Range tops

[Jack Wasmuth]

I have noticed that a lot of rvs bigger than mine (21 ft 1976) have only three burners as I have 4. Does anyone have the reason for this?

[Lakota Wolf]

I pondered that for the longest time, and finally talked with a Skyline rep,(manufacture of my 85,,5th wheel, and the rep had a design tech call me back and explain the reasoning.. In the early days of RV'ing, when the big RV boom rolled around, Circa 1950 ish. The manufactures had camping kits to go along with the perks of buying the new RV,, I.E. pots pans, plates,cups etc. The pots and pans were smaller, making the 4 burner perfect,, being able to handle 4 items to be cooking at once. As time went by,, those so called perks faded away, like the S&H green stamps, and people were buying standard house hold kitchen pots and pans.

The RV designers caught on to this and dropped down to the 3 burner to make room for the standard sized pots and pans. There are still a few RV manufactures who still install a 4 burner, and in the newer manuals, they will recommend using camp style pots and pans, due to the size. They do how ever have the over sized cook tops with 4 burners as an option, In 1985,, Skyline even offered a 4 burner WITH a center griddle top in the middle but that was a 40 inch wide stove /oven. and wasnt very popular with the RV'ers, due to taking up valuable counter space, which Everyone knows ,you can never have enough counter top space.

That was a very good question Jack,,,,,, and after I read that, that ponder molecule stuck way back in the ole melon said, hey, I remember asking about that a few years back.

[Jack Wasmuth]

Thanks Lakota. That explains it perfectly. 

[Rich Thomas]

Hum, good questions deserve good answers and here we have both. I had often pondered that as well and now I can sleep better at night knowing the answer. We have made Thanks Giving an annual event and I have had all 4 of my burners a flame and yes it is very tight to try to put 4 big pots on at a time. I just figured they went to three burners for a cost savings. It's good to know there was actually a good reason for it. Thanks Jack & Lakota have a good day!

[Jim Stoltz]

Great answer Lakota! Makes perfect sense.

Before I replaced my 4-burner with a newer 3-burner, I often wondered when I've have all 4 burners going all at once and was frustrated that the frying pan (standard household size) wouldn't fit properly.

My new range has a big "power burner" in the front that accommodates the frying pan and will boil big pots of water quickly. It has 2 smaller burners in the back that I've yet to use.

And the reason I replaced the old 4-burner range? Wanted a working oven and no replacement parts were available for the old one. Have I used the new oven? No.