Hello .. our oven has died .. to expense to repair.. and we would like to put in a 2 burner stove top and a convection microwave.. this will be a winter project as we will be taking out the kitchen unit and having another one made to accomodate our wishes.. lol..maybe a corian counter also.. has anyone done this before ?? Thanks Annie
We are sort of in the same boat. We have a 66 Safari in which the mice invaded (before we got it) and made a nice home in the stove. I want to get rid of the stove and put in a cooktop and microwave also.
If you get started on yours. Let me know because we are going to have to do it also - don't like cooked mouse!!
Remember that you will have to have electricity to run your microwave, while the gas oven will run off your propane bottles. I guess it all depends on how you use the kitchen, and how you camp. A microwave does you no good when you camp with no hookups, unless you have a big enough generator.
I frequently use 3 or 4 of my burners, and wish that my oven worked, but it does not at the moment. ( i have no clue why)
I have never missed not having a microwave oven, but I do miss the gas oven and the broiler.
On the other hand, the microwave will not heat up the trailer as much when you use it, is quicker, and saves weight over the stove combination.
It would boil down to your preferences and needs, i guess.
Corian countertops are very heavy, unless you are only using a small piece.
Good Luck
We did something similar in our 86 25'. The gain in counter space is immense. I built both a shelf for the microwave and a badly need kitchen utinsel drawer in the space vacated by the oven.
I do a lot of cooking, but frankly lack the attention span necessary to monitor more than two burners at a time. The fact that you raise the question suggests that you don't use your oven either.
We went with a microwave, rather than a convection/microwave due to budetary constraints. Even so, I have never regretted the change. To the contrary....
When we bought the Basher last year, the oven had already been removed and replace with just a microwave. Brett built a new countertop and put in a two-burner cooktop. I then found a convection/microwave oven on eBay.
While we were at it, we changed out the two-bowl sink for a round single bowl sink. We gained a lot of counter space and the arrangement has worked well for us.
We have full hook-ups at most rallies, and can use the cooktop if we don't have 30 amp electric and can't run the generator. Being in Florida, we don't want to use an oven if we don't have air conditioning anyway.
We liked the cooktop and micro/convection combination so well, that we kept the cooktop for our new MH. Brett moved the oven from the new MH into the Basher before we put it up for sale.
Our first trailer, an Award (SOB) had the gas oven range so common in trailers. It also had a microwave. In the eight years we owned the trailer, I think we may have used the oven three times.
When we ordered our current AS, we had to choose between a gas oven under the range, or a microwave/convection oven as an option. We chose the microwave/convection oven. We are very glad we did. We've used the convection oven a few times and it works well. It makes great brownies.
Good luck with your decision.
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