Container Home Kitchen Design: Layouts, Appliances, and Cost Guide
The main challenge with a container kitchen is width. A standard container is 7.7 feet inside. For a 20FT you do a galley layout. Sink and stove on one side, prep on the other. Works for one cook. For 40FT+ you can do an L layout that opens to the living area. You need compact appliances. 2 burner induction cooktop 12 inches wide. Under counter fridge 24 inches. Slim recirculating hood. Small microwave. Single bowl sink 15 inches. All standard sizes. Cost: cabinets quoted-2500, countertops quoted-1200, appliances $varies, sink and faucet quoted-400, plumbing quoted-500, backsplash and lighting quoted-400. Total around varies. Our Premium+Kitchen model at a market rate comes with counter, sink, cabinets, stove, fridge, hood pre-installed. Email info@atvworldwide.com to customize.
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Kitchen design inside a steel shell
A container kitchen is constrained by one thing the rest of the house does not have: internal width is fixed by the shell, and the walls are load-bearing steel. Layout decisions therefore come before aesthetic ones.
Galley versus L-shape
In a 20FT shell the realistic choice is a single-run galley or a compact L. A galley keeps services on one wall, which is cheapest for plumbing and ventilation and leaves the maximum open floor. An L works in a wider profile or where the kitchen shares a corner with dining, but costs more because waste runs travel further and extraction becomes more complex.
Services determine cost more than cabinetry
The expensive parts are the wet wall and the vent. Grouping sink, hob and extraction on one wall keeps waste and supply runs short and straight and gives extraction a direct route out through the shell. Moving a hob to the opposite wall after the build means a new penetration and re-routed cable or gas — which is why layout should be settled at build stage, not on site.
Ventilation is not optional
Steel shells are airtight, so cooking moisture and combustion products have nowhere to go without mechanical extraction. Plan a ducted hood to the outside, and confirm the penetration is sealed and flashed properly — a common source of water ingress on converted units.
Appliance sizing
Standard appliances assume 600mm runs. In a narrow shell, a 500mm or compact range keeps a usable work surface. Measure the internal width after lining and insulation, not the nominal container width, before ordering appliances.
Every finish is selected at build stage, so tell us the layout you want when you request the quote and it will be priced with the unit rather than added later.
How to move forward
Choose the model that matches your site and your budget, then send your destination postal code and the model name. We take that to a customs broker and come back with an all-in delivered figure — unit, ocean freight, duty and brokerage — usually within one business day. There is no online checkout and no obligation: the quote is the start of the conversation, not a commitment.
Payment is by bank transfer in full before production. Units ship from the factory and are delivered port-to-port (FOB); you arrange local transport from the arrival port to your site. Because we work factory-direct with a single vetted manufacturer, the unit price you see is the same price a retailer would pay — there is no distributor margin layered on top.