17 owners - 3cu or 4cu refrigerator

[parfsten]

Hi folks,
I am down to my very final decisions for my build sheet. If you own a 17 model, do you have a 3cu or 4cu refrigerator? I know the choice depends on one's camping style/needs. I am curious, if you have the 4cu, I understand the shelves are extended on that side and for tall folks the cabinet by the entry door could be a concern.... am I making sense here? Anyway, 17 folks - feedback on your frig choice.
Thanks!

[thoer]

We used to have a 5 in our 17. Mary would fill it with frozen and other produce from our garden so full we sometimes came home with food we left with. I used to always say - there are grocery stores everywhere. But IMHO go big on the fridge!

[gbaglo]

I have the 5 cu. ft. and wouldn't go smaller.
It has a good sized freezer compartment. We fill that with a couple frozen chicken halves, salmon fillets, three or four steaks, hamburger patties and still have some room left.

[advenas]

I had the same question on my 17B due to be delivered mid-March. I ended up going with the 4cu ft. I liked the look better and the extra room means fewer trips to the store if I'm boondocking.

[Chris & Patricia]

We went with the bigger fridge and are glad we did. The extea space is useful on longer trips and avoids too many trips to fill up on fresh food and it holds an extra couple of bottles of cold beer or wine.

[parfsten]

Hi Rick - do you have any production photos of the interior of your soon to hatch Escape?

[skyfree]

We went with the 3 cu ft. one because we wanted a wider aisle and less of a deep wall next to the rear dinette.

See the thread I posted when ETI first informed me of the different aisle configuration between the 3 and 4:

http://www.escapeforum.org/forums/f2...isle-8464.html

We camped for a couple of days with the 3 cu ft. fridge and it will be adequate for us. For the rare times when we need more fridge space, I have 2 other options which are a portable Dometic Danfoss fridge/cooler or my Yeti cooler. We have lots of space in our tow vehicle for extra stuff like that.

Most people will recommend the 4 cu ft. and I get that, but for us the smaller one works fine. We are not going on any long outback adventures where the closest supermarket is 100+ miles away. It's usually a few miles away or less, so we can just restock when we need to.

[hrewer]

We have the 3 cf. It's much bigger than the 1.9 we had in our Scamp. I'm always surprised at how much I can get in there. But, we put in drinks for one day and then refill as we use them up. It's working great for us!

[Mucram]

Just picked up new 17b with 3 cf reefer. I think it will be more than adequate. Much bigger than my '89 scamp frig. If 2 people wouldn't hesitate to get 4cf. Like the above post, didn't want narrower aisle.

[Devil Dog]

Go for the little one ,it's always cold .

[Donna D.]

Originally Posted by Devil Dog

Go for the little one ,it's always cold .

Go for the bigger one. RV fridges work better when not packed

[steve dunham]

Whoever heard of a refrigerator that's too big ?
But if you like going to town everyday for supplies / ice then the smaller refrigerator would be perfect.

**We have a 4 cu ft refrigerator in our 17 ft Casita and it has never been too big but it has been too small . **

[advenas]

Originally Posted by parfsten

Hi Rick - do you have any production photos of the interior of your soon to hatch Escape?

I do have pictures of my build. But they are buried in emails that Escape sends me and I can't save them off to post.

However, if you are looking for a 3cu ft vs 4cu ft fridge view there are a couple on the forum easily found by a search on fridge I bet.

[StarvingHyena]

Hi Patricia,
I have a 17A with the 3 cu/ft refer. I'm happy with it. I'm not sure I can give valuable advice here as the longest I have been away from grocery / resupply has been about a week .... and the 3'er has been fine but I do camp solo. I'd like my trips to be longer and to that end I have one of those high efficiency ice chests. Some keep their drinks in a ice chest so they don't loose so much cold by frequently opening the refer door for drinks.

Well I have done them one better as I only buy beer in 2 gallon bottles .... and after a couple beers, I can't even find the refer.... let alone open the door.

For longer boon docking trips, I may get another quality ice chest and pack it with dry ice and pre frozen meals.... other chest with water ice.

I have been surprised how long and hard my freezer keeps ice cream.

Tom

[parfsten]

Thanks all for your suggestions.... I think the best would be for me to see both and decide... hopefully there will be a couple 17s at the appreciation rally coming up. I like the idea of the larger frig - it's the width issue that concerns me. I have until June 13 to decide.