rear kitchen

[Mitcmar]

getting ready to get my first trailer. as anyone know if a rear kitchen travel trailer pulls any difference from an rear living trailer. I am looking at a 28-30 foot trailer dry weight about 6300 lbs.

[JWRoberts]

We have always preferred the rear living. The best views from inside an RV is nearly always to the rear.

[Chuck_thehammer]

I have a Front Kitchen with large front facing window, Coachman 29 foot with rear master bedroom... less movement of stored items.. my opinion.

my past trailer had a mid kitchen and was 21 foot.. stuff moving around all the time. but trailer weighted half as much.

[Timtation]

We have had cabinets come open during a panic stop. We now use velcro strips on the adjacent cabinet handles before closing up to travel. We really like the RK, it opens the living space and gives good food prep space.

[TUCQUALA]

Yes, RK's are a bit more prone to stuff moving around in cabinets and fridge. But, there were many times that the junk in our medicine cabinet in a rear bath trailer ended up in the sink or the floor when opening the first time after arriving in the woods!!!

Like "Old Duck" mentioned, the road is the main problem, more than the kitchen location. Also, the rear overhang can be part of the problem. More behind the wheels, and more up and down at the rear bumper.

On our newest trailer, with the fresh tank at the rear of the axles, and a relatively short rear overhang for a 34' trailer, we don't have too much of a problem. We do travel back roads a lot, so we see rough, gravel, or rocky roads. Worst times has been on highways when hitting extreme bridge approaches, or the "temporary" ramps found on hwy repairs!! Sometimes you can't slow down enough to prevent a nasty shock to everything.

Some of the rear kitchen vs other plans is, to me anyway, just like the generator, hitch, truck stuff that we have the "professional" rv.net police around to take care of!!!!

[RollandB]

Yes there is a difference. Our previous 5er was a Komfort 291fsg, our current is a Arctic Fox 27-5L 5er. In the Komfort the fridge is on the back wall, our Arctic Fox is on the side, near the wheels, thus potentially less bounce than on the back wall. I say potentially as only once did we have a jumbled mess in the Komfort fridge. We were headed to Astoria and taking 217 through Portland. They were resurfacing the road and had ground down the asphalt then built a short ramp on each bridge. It was like an elongated speed bump. When we got to our destination, carefully opening the door we were unable to until we unloaded the jigsaw puzzle one thing at a time. But nothing was broke or popped open.

[wrvond]

Mitcmar wrote:
getting ready to get my first trailer. as anyone know if a rear kitchen travel trailer pulls any difference from an rear living trailer. I am looking at a 28-30 foot trailer dry weight about 6300 lbs.

Congratulations and welcome to the world of travel trailers!
Apparently there are several people that feel that rear kitchen equipped campers tow differently or need to be modified in order to tow correctly.
We bought our rear kitchen in 2013 and have not modified the suspension in any way. Our refrigerator is on the back wall and works great. Items do not move around any more than any other trailer. Our camper isn't the "fanciest" trailer ever made, but it is solid and works very well. When on the road, we can access the kitchen and the bathroom without opening the slide at all. Very handy. The bathroom is huge as far at TT's go and the queen bed is a walk around.
The downside to a rear kitchen in a small box (like you are describing) is the lack of a separate living room. For us, the dinette and jack knife sofa are the only places to sit. When the weather is bad we have to pull the television out on it's arm in order to see it from the sofa and dinette at the same time.
Our slide is very shallow. The slide is eleven feet wide, but only eighteen inches deep. However, the floor is built up about nine inches or so, with the sofa mounted directly on it (no feet or legs), this means that I can't change the jack knife sofa out for a regular, more comfortable sofa. Of course, in order to get a large bedroom and a huge bathroom, with a good sized kitchen, I'd either have to have a longer trailer or lose the living room. Got to give a little to get a little.

[spadoctor]

I have a KZ 321RKS 35 footer rear kitchen....no ddifference towing....nothing breaks and almost nothing moves around in the cabinets.

[myredracer]

I doubt there is any significant weight difference at the rear for a rear kitchen model. Would be interesting to see some data to substantiate that. With our rear kitchen (29' length), the tongue weight is almost 15 percent.

We absolutely love our rear kitchen. It has way more counter space and makes for an efficient use of floor space. I agree with adding shocks. We used to get a lot of bounce that would not only open cabinet doors but would also throw the grate off the stove and even the vertical plastic rod for opening & closing the blinds would jump off the hook. Stopped to get groceries once and found coffee all over the floor because the pantry door flew open.

If looking at a RK model, I would avoid one that has a frame with fabricated 3-piece I-beams because they flex a lot more than a one-piece type and cause more bounce in the rear.

The amount of bounce at the rear will depend on the length of the trailer, GVWR, spring rating, frame design, axle location. We added shocks and now our trailer rides like a flat line down the road. No more stuff bouncing around. Adding shocks has other benefits too is a good upgrade regardless.

If there is a downside to a rear kitchen, is that you can only have a small window due to the upper cabinets. Used to have a TT with a huge picture window at the rear and I really miss it.

[Slate_CM]

A rear kitchen owner here. I like most everything about it. There seems to be more counter space than other configurations. Plus the extra gray tank gives me a total of 64 gallons. I haven't really needed the full capacity, but nice to know it's there.

I didn't see this mentioned yet; If there is a window in the back, it is small. So if you are backed up to a lake for example, the view might not be as good.

[camperforlife]

bbaker2001 wrote:
camperforlife.
we too love our RK.
but your statement
"If a RK was as bad as some make them out to be, there would't be so many floor plans offering them"
as discussed so many times, the manufactures should have to live in them for 45 days to evaluate them before putting on market. so many stupid ideas that never work.
2 of my cabinet doors cant be opened if ceiling fan is running. if they had moved it just 1" further it would be OK. cad drawings make it look good, but not in real life.

You are so correct, I have seen some pretty bizarre things in trailers at times. I guess my point was they have been around for a long time, almost every manufacturer offers them and they won't build what doesn't sell, at least for very long.

[ken56]

We have a Coleman 268RK and the floor plan suits us wonderfully. We have never had problems with shifting in the cabinets but we keep things secure in bins, baskets and other containers. That's something we have always done anyway. The only time we had a problem was when some impatient driver behind us thought we were the cork in the bottle and passed us, just to stop short on us when he couldn't get by the truck in front of us going slow. I had to stop rather abruptly to keep from going into his bumper.

I do make it a point to drain the kitchen grey tank before we leave any campground due to the added and unwanted weight. The trailer will pull a bit squirley if the tongue gets light. The separate kitchen grey tank requires added lengths of sewer hose to be on hand.

Find the floor plan that suits you best, then make it yours.

[bbaker2001]

camperforlife.
we too love our RK.
but your statement
"If a RK was as bad as some make them out to be, there would't be so many floor plans offering them"
as discussed so many times, the manufactures should have to live in them for 45 days to evaluate them before putting on market. so many stupid ideas that never work.
2 of my cabinet doors cant be opened if ceiling fan is running. if they had moved it just 1" further it would be OK. cad drawings make it look good, but not in real life.

[camperforlife]

The real answer is "it depends". I've owned two mid kitchen trailers and I just traded a rear kitchen for another rear kitchen. My last RK only had a little over 8% tongue weight and towed squirrely unless I had a full tank of fresh water which was in the front of the trailer.

The current RK has nearly 13% tongue weight and tows just fine. We have never noticed any more movement of dishes in either rear kitchen but the first one had the EZ-Flex suspension and the new one has MorRyde.

If a RK was as bad as some make them out to be, there would't be so many floor plans offering them. I even had someone tell me once how badly my trailer was designed because it had a door near the back and close to the rear kitchen and I would never be able to keep my stove lit. I can say we had that trailer for 6 years and not once did the stove blow out or even become difficult to light. I just scratch my head with comments from experts who never owned one.

The bottom line is make sure there is adequate tongue weight of at least 10%+ of total weight which holds true for any trailer. Beyond that, get the floor plan you want.

[bobndot]

I would also agree that a rear kitchen design could lighten the tongue weight.
If that's the case with the model you choose, pack heavier items in front storage compartments or add a second battery on the tongue etc .

One other thing to consider. If the model you choose has a fridge located on the rear wall, then the leveling of the trailer from side to side will be more important than a floorplan with the fridge located on a sidewall. (read the 3 vs 6 degree leveling rule ) .
Its easier to make a TT level using the front to rear elec. tongue jack opposed to placing boards under tires.
It is also a factor, if your travel style involves parking your TV/trailer combo in parking lots while you sightsee or eat.
Some people find it easier to shut the fridge off for those periods of time, things will remain cold as long as you do not open the door and you won't have to level the rig.

ex. of the 3/6 degree rule in modern rv absorbtion fridges.
leveling the fridge forum post