I posted this in another post different topic heading no responds. I am looking at two different 5er's one is a 28 foot RL 06 cougar used, the other is a 28 RK 08 Flagstaff new. I like the floor plan of the 28 RK best. I have heard so many bad things abou the Rear Kitchens I am just wondering if anyone has any experance with these?

You may not have had any comments because so few people own rear kitchen units. There are probably a few reasons for that. Trailer movement does seem to increase the further back you go in the unit and a kitchen at the rear would be more problematic for breakage and cabinet doors opening. Secondly, one of the benefits of a fiver is the "picture window" at the rear which visually opens up the living area and brings the light in, and there's nothing nicer than being in a state park backed into the trees, sitting with your coffee in the morning watching the birds and wildlife out the back window. Of all the people we've met on the road, very few have had rear kitchens. and most of them lament at having to really secure everything for moving. But, everything can be secured with time and effort, so it really gets down to what you like and want. Good luck,

Can't speak yet as to "on the road" experience. But DH and I chose a rear kitchen 5ver. I know I've read the problems with rear kitchens, but we decided to give it a shot.  Our selection came down to 1) keeping the length of the RV around 33' or less; and 2) preference of having the entrance door on the side and not at the end where you enter right where there are two chairs--we didn't like that.

This limited our choices...we purchased a 2010 Keystone 5ver Model 292RKS. Based on just the look and layout, I like the back kitchen with just the two of us. The kitchen has two windows and a skylight (which I really love)....lots of light. Adjacent to the kitchen is the dining area...which has the larger window...and again plenty of light.

In the future will post how everything goes for us on the road, problems we run up against, and how we solved them. We expect to make some structural alterations within the kitchen cabinets and pantry to make it easier to access items as well as to keep things secure while traveling.  We'll just have to see how it goes....

Although we don't have a big back window...we do, as I've mentioned above... have a large "dining area" window. And since we don't plan on spending a lot of time in regular rv parks.....large side windows shouldn't be a problem for us.  We prefer to do primarily "boondocking" and/or being in state and/or national parks. Hopefully we will have beautiful and tranquil views from any of our windows. 

So far we like our layout for the potential of being able to pull in somewhere to sleep for the night or just to rest and have lunch (preparing it in our RV kitchen). Even with the slides in....we can function in the kitchen and even retrieve items from the refrigerator. If anything maybe we would put the slide out just a foot or so.  When traveling we can stop and with the slides in we can enter the RV and access our bathroom and bed as well. 

Although our current 5ver has the center kitchen and the big picture window in the back we never had that much trouble with our old 5VER with the rear kitchen.  I wouldn't rule it out .Just my opinion.

We are retired, waiting for house to sell. Will be traveling the month of October including RV-Dreams rally.Greeley is a nice community but Linda and I are ready to hit the road full time for around 3 years and then find a warm weather winter home.

"Bob - What brand and model RV do you and your wife have? Got any tips about organizing the shelves and pantry? We're think of installing some shelves in the pantry that pull out to be able to access anything on the entire shelf(s). And..yep...we will lock the cabinet doors as well.

***Tricia'n'Brian*** (NWlambear)"