Projects and procurement
How Many Kitchens Fit in a Shipping Container?
Key points
- As a guide, a 20ft container (about 33 m³) holds about 35 flat-packed kitchens; a 40ft high-cube (about 76 m³) about 80.
- The guide assumes mixed flat-packed carcasses and about 14 cartons per kitchen.
- Assembled framed cabinets, tall units and large islands reduce the count.
- Loading to a plan, by plot or by floor, matters as much as the total.
It is one of the first questions on any project with more than a handful of units: how many kitchens will one container carry, and how many containers will the project need? The answer depends on the kitchen, but there are reliable rules of thumb.
The guide figures
| Container | Usable volume | Cabinets | Kitchens |
|---|---|---|---|
| 20ft standard | about 33 m³ | about 500 | about 35 |
| 40ft high-cube | about 76 m³ | about 1,150 | about 80 |
These assume mixed flat-packed carcasses and about 14 cartons per kitchen: a typical twelve-cabinet new-build layout like our sample kitchen, plus panels, plinth and cornice.
What changes the number
- Kitchen size. A studio kitchen of six units takes less than half the space of a family kitchen with an island and larder.
- Tall units. Larders and appliance housings are the bulkiest cartons.
- Assembled or flat-packed. Framed cabinets shipped assembled take much more space. Our Flex and Frameless constructions ship as a box plus a separate front set, which packs efficiently.
- Weight. Kitchens rarely hit a container's weight limit before its volume limit, but heavy worktops or appliances can.
- Extra products. Wardrobes, vanities and internal doors share the load and change the mix.
Plan the load, not just the count
On a live site, the order of arrival matters. We label every carton with the order code, finish and your plot or unit reference, and load each container to a plan, so each kitchen comes off the truck together and in the order your installers need it. For phased programmes, loads are split by phase.
A worked example
A 300-apartment tower with compact kitchens of around eight cabinets could fit roughly 110 kitchens in a 40ft high-cube, so three containers, loaded floor by floor, cover the building.
We plan every load and confirm the container count with your quotation. See shipping and delivery.
Frequently asked questions
How many kitchen cabinets fit in a 40ft container?
About 1,150 flat-packed cabinets, or about 80 typical kitchens, in a 40ft high-cube, as a guide.
How many kitchens fit in a 20ft container?
About 35 typical flat-packed kitchens (about 500 cabinets).
About the author. Written by Sanyang's design and technical team, drawing on more than 25 years of manufacturing kitchen and bathroom cabinetry and more than 500 containers a month shipped to the United States. About Sanyang.
