What is a Galley Kitchen?

A galley kitchen refers to a long narrow kitchen layout. This design originated from ships, trains and aircrafts where space was limited allowing for the most efficient use. Space planning is key to any effective room. In order to effectively plan a galley, or any kitchen for that matter, it is crucial to know about the work triangle. This refers to the distance between the three main elements of your kitchen, the oven, the sink, and the refrigerator.  The distance between these elements is important to ensuring efficient workflow in the kitchen. The ideal length between these three elements in any kitchen design is 4-9 feet between each giving a total of 12-26 feet between all three. If you keep this in mind when planning your kitchen you can be sure that it will function well. A great way to implement this layout in a galley kitchen is to place two of your appliances on one wall and center the third between them on the opposite wall!

For a galley kitchen with its long and lean layout a great way to accentuate your kitchen is by placing a feature wall at the end of your kitchen. This allows the users eye to focus at the end and find balance within the space as oppose to highlighting one of the long lengths making the kitchen feel cramped and narrow. Try breaking up the kitchen by using different colors for the counter top and the cupboards bellow or using shelves instead of cabinets above to help open the space up. Bring in fun colorful elements through accents to help give areas of relief for your eye to pause on which will in turn make the space look more welcoming and less linear. One of the most important things when looking at or planning a galley kitchen is ensuring enough space for all of your appliances to open up, the last thing you want is to have your refrigerator and dishwasher doors bumping into one another.

If you are implementing a galley kitchen then most likely you have chosen the design for its space saving brilliance, so take that one step further and add extra storage bins to help organize your kitchenware or a full-length pantry instead of upper and lower cabinets to give you a little extra storage for your food. Don’t forget to keep the space well lit as galley kitchens are often placed internally within a home and can get dark quickly. To do this use both ambient and task lighting helping to