Kitchen in slide... steer clear or no big deal??

[Caboose66]

Thread title is kind of self explanatory, but what are your experiences? There are horror stories, to be sure... just like with almost any element of RVs, but I'm wondering how big a deal this really is? So far, I've pretty much eliminated models with kitchen in the slide from my consideration. Wonder if that's just silly...

Now, if it's not a big deal, but something I should watch, what kind of things do you watch out for? If it's a matter of replacing a hose and or some drain piping with something of better quality/flexibilty right off the bat, I'm handy enough to do something like that.

So, what are your experiences, conventional widsom, horror stories (personal or second-hand), tips, tricks, etc?

Thanks,Dean

[Caboose66]

Thanks for the replies... Some really good insight that I had not thought of. I'm coming from a 21', non-slide Max Lite. Our kitchen and dinette were on the curb side so I never thought much about it. I think I might prefer that but most of the models do have the dinette and couch on the street (neighbors') side.

Well, now I'm even better armed with info. I wish I would have been this informed - about this and many, many other aspects of TT buying as well as my own preferences - a month or so ago. I wouldn't have let a couple of trailers slip by and would have had one in my driveway by now. But, I'm glad I haven't rushed into anything.

Thanks again everyone, Dean

[mwebber78]

Slide on my Jayco is full depth.

[Andy_F]

goingnorth wrote:
I have the kitchen in the slide and was worried but I just inspect the hoses when I first got it and once a year, 5 years now and no problems. I will only have a TT with the dinette on the awning side, I can see my site, kids playing, everything going on. Most TT can't see there own site while in the camper, and are looking at there neighbors when indoors. This also usually means that the exhaust from the fridge and water heater are not under the awning, so if you dry camp this is nice.

The only downfall is I have not seen a super slide with the kitchen in the slide, only the narrow slides.

Our experience with our kitchen slide has been the same as the other posters--no problems. We too wanted a curb side dinette looking out on our campsite and not the neighbors. We looked at several super slide floor plans and we couldn't understand all the windows looking at the site next door while not being able to see our site. We also have a lot more kitchen counter space. I hope the kitchen slides never disappear completely.


The kitchen slides did get deeper in 2012, at least on the Bullets. Not as deep as the super slides, but still a noticeable increase.


I'd like to see a curb side dinette/kitchen slide floorplan with a kitchen island like those islands that are showing up curb side in several of the new super slide plans. Not sure if it could be doable or not.

[Lynnmor]

Having the fridge in the slide usually requires a fan to move enough air out the side vent. If you are without electric at any time this may be an excessive draw on the battery.

[the_happiestcam]

Stove and sink in slide. Only one problem on first trip. My wife looked at the cabinet under the sink and saw a lot of storage space on the floor. When I went to put the slide out, one of the kids yelled that the cabinet was coming apart. Stopped, pulled slide back in, removed all that my wife had packed under there, and put slide out. Fortunately cabinet is not real sturdy, so it sort of bent and stretched during this - went right back to original shape. Guess they made it that way on purpose for just such a situation.

[goingnorth]

I have the kitchen in the slide and was worried but I just inspect the hoses when I first got it and once a year, 5 years now and no problems. I will only have a TT with the dinette on the awning side, I can see my site, kids playing, everything going on. Most TT can't see there own site while in the camper, and are looking at there neighbors when indoors. This also usually means that the exhaust from the fridge and water heater are not under the awning, so if you dry camp this is nice.

The only downfall is I have not seen a super slide with the kitchen in the slide, only the narrow slides.

[WandaLust2]

We've got our NT 28BRS 2 years. The kitchen is on the slide. Not one problem yet.

[Caboose66]

In viewing the video again, it seems that I didn't recall the construction of the race very accurately. I guess I was thinking of other wiring races or "raceways" I have seen before. But, the video does give a pretty good view into what these probably typically look like.

Dean

[Caboose66]

To answer the question... the ones I've seen pictures of are on a "race". There's a bundle of supply and drain lines as well as electrical cable if I'm not mistaken. There's a half-loop of slack that is secured to a slotted piece of metal that keeps it all in line when the slide goes in or out.

I'd love to see pictures of this.

I will see if I can find the YouTube video and post the link here.

Edited since I was able to find the video

Link to YouTube slide kitchen drain leak

Doug33 wrote:

Caboose66 wrote:

[Slownsy]

I hawe herd some having problem with drains popin off but able to fix.

[Doug33]

Caboose66 wrote:
To answer the question... the ones I've seen pictures of are on a "race". There's a bundle of supply and drain lines as well as electrical cable if I'm not mistaken. There's a half-loop of slack that is secured to a slotted piece of metal that keeps it all in line when the slide goes in or out.

I'd love to see pictures of this.

[mwebber78]

Had it in my Class C and now my travel trailer - no issues...

[Bumpyroad]

my winnie chieftain had a kitchen slide, stove, sink, and worked fine for 14 years.
bumpy

[Caboose66]

Thanks everyone for the replies and first hand experience. Its kind of what I expected - that the few stories I have read were very much the exception. In fact, now that I'm thinking about it, I think the one story I remember in particular the trailer had been used quite a bit over the course of 8 years. It was the drain line elbow, not the hose itself.
To answer the question... the ones I've seen pictures of are on a "race". There's a bundle of supply and drain lines as well as electrical cable if I'm not mistaken. There's a half-loop of slack that is secured to a slotted piece of metal that keeps it all in line when the slide goes in or out. Looks pretty low-risk to me but I can see where it does get a little more "exercise" than it would in a stationary location.
Based on the feedback here and the relative low number of bad stories I've read, I think I will add kitchen-in-slide models back into my list of considerations.

Thanks again everyone.

Dean