Limited Counter space

[MTpete]

I am considering a 13-17ft fiberglass camper but can see problems with the limited counter space. With the sink and stove on the same side with no space to work looks like this could be a jumbled mess when cooking. Kinda reminds me of being in my 8x12 wall tent. Does anyone else feel this is a problem? I am thinking of a floor plan with sleeping on one end, eating on the other end and a work area in the middle would be the best if one would forego the bathroom.

Comments?

Pete

[mary and bob]

I made counter extensions in our 13' Uhaul. However we do not cook inside or wash dishes there and seldom eat inside. We cook under an easy-up type shelter, and eat in our 12 X 12 enclosed screen room.

[D Davis]

I prefer an outside kitchen set up as well & eat outside also. My kitchen is set up under the awning then I put an outside shelter over the table. This keeps leaves and rain off the table. The set up also keeps dreaded moisture, grease and smells out of the camper. The shelters or a tarp are great to socialize under even in the rain and bad weather. Basically only use the camper to sleep in. Advantages of camper for me over a tent: Comfort, warmth, your stuff can be prepacked in the camper. You can pull a small FG camper with alsmost anything and go almost anywhere. Lightweight.
Baths; almost all campgrounds have bathrooms and many have nice hot showers.
Everyone is different, so find what suites you and your needs best and have fun doing it.

[paulw]

Our 95 Scamp 16 side bath had great counter space (layout 4) - sink and counter on the curb side and stove and counter with small fridge underneath on the street side, rear dinette made into a full time bed and bunk bed/couch in the front.
I never got around to converting the front area to a 2 person dinette, but I think Scamp makes a floor plan like that. When we ate inside we set up a folding table in front of the couch.

[Carol H]

I am with Paul, I love the extra counter space in my Scamp 16' Standard side bath. Its often the first thing people notice when they tour the trailer as well..... also the one reason I haven't been in a really big hurry to change trailers to a slightly bigger trailer as the lack of counter space on the brands I am interested in is a bit of a worry as I really like having the extra surface space as I do use the trailers kitchen - especially when on long road trips and only doing 1 night fast stop overs. The counter extensions do help but not thrilled with them as I see they are often set up so they hang out into a walk way or over the rear bed. Have wished for awhile now that Scamp would make the side bath with a small front dinette but suspect they believe that the seating on the bathroom side would be restrictive and need to push the trailer another 1' in length to make it work really well.

If your willing to forgo the bathroom - Escape does a 15' Plan B that has pretty decent counter space in it with a rear bed and front dinette. There was a Escape 15' for sale here last year that was custom plan built with kitchen at the very front in place of the dinette but instead of the kitchen wrapping around for more counter space they had a large storage closet - Don't know until you ask if Escape would entertain doing a layout without the storage closet - creating a more wrapped around front kitchen - I suspect it may be needed for the trailers structural support - but that could be very wrong, so only way to find out is to ask them directly.

[LK Gray]

Everyone knows about the high-rise faucet. That combined with a cake cooling rack helps on counter space. The sink can still be used. The "feet" on the rack keep it in place. And it offers a surprising amount of room to place pots (hot or cold) & pans.

[honda03842]

We're also fans of the Scamp 16 with sink on one side and stove on the other. Really more than enough counter space and plenty of storage space. Beyond the counter space it adds an openness to the trailer.

[Ian G.]

Hi Pete

Your comments are similar to those I made after we bought or 13' Boler, we are like many other who have mentioned that they do most of their cooking outside but I still wanted the flexibility of a larger kitchen, my solution was a major renovation ... not the answer many want to hear or undertake.

Recently we added a 17' Casita which had the same small counter and I had no intention of modifying, we learned to adjust our food prep and cooking, using the outside or side dinette as useful space.

Touring the Scamp 16" we did appreciate the factory approach which does offer very nice counter/kitchen space.

[blodn1]

One of the reasons I like the Lil Snoozy is the counter space. It's all electric, and will have a solar option soon. Small Travel Trailer: Camper: Smoakin Concepts Composites

[Lorelei L]

Amazon has a hinged counter extension that is reasonable and installs in minutes.

[Francesca Knowles]

I do all my cooking inside except of course for grilling. Since I rarely have anything as exotic as hookups and must use water judiciously, I rarely use the sink for its intended purpose. I keep it covered most of the time with the panel that came with it from the factory that effectively converts that whole space to counter. I also keep a cutting board that I can sit on the stove for simple prep not involving cooking.

It's been my experience that it's all the doo-dads/ingredients that clutter up the work space, and a handy place to set them would go a long way towards opening space up.

To that end, an innovation I think I'll do this year will be to put a shelf eight inches deep or so on the wall behind the countertop. Its exclusive purpose will be to provide a place to set things while doing prep. (In order to discipline myself not to store things there, it will have no retaining "travel" rim. One or two episodes of contents-on-the-floor ought to do the trick, eh? )

[sokhapkin]

Search for "over the sink cutting board" on Amazon. They are great counter space savers.

[Elisabeth Crisp]

Thanks for the cake rack over the sink tip. I'm going to try that.

[MTpete]

Thanks everyone for your good comments. I had forgotten about Scamps 2-sided work area. That sounds like the best for me. I plan to camp a lot in the fall in Montana when the weather may not be too inviting for outside dining. Plus it gets dark pretty early so I better plan to cook inside.

Glad to hear other people had similar concerns.

[LK Gray]

Elisabeth Yeah, the cake rack does work well. Plus, unlike the sink cover/cutting board technique the sink is still usable with the cake rack.