Here's rough list of things that I had to do, because I'm doing right now exactly that: trying to deploy kubernetes.
1. Prepare server by installing and configuring containerd. Few simple steps.
2. Load one kernel module. Configure ip forward sysctl.
3. Install kubernetes binaries from apt repository.
4. Run kubeadm init
5. Install helm (this part is optional, but makes things simpler): download binary or install it from snap.
6. Install network plugin like flannel or calico.
7. Install nginx ingress plugin.
8. Install storage provider plugin. Also you should have some storage service like NFS server, so Kubernetes can ask for storage.
If you want single-node Kubernetes, I think that should be enough. May be #6 is not even necessary. If you want real cluster, you would need to tinker with load balancer for which I don't have clear picture right now. I'm using external load balancer.
If you're using docker, my understanding is that containerd is already installed.
I actually spent few weeks trying to understand those parts and I have only shallow understanding so far.
With that in mind, simple kubernetes solutions probably have its place among those who can't or don't want to use managed kubernetes from popular clouds.
I have no idea about those simple kuberneteses though.
My opinion is that vanilla kubernetes is not that hard and you should have some understanding about its moving parts anyway. But if you want easy path, I guess it's something worth considering.