Campervan kitchen dimensions: worktop, aisle and appliance sizes that work

Of everything you build into a van, the kitchen is the module where dimensional mistakes hurt the most — because it's the one you operate every single day, standing up, with both hands full. A bed that's 2 cm short is invisible. A worktop that's 2 cm too low, or an aisle that's 5 cm too tight when the fridge door swings open, announces itself at every meal for the life of the build. So before layouts, before appliances, before anything: the working numbers.

The three numbers that decide everything

• Worktop height: ~90 cm. The house-kitchen standard exists because it works for standing adults, and nothing about a van changes your elbow height. Measure from the finished floor — insulation plus subfloor plus covering typically adds 3–5 cm over the metal, and a cabinet carcass sized to the bare van ends up noticeably low. Tall cooks go to 92–95 cm; going under 85 cm means chopping hunched over.
• Worktop depth: 50–60 cm. That's enough for a recessed hob or sink plus a strip of actual work surface in front of it. You can drop to 45 cm with slim-format appliances, but below that the “worktop” is a shelf you balance things on, not a surface you cook on.
• Aisle in front: 45 cm minimum, 60 cm to live with. 45 cm lets one person pass a closed galley. It does not let one person cook while another squeezes by, and it does not let a fridge or oven door open with someone standing at the counter. If two of you will be inside at dinnertime, plan for 60 cm or accept a one-cook rule.

Appliance formats and what they demand

Appliances set the counter run, because each one claims a fixed cutout plus clearance you can't negotiate with. Typical formats (check your exact model's datasheet before cutting anything):

The fridge format decision matters more than the brand decision. Top-loaders hold cold best and never block the aisle, but bury whatever's on the counter above them. Front-loaders give house-kitchen ergonomics and cost you door-swing space — draw the open door on your floor plan, not just the closed box. Drawers split the difference. All compressor fridges need ventilation: a sealed cabinet around one makes the compressor run hot, constantly, off your battery.

Three galley layouts, with the math

1. Side galley along the sliding door

The default, and usually the right default: a straight run of 180–240 cm on one wall, typically behind the driver. 180 cm fits sink + hob + fridge with almost no free worktop; 210 cm adds a real prep zone; 240 cm is a genuinely comfortable kitchen. Placing it at the sliding door means you cook with light and air, and can stand outside in good weather with the counter at hip height. The cost: the counter run competes with seating along the same wall, and a 60 cm-deep counter narrows the doorway approach.

2. Rear kitchen across the back doors

Popular in shorter vans because it uses the full ~170–180 cm interior width for counter — the widest single run you can get. Open both rear doors and it becomes an outdoor kitchen with a view. The trade is brutal, though: the rear kitchen occupies exactly the space every other layout uses as a garage under the bed. No rear kitchen-plus-garage combination exists; bikes, boards, and water toys move inside or stay home. It also pushes the bed forward, which cascades into everything else.

3. Split galley — cook one side, cool the other

Sink and hob on one wall, fridge and pantry opposite. Each side can be shallow (45–50 cm), and the layout puts everything within a single pivot of your feet. The constraint is pure arithmetic: in a ~178 cm-wide Ducato interior, two 50 cm counters leave a 78 cm aisle — comfortable. Two 60 cm counters leave 58 cm — workable for one cook. In a narrower van, the same layout collapses below the 45 cm floor. Run the subtraction for your van before falling in love with the photos.

Storage and weight: the vertical rules

Above the counter, overhead lockers should stay at or under 30 cm deep at head height — deeper and you crack your forehead on them at the counter and can't see the back of the shelf anyway. Below the counter is where mass belongs: water, cans, tools, and the oven all go low, both for cabinet strength and because a high centre of gravity is something you feel in every roundabout — the weight article covers why those kilograms add up faster than expected. Put the fresh-water tank as close to the kitchen as the layout allows: every metre of plumbing run is a metre of hose that can leak, freeze, or harbour stale water, and short runs make the pump quieter too.

Safety, briefly but not optionally

Keep the hob clear of combustible surfaces — a fixed side clearance to walls, and no curtains, paper-towel rolls, or window blinds within reach of the flame path; a stainless or tile splashback behind the burners is cheap insurance. If you run gas, the bottle lives in a sealed gas locker vented through the floor, full stop. And repeat the fridge point because it's a fire-and-battery issue, not just an efficiency one: compressor units need an intake and exhaust path for cooling air, ideally vented to the outside or the aisle, never into a closed cabinet.

Cook a virtual meal before you cut plywood

Every number above is testable before the first cabinet exists. Build the galley digitally, stand a figure in the aisle, swing the fridge door against the counter edge, and walk the route from hob to table with imaginary hot pans. The mistakes this catches — the door that hits the counter, the aisle that's 45 cm on paper and 38 cm past the wheel arch — are exactly the ones that survive tape-on-the-floor mockups. VanPlot runs free in your browser with true van interiors and a measure tool, so the 60 cm aisle claim takes thirty seconds to verify against your actual wheelbase. The kitchen is one module of several that have to coexist — the full layout-planning guide walks the whole sequence — but it's the module to get right first, because it's the one you'll use three times a day. Measure twice in VanPlot, cut once in plywood.