I know it seems that you will lose storage in an Freedom layout but I can tell you that having had both I find I have more space for storage in the Freedom than I did in the Spirit.
In a Spirit the storage in enclosed which determines the linits of exactly what can be stored there.
In a Freedom there is no limit in the same spots as they are not enclosed at all.
Now there is the decision between exposed items and hidden items but in the end I can bring a lot more of the items that I travel with now than I could before in my SD.
As an example I always bring a case or 2 of water bottles and could never fit them anywhere well in the SD. I always had to break the case up and stuff bottles wherever I could and as I used them things would slide around as space appeared where there had been tight packing before.
The same cases slide right between the table base and seat base or seat base and wall in the Freedom and the case can stay there all the time. I can cover it if needed but why?
I also have found various bins that fit in those same spots that never would have fir in the SD at all.
I thought when I got the FD that I would modify it into an SD but now having lived with the FD for a while I can not imagine switching back to limited option storage?
Also as to the original question,the FD seats are much more comfy to me and unless you are large in the butt should be more comfy to most I would think?
The table is also smaller in a Freedom as the chairs need to be able to swivel and would hit the big SD table maybe but I tried the SD table in my FD and ended up making a new table sized somehwere between the two sizes.
To me the FD table as ffrom the factory was not that useful.
I will be in Syracuse this summer but sadly the
Casita will not.
Ed