It is often said, “The kitchen is the heart of the home.” That’s why it only makes sense to include a kitchen on your gooseneck or living quarters horse trailer. It gives you a convenient place to prepare food, gather friends, and enjoy a nice meal after a long day of fun with the horses.
Just as with horse trailer bathrooms, there are many levels of features you can choose to include in your trailer’s kitchen. This guide will walk you through some of the options and explain how to maintain your kitchen.
The most low cost option we have is called The Basics Living Quarters model. Typically, these trailers will have a 4-foot long short wall. Sometimes this can be extended to a 5 or 6-foot short wall depending on the customer’s needs. The Basics LQ will include a cowboy’s shower, sink, toilet, hot water, and cabinetry.
That may not sound very “kitchen-y” to you… and you’re absolutely correct. This option would not have room for anything like a cook top or refrigerator. Still, you could choose to store some easy-prep food in the cabinets. And the running water is certainly a luxury when you’re roughing it.
This type of package would work best for people who are using their trailer for sleeping and using the restroom. Otherwise, they plan to spend most of their time outside the trailer, eating picnic-style or at local restaurants.
It’s in our higher end living quarters trailers where we really let the kitchen shine. This includes the SafeTack Reverse LQ trailer and the Trail Blazer.
We include real hardwood cabinets, crown moldings, and more counter space for food preparation. This is a big step up from the minimal moldings and vinyl wrapped cabinets in the Basics LQ model.
Brad Heath, owner of Double D Trailers, explained, “In addition to a more plush finish on the higher end models, they simply have more space to do whatever is needed.”
More space really does make a big difference!
For example, in a 10-foot short wall trailer, there is enough space to create a full bathroom, full kitchen, and full seating area (such as a dinette or sofa). We can also install a double sink instead of a single sink, and a larger 6 cubic foot sized refrigerator. The smaller trailers only have room for a small 3 cubic foot refrigerator.
Our 10-foot short wall trailer is our most popular design with many customers opting for the even larger 13-foot trailer with a slide out. For instance, one of our happy customers recently worked with us to design a luxury horse trailer.
The kitchen on this 13-foot short wall luxury trailer included a corner sink with an extra flip up counter top for cooking. The customer Liz says of her trailer, “It’s beautiful!” She enjoys the slide out feature with a dinette eating area, double sink, and microwave. Liz also prefers to cook with her portable skillet, so she opted to leave out the cook top but kept an overhead vent under the top cabinets.
Just like with any RV, you’ll need a few utility features to make your kitchen operate correctly. First, to operate the stove, refrigerator, and allow running water, you will need the following:
Holding tanks for waste water will vary depending on your type of trailer. If you simply have a Basics Living Quarters trailer, the water from your cowboy shower and sink may simply drain to the ground. It is considered just “soapy water” and there are no holding requirements. For a toilet, a black water holding tank would be required.
On the larger trailers will have both black and grey water tanks. All showers and sinks dump to the grey water tanks and the toilets dump to the black water tanks. They will need to be emptied regularly.
Brad explained, “Living quarters trailers tend to go bad quickest when they are not used often. Dust collects on the refrigerator burners, wasp nests form inside the water heater, and things simply deteriorate at a more rapid pace when not used periodically.”
So the best way to keep your horse trailer in top shape is to use it often. The holding tanks and water sanitation will need to be attended to each trip. Other appliances will need annual service and repair by an authorized repair shop. We have a list of authorized repair shops here.
Many of our customers choose a living quarters trailer because they like the idea of being self-sufficient. When all of your needs are “on-board” your trailer, you don’t need to bounce around between your horses, a hotel, and local restaurants. Check out more info about choosing your right type of trailer here.
Also remember, we build custom trailers, so your living quarters and kitchen can be tailored specifically to meet your wants and desires. If you have any questions about kitchens on living quarters trailers, feel free to get in touch with Brad.
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