUkUA

[Sillybugs2]

We love our u shape dinette. Allows two to lounge with feet up and two on couch to watch a movie at night. Also perfect for poker nights.

[Dtank]

byhamr wrote:
Have owned, borrowed, rented, and walked all types of rv. That does not make me an expert but it does leave me with some perspective and the more matured I become in my rv age, the more confirmed I am that the rv industry in order to see more explosive growth needs to bring to a rapid end the addition of the proverbial dinette to any and every type of rv. Please just stop! My reasons are several but basically revolve around the simple fact that sitting one for more than five minutes is absolute torture. In fact I wish we could all ship our dinette to Guantanamo. Make a terrorist sit in one for more than 5 minutes and he/she will tell u everything they know. Painful I say and also purposeless. Indoor tables are not needed for meals. Even in our homes very few Americans eat at tables. And if we do while camping, it is the outside picnic table. So why does the rv industry force us to go backwards by 20 years and give us sore backs at the same time? Maybe it is to play games which again I say are so much more enjoyable outside. So please rv industry leaders stop with the dinette. Give us another couch or comfortable chairs or even more bunks for the neighbor's kids. I saw one ad recently for a moderately priced 38' class 8 that slept 8.i had to ask how. The answer was a picture of a dinette area removed to be replaced by floor to ceiling 3 bunks. Genius thought I. Whew... Thanks for listening. I feel so much better having gotten that of my chest.

Nice rant - needs paragraphs, however..:(

Soooooo.... *WHY* did you purchase an RV with a dinette?..:S

My current 5th wheel came with a/the table & 4 chairs "option", as I ordered. Both (all) are gone now.....replaced by a small drop-leaf table and two (more practicable) chairs. It's normally left in a "two chair" configuration, drop leaves down).

The space where the original table & chairs were located, could have been left empty if I so desired. (I did locate it forward of the previous spot) - which made room for 2 recliners.

BTW - the original table is still providing excellent service in the breakfast area of my S&B.

The RV mfgr's plan worked fine for me!



.

[travelnutz]

Having had 2 RV's with table and chairs sure told us we'd not buy another with table and chairs! All our other RV's had dinettes as will all our future RV's also. Our 54th year of lots of RV'ing so we have lots of experience. The dinette is so much more comfortable hands down. We do not buy cheapie RV's as they cut corners like cushions/foam due to low selling price. We use the storage below the seat as we always have doors on the end for access. We keep many of our canned/bottled food items in a long plastic Tupperware box under one seat.

Store our electrical accessories for laptops, the laptops, flashlights, AAA/AA/C/D batteries, items like soldering iron and solder, ink for the printer, and other various items in smaller Tupperware container boxes all inside a larger Tupperware box under the other seat. The floor under the dinette seats always has carpet so the about 16" wide X 40'long 8" deep Tupperware main boxes slide our so easy for full access to everything stored. Then just slide them back in and close the door. Try that with a table and chair setup!

Beside, the straight hard backs on chairs are so uncomfortable after a few minutes and the seats are hard too. Plus all chairs have to be strapped etc down for traveling but do nothing with a dinette. The nice thick foam seat and back cushion are so much more comfortable even after hours of sitting there. Added is that you can turn sideways when desired on a dinette seat and it's like having a true same height footstool. Keeps your legs up and sis o relaxing!

[et2]

We have one in our motorhome. Really thought I would hate it, but the wife liked it. u shape. After using it, I really like it vs the table and chairs we had in all the past rigs. Really comfortable and I can get a really good view from any position. And there is added storage below, a benefit.

[garmp]

I to am a dinette fan. In fact that's one of the reasons we bought the unit we did. Love it!

[malexander]

We're 60 years old, 160ish lbs.
When we were shopping for our moho, one of the prerequisites was a booth. We had booths in all of our other RVs and got talked into a table & chairs when we bought a new 5er. We hated the table & chairs for as long as we owned the 5er. Swore we'd never buy another RV without the "booth".