[Cracker]

After looking at numerous AS models offered by Bates RV during the Florida Rally in Sarasota, the additional room afforded by the absence of a dinette really caught my attention. I know that the wheel well and the exterior storage compartment on my 2000 30' Excella are both located under the corresponding dinette seats. That said, I would like to eliminate the rest of the dinette seats and the semi-fixed table, substituting a "credenza" of sorts in their place against the street side wall. I believe the top of the credenza would provide almost the same square footage for food preparation (--and other paraphenalia) that the table presently provides, and the cabinetry over the wheel well and storage compartment - as well as between those restrictions - would almost equal that of the dinette seat drawers. I wouldn't think that weight, or weight distribution, would change significantly. I would leave the cabinet at the front of the dinette in place and virtually unchanged. We have never used the converted dinette for sleeping - and we don't see any need for that arrangement in the future.

Has anyone performed a similar modification - or thought about it and abandoned the idea? If so I would certainly like to hear your comments - or, for that matter, anyone else's comments.