Any advice on if an L-Shape dinette or cafe dinette is better?

Hi Angela,

We opted for the L shaped lounge in our Jayco and regretted it.

Therefore the obvious conclusion from us would be to go with the "cafe" set up.

Cheers

Dusty

I doubt you would get 4 people around an L shaped table

Our l shaped table is only good for two

we have a smaller van

previous van had cafe dinette and with two kids it worked

I suggest you go to the van sales yard and check the l shape first to see
if you fit

We went through the same thought process when ordering a new van about 4 years ago. We spent lots of time sitting in & walking through vans of both descriptions. Our decision was to go with the cafe dinette & for us we have been very happy with the cafe setup.

We are only a couple but often travel with another couple who have a camper so they are in our van most nights. For 4 people it is the best set up. Ours has an extended lounge so we can have 6 adults sitting in the van with 4 having direct access to the table & the other 2 very close.

The problem with the L shape for us is that there seems to be wasted space & not making the most use of the table.
We love our set up with the cafe at the front & a centre kitchen - this leaves us to move around the centre without anything getting in the way & I wanted a centre kitchen for weight distribution purposes.
Willy

Hi Angela

We have L shaped, and though good for two of us , family would have to slide in and be trapped in the middle. Previous owners used to have a group of campers in to play cards, and could seat four on the existing seating, with a further two bringing their own chairs on the outside of the table. We made a smaller table to give us more room in the caravan and to make it easy to slide into the seats.

Most café style i have seen are on the wheel arch, so the against the wall people have problems with where to put their feet. These have been working well for two, but not for four. I don't know how big your children are so whether wheel arch would work for little legs. It would also require a very different layout to ours to fit in the extra width.

Motherhen

Hi Angela

We have had cafe type in last 2 vans and it works well for families or groups of friends. Can even sit a fifth on the end on a camp chair if needed.

I have seen on another forum [one of the caravaners forums, cannot remember which one] an article where owners with L type have removed the short return section so that they can actually have more room as well as being able to sit at a longer table comfortably. It was a popular article with many saying they regret the choosing the L type.

Depending on the length, you can drop the table on the cafe type, lay out the seat backs and bases and form a bed. Sometimes they are only suitable for chiildren, but both of our last 2 vans made up to a king single bed. You cannot do that with L shape setups.

Also try sitting 4 people comfortably with plates etc at the L setup and you may find you are sitting all over each other. Good luck with the choice, and happy vanning when you hit the road....

We had L Shape Dinettes in our last two vans and found that you were cramped for space when sitting around the table, our new van has the Cafe set up and it's great, also the table is hinged so when it's not in use it can be folded up.

Cheers

Hi Angela,
we are having our new van built now and it has the cafe style seating. We are getting larger seat bases as well as padding put on the wall at the ends of the seats. That way we can sit full length on the seats and lean against the padded wall and watch TV or read or whatever. The cupboard doors underneath each end are also padded and can be raised and used used as footrests. The table is the trifold style so the whole idea works better for us than the L shape seating. We also have moved the power outlets above the table instead of underneath so they are easier to get to. Also moved the reading lights due to the padding. We looked at so many vans before getting ours built and in most cases the seat bases were quite small so you only seemed to half sit on them so we have made sure they are bigger and comfortable.
I wish you well with your van and maybe we will meet on the road somewhere.
Nev

Hi

Thank you to everyone who replied to my question it is really nice to get the opinion of those with vans with the different types of layouts.

I appreciate your feedback and it is great to know so many people are willing to offer their advice and share their experiences.

We will go with the cafe dinette as think this would be the most practical option after reading all the replys.

Thanks again and all the best on your journeys and we hope to meet some of you on our travels.

Kind Regards
Angela

Have had both and like the cafe dinnette the best, good for cards playing for 4 and using a computer as you dont have leads running over the seats, I tuck the computer back against the wall on the table on a non skid mat and it stays there while we travel, power points and inverter fit under the table on the wall very convenient and out of sight.

Go explore this beautiful country and enjoy............Lyn

We have had both. Our last van was a 20 foot Sterling OB with L shaped lounge. Cafe style seating was not available on that model with the floor to ceiling pantry which we wanted. When the 21 foot Sterling OB came out with cafe style seating, we upgraded. Having now used both I can offer the following observations.

1. The cafe style seating appears to use nore space, but in practice it has not had any effect.

2. With cafe style seating, the table can be very quickly removed for less formal lounging, whereas it takes much more effort to remove the L shaped table leg and base.

3. The cafe style is far superior in our view for both eating and playing games such as Scrabble etc where it is desirable to face each other. It is also superior for using the computer, due to the lack of cables running across the area where you slide in and out, and because the table is more stable.

4. The L shaped is far superior in our view for watching TV, so we tend to crash on the bed to watch TV, DVDs etc. We probably could fix this by having a second mount for the TV in the kitchen, but have not bothered yet.

5. We specified venetian blinds which we prefer to curtains. With our cafe style arrangement, the over-table window is so low that if you want to rest your back against the wall, you have to first raise the venetian blind about half way and remove the lower clips.

6. We found that the base of the wine-glass leg on the L shaped lounge table always seemed to get in the way. The leg on the cafe style table does not get in the way much, but it is still capable of giving you a sore knee if you forget it is there.

Overall we prefer the cafe style arrangement, but both work adequately for two people.