Looking at new Montana - 3854BR

[Camping Sue and Al]

We love most of the details on this unit.
Wanting some feedback from those of you that have made the jump.

1. Seems to have very minimal storage in the kitchen. My wife feels like it would be very difficult to cook with what storage is available. What has your experience been?

2. Surprised by the cheap woodwork in the units. Our current and previous units have been solid wood cabinetry and trim. I understand that the Legacy models have upgraded stiles and trim. Is it substantially different? We will be living in the unit for as much as 6 months a year and plastic is not the way we want to live. Yes, this is personal preference. Looking for some feedback on this also.

[Camping Sue and Al]

Lots of people have viewed my question but no feedback.
Reasons??
Regarding the cabinetry:
1. You feel that the vinyl is suitable for an RV vs having real wood cabinetry and trim?
2. You took offense to the question?

Regarding kitchen storage:
1. You feel that there is very good storage and you did not want to defend your opinion?
2. You took offense to the question?

Or maybe overall, I appear to be a stalker vs a part of the membership?

[PeteandJoan]

I think you may have to do as we did when shopping around. Look at a LOT of units from many different manufacturers and make a list of pros & cons of each. Collect brochures and study them for many hours and start narrowing down the list to just a couple , which looks like you have done ...in fact you have listed just one so I assume that is your favorite. As for the items you have chosen to point out, if you are not happy and can't live with those items I would just keep looking. You do say you have had other units so you are as familiar with the negatives that a lot of them have and I am too, but I don't have the money it would take to buy something like a $150-250,000 5th wheel that does not have these problems. So we bought what fits us best for our needs and what we thought we could live with even though it has a few things that we didn't really care for.
As for no one chiming in on your post I don't think you were being snubbed. These people on here are a great source of help with "how to do" and giving out good advice on any subject that is posted here. But, it is hard to give advice to someone who has already made up their mind on something...as you stated in your post.
I personally am not familiar with the unit you have selected but I know about the Quality (or lack of in some cases) issues you are talking about. We just live with it. Wife has managed to find places to store stuff I never dreamed we'd be traveling with. And the trim....some of our non-RV friends call it "fake Wood".

I promise you , if you have a real issue down the road with your new unit these members will bend over backward to help you.

Welcome to the MOC.

[AZ Traveler]

Sue and Al,

Welcome to the forum!

I will second the points that Pete made.

If the trim is a big deal to you, step up to the legacy. By adding the second bedroom you got to give a little somewhere. We can put a lot in our pantry but also have another set of cabinets for kitchen stuff. You may look at adding shelving in the pantry.

Its a great floorpan with the bonus room and loft.

[bleedmichigan]

Originally Posted by Camping Sue and Al

We love most of the details on this unit.
Wanting some feedback from those of you that have made the jump.

1. Seems to have very minimal storage in the kitchen. My wife feels like it would be very difficult to cook with what storage is available. What has your experience been?

2. Surprised by the cheap woodwork in the units. Our current and previous units have been solid wood cabinetry and trim. I understand that the Legacy models have upgraded stiles and trim. Is it substantially different? We will be living in the unit for as much as 6 months a year and plastic is not the way we want to live. Yes, this is personal preference. Looking for some feedback on this also.

I do not have this unit so I cannot speak to the storage. I have a 3750fl which has minimal basement storage but where there is a will there is a way.

As for the trim think of these kitchens not as high end homes but starter homes or a step above or maybe below depending on the day your cabinets were made. The cabinet frames are wood, the door stiles are wood, depending on the door style the panel may be wood, and a lot of the islands and peninsula backs are panels with pictures of wood. If that’s not what you are looking for and it’s a deal breaker then you likely will need to look at a different brand. I have always thought of RVs as a give and take. Make a list of the things you have to have, the things you would like to have, and what you can live without. Then search from there.

[jeffba]

We have the 3701lk. the LK refers to Luxury kitchen. What it really refers to is no pantry.
But the DW did not want an island. My workaround was to add drawers to the lower cabinets. You may want to look at that as an option.

[Desert Rat]

We looked at a 3854BR, liked the thought of a "office" but the biggest drawback to us was the lack of counter space, withing clogging up the island.

Good luck on your search.

[Charlie 3931fb]

We were looking at that model but your wife is right. Very little storage unless you want to do storage bin's and place them in that so called attic area. If you need an office that a nice unit for that.

Good luck....


Charlie

[skidoomatt]

Have you looked at the Montana High Country 384BR? The floor plans are nearly identical with the exception of how you enter the bonus room which is via the hallway on the high country. This allows for more storage and counter space in the kitchen.

[steiny93]

Originally Posted by Camping Sue and Al

Lots of people have viewed my question but no feedback.
Reasons??
Regarding the cabinetry:
1. You feel that the vinyl is suitable for an RV vs having real wood cabinetry and trim?
2. You took offense to the question?

Regarding kitchen storage:
1. You feel that there is very good storage and you did not want to defend your opinion?
2. You took offense to the question?

Or maybe overall, I appear to be a stalker vs a part of the membership?

Hello, just seen the post
Regarding the cabinetry, we thought the non legacy cabinetry was subpar. We went with the legacy version to improve the cabinetry but its still not awesome. It is about 1000% better then the Ice Castle fish house we bought tho .

For the money, I think the Legacy version has reasonable cabinets.

