By Gail Marsh
Where would you like to eat? No, I’m not talking about choosing a restaurant. I’m wondering where in your RV you usually choose to enjoy a meal.
Dinette
The RV dinette may come to mind first. But if you follow any online RV rehab stories, you know that for many RVers, the dinette takes up too much valuable space. Rehabbers choose to remove the dinette and replace it with something that better meets their needs.
Bar top
RV manufacturers have taken note of the dinette removals and renovations, too. They have shifted their floor plans to meet current social trends. In newer rigs it’s common to see extended kitchen counters that allow you to enjoy your meal while sitting at a bar top—much like the way stix-n-brix homes have replaced dining rooms with kitchen bar seating for meals.
TV tray table
TV tray tables have been around for decades. They function very well in an RV. Their compact size allows for easy maneuverability. They are easily set up and taken down again. Eating on a TV tray allows RVers to watch television or just relax on the couch as they eat.
By the way, you can do way more with TV trays than just use them for dining. Check this out.
Picnic table
And finally, there’s the picnic table. When we started RVing several years ago, we ate meals at the picnic table. Always. It seemed like the natural thing to do. Isn’t RVing all about enjoying the great outdoors? Why not enjoy meals outside, too?
We quickly learned that an unexpected rain shower or sudden gust of wind can quickly put the kibosh on outdoor dining. No one enjoys chasing after paper plates or picking bugs out of your food.
Your turn
Chime in with your vote and tell us where you most often eat when RVing. Please feel free to leave a comment, too. Thanks!
MORE POLLS LIKE THIS:
- What time do you usually eat dinner (aka supper)?
- How often do you go out to dinner?
- What do you do most nights after dinner?
- Do you most often eat your meals on a regular schedule or just when you are hungry?
RVDT2767
More often than not, sitting in the Class A’s theater seats, no tray tables or otherwise. If not there, then at the dinette which has two chairs.
I eat my meals sitting on the couch. Husband eats at the table which is also his desk for computer work.
I mostly eat outside, but not at the picnic table. I use a side table while I’m sitting in an outdoor chair.
Sitting in recliner with no table tray.
Ditto
Me too!
We have a toy hauler without a dinette. It came with a table that fits between the two fold down couches.
We put the table in front of the side window and use folding chairs.
Our couches remain folded up and we use zero gravity chairs as recliners.
Table with chairs. You lose the storage that a dinette with bench seating has, but we like the chairs.
For breakfast, and if it’s just my bride and me, the free standing dinette. If the weather is good and/or we have extended family, then it’s the picnic table for dinner/supper.
Since I live at Escapees CARE (https://escapeescare.org), I almost always have all my meals in the CARE dining room. On the rare occasions that I eat in my RV, I use a food tray on my pull-out desk keyboard tray. My dinette is home to my full-sized electronic piano keyboard and all my music books!
We eat at the dinette most of the time. We used to eat outside at a table we carry with us most of the time but bugs & wind are an issue in our area. Nobody wants to share their burger with a wasp. Now we only eat outside if the conditions make for an enjoyable meal. We mostly boondock so no picnic benches available. We have a canopy with screens or walls & set up a table & chairs in it & do eat in it occasionally but we mostly use that for playing games on nice days.
50% at the picnic table and 50% at the dining table. This works great for us.
I usually eat sitting on the couch, hubby in his recliner – no tables or trays. Sometimes we eat outside with friends and/or family.
I’m in a Ram Promaster. I have benches with cushions on both sides and a tray/table that slides out from under the bed. I call it my dining room.
BTW, I’d love it if you devoted some time to vanlife/schoolies, etc. Not everyone is driving a big house around.
In all my years of rv’ing, I have never heard of anyone actually removing their dinnete table.
My husband eats on an end table from his recliner. I eat at the dinette.