It is an aerobatic two-seater designed to accommodate large pilots and offer greater baggage space, to comply with the US experimental amateur-built aircraft rules.

The design goals included improved visibility, a wider cabin, a low landing speed achieved by larger and more effective flaps, good rate-of-climb and glide ratio, landing gear that meets FAR Part 23 certification standards and an airframe designed to accommodate the Lycoming IO-390 powerplant.

The kit is intended to be easier to assemble than earlier Van's designs through the use of pre-punched and pre-formed fuselage longerons, pre-installed wiring, plug-in avionics, a pre-trimmed and ready-to-install bubble canopy, pre-welded canopy frame, pre-fitted engine baffles as well as matched pre-punched holes.

The RV-14 offers several instrument panel choices, including one designed to take modern electronic flight instrument systems (EFIS), like the Dynon SkyView, without any additional cutting, as well as a blank panel that can be customized by the builder.

[5] The manufacturer offers aircraft type transition training and has built an RV-14 for this purpose.