Storage in an rv isn't great, in all of our 5th wheels we've been wanting for more storage space. I personally don't know how folks live in these trailers for extended periods. At the end of a couple weeks we are ready to be home. In our 5th we didn't go with the washer/dryer as we wanted to save storage space in the kitchen.

[steiny93]

Originally Posted by bleedmichigan

As for the trim think of these kitchens not as high end homes but starter homes or a step above or maybe below depending on the day your cabinets were made.

totally agree and well said

[OSUBuckeye1991]

Originally Posted by skidoomatt

Have you looked at the Montana High Country 384BR? The floor plans are nearly identical with the exception of how you enter the bonus room which is via the hallway on the high country. This allows for more storage and counter space in the kitchen.

We went with the Montana High Country 385BR due to the layout. Has much more counter space plus a pantry for storage.

The High Country has most of the same features as the Montana but 6 point leveling system, and the slides are electric vs hydraulic, and thus about 1000 pounds lighter.

Other than that, I couldn’t find many differences based on the package we got. But the High Country has a much better layout.

[wade]

Make sure you look over everything. Having alot of issues with the new models. My dealer just stopped selling them this spring, to many problems with them and major problems at that. Told company to come get what they had on lot and switched to SOB sold Montana's for years.

[lopshan61]

Originally Posted by Camping Sue and Al

We love most of the details on this unit.
Wanting some feedback from those of you that have made the jump.

1. Seems to have very minimal storage in the kitchen. My wife feels like it would be very difficult to cook with what storage is available. What has your experience been?

2. Surprised by the cheap woodwork in the units. Our current and previous units have been solid wood cabinetry and trim. I understand that the Legacy models have upgraded stiles and trim. Is it substantially different? We will be living in the unit for as much as 6 months a year and plastic is not the way we want to live. Yes, this is personal preference. Looking for some feedback on this also.

Sue and Al,
Welcome to the forum. We upgraded to the 385BR this past January from a 36' travel trailer. For me, I wanted a couch I could lay down on, check. I needed a kitchen with more than 1 outlet, check. We wanted recliners, check. We love the darkening shades, when they are down, you cannot see inside the unit, even with all the lights on. We wanted a mid-bunk unit so when the grandchild and father was visiting, they could have thier own room and not be disturbed when wake early in the morning. The bonus room we soon realized could actually double as an office when/ifwe decide to go full time. We like the pantry, while some think it is small, perfect for us. Same with the coffee bar. We needed more counter space than what we had and so far this unit delivers for our needs. My wife wasn't sure about the island location with respect to the stove, but after being in the unit she loves it because everything is literally right at her fingertips from the sink to the drawers to the stove. As far as storage goes, to me it is deceiving as we have found room for everything we have and i love to cook. I use the space above the tv for most of the big kitchen appliances we want to use. The bathroom shower has plenty of water pressure and I have not had a need to take navy showers as the 12 gallon water heater provides plenty of water so far. the heat/AC/heat pump combo has worked well and back in Feb when temps were in the high 30's we maintained 70 plus in the unit. the outdoor fridge/kitchen area works well and I like how the unit connects into the lp gas, so no need for an external bottle. Garage storage has enough room for everything we carry and I am looking to add a slide out tv in the near future since the unit is already set up for it. I like the control center as all the hookups are out of the weather and this unit has one of the easiest setups for winterizing that I have come across so far. The unit also is prepped for onboard generator and washer dryer...future upgrades. the 6 point leveling can be challenging, however, I am learning and once the computer know where level is, it seems to work just fine. One thing I have learned though is auto levelers do have limitations, so know that going in if you don't have any experience with them. While it may not have the some of the hardwood features you are looking for, we are extremely happy with this unit and our biggest problem is not being able to get out and spend enough time in it. Hopes this helps

[Todd727]

I have an earlier version of this floorplan. The sliding barn doors cost you a cabinet in the kitchen, but you gain one in the den. Depending on how you plan on using the loft, that is a large storage area, although not the most convenient. Essentially, we use the cabinets over the theater seating as kitchen storage.


I don't like that they did away with the nightstands in the master either.


On the flip side, the den is bigger than mine.

[Jritz]

We have a 2020 3855br probably very similar to the one you are looking at. Not sure though. We have a mid bedroom with a bunk on top.
We are presently on a month long trip across the USA with our 2 teenage grandkids. Because of the covid19 stuff going on we decided to take all of our food for the month with us. Cooking inside 3 meals a day. We have a washer and dryer and a generator.
With all that said, we absolutely live our RV!! The woodwork on ours is very nice and we have had no problems. We have had this RV since last October and have put 9000 miles on it. The only issue we have had was the convection oven came lose but was easily retighten.
So, would we like a little more counter space? Not if it means giving up the bunk house. We just utilize the cabinets above the bh and the ones above the couch.
We researched for about 6 months before we bought and we would not have changed after being in it for the past 9 months.
Good luck with you search and Happy travels!

[mlh]

You are going to spend a lot of money. Comparer all the campers in your price range then get the best one for you.
Lynwood

[GreG L.]

We bought a 2020 3561 (discontinued), same kitchen space as the 3790, we find it big enough for our needs, of course it could always be bigger, but for the price it works. We opted for every add on except paint (now wish I had) and are very happy with the solid wood cabinets as well as all the other features that came with Legacy package. We had been looking for a solid year when we decided on a Montana, didn't need it right away so we ordered it, much better pricing, at least through our dealer.