Adding Oven and Booth Dinette

ppet · Sep 9, 2017

I put this question re: modifications in the Newcomers area since answers may have an impact on our purchasing decision.

We hope to be first time owners within the next year and are strongly considering a 2 to 4 year old Tiffin Allegro 36LA. Our preference (at least as of now) is to have an oven and booth dinette. From looking online, it's difficult to find a unit with both of these items. So a couple questions:

1. How hard is it to add these items if we find a unit that doesn't have them (i.e. would the unit already be prewired for an oven?).

2. Would this have to be done by Tiffin in Red Bay or can a dealer do it.

Same general questions also if we want to make other modifications such as adding solar panels, heat pump, residential refrigerator, etc.

Thanks!

Gary RV_Wizard · Sep 10, 2017

The oven is gas operated, so it's not "pre-wired", but there should be a gas line in place for a gas cooktop and that can serve a combo oven/cooktop instead. Whether you can replace the gas cooktop with a combo oven/cooktop stove depends on the cabinetry design in whatever floor plan you are looking at. Of course, you have to give something up to have room for the oven, and drawer/cupboard space is often not generous to begin with.

The mods are generally not difficult and any decent cabinet shop could make them. Some may not want to deal with adding a gas appliance, but those who do RV mods won't even blink an eye. I would not choose an RV dealer, though, they are expensive and few of them have cabinetry skills. Look for a shop that specializes in RV interior upgrades - most cities have them. We can probably help you find one in your area.

Booth dinettes are also an easy remodeling task for any cabinet & upholstery shop.

I think you will be disappointed in an RV gas oven, though. They are small and heat unevenly, often requiring the addition of a pizza stone or similar to help distribute heat. If the RV has a decent convection oven/micro, you would be better off using that. They work fine once you get over the fact that they are a bit different than a traditional gas oven. The RV gas oven is going to be different than your home oven anyway, so there will be a learning curve in either case.

Larry N. · Sep 10, 2017

Gary chirped it -- the convection/microwave ovens do a wonderful job of baking. We do biscuits, cake, etc. and, if we changed our menu to go to the trouble, could do roast beef and such, too. And that uneven heating in the gas ovens often leads to things being baked unevenly, though the pizza stone (or paving stone or...) helps. And we're certainly glad for the extra storage.

All that being said, there are certainly some folks here (hi Ardra) that swear by their gas ovens, so the view isn't all one-sided, and gas has decided benefits if you do a lot of boondocking -- we have to run the generator in order to do much cooking, if we don't have shore power.

but there should be a gas line in place for a gas cooktop

This is true of most coaches, but there is a growing trend to all-electric coaches (our Ventana is such, with induction cooktops instead of gas), so the design of a specific coach can, as Gary indicated, strongly affect how easy it is to add these things.

Adding Oven and Booth Dinette

ppet

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Gary RV_Wizard

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Larry N.

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