Seeking advice about an island kitchen or not?

[rhetthughes]

Hello Everyone! I'm seeking some advice here on our next travel trailer purchase. Long story short, we have a nice Starcraft AR-ONE 26BH which we bought because weight was a concern. The problem? There are no slide outs and we have 2 children (8 and 4), so it gets quite crowded in there at times. At some point we would like to upgrade our camper to a "bunk room" model. Seems that almost every major manufacturer does these in two configurations: with kitchen island and without. It seems that without the island gives you more space to maneuver, but less countertop and cabinet space. I am leaning towards a model WITH an island kitchen because I want the extra cabinet storage and countertop. My hope here is that some of you kind people can offer some advice here: do any of you have small children and an island kitchen in your camper? Does it tend to get too crowded with the little ones? Do you wish you purchased one without the island so that you could have more room to maneuver at the expense of counter space? Thanks for any words of wisdom you can offer!

[bill-e]

I've only had my "Island Kitchen" for a coupe of weeks and only one trip with it....but I love it.

My Cougar is all remote controlled so you can extend one of the slides from the truck to make a way into the bathroom or set everything up once on site.

The feeling of space I get when I enter the camper is great.

Mine is not a bunkhouse though, you'd need to move up to a 28XXX for that.

[Lantley]

AS mentioned the island creates lots of counter space when slides are open.
The biggest con is that the island limits the ability to move around/access the trailer when slides are closed

[Dennis_M_M]

Ours has an island and we have been happy with it for 8 years. With two slides in the living area there is plenty of room.

Only drawback is with the slides closed you have to sit on the island and slide your butt back and forth to lock to unlock the slides.

One of our primary factors has always been access to the refrigerator with the slides closed.

[Merrykalia]

I was going to also say that, like Greydennyhawk, we have an island that we purchased a couple of years ago from Walmart that has wheels on it. When I am cooking indoors, which is only during the early spring or late fall, I move it out and use it. Otherwise, it sits up against a wall and collects stuff on top of it.

Our next RV will have one in it.

[Greydennyhawk]

We have this great folding, wooden top island that we can bring out and use, it has wheels, either inside or outside, if needed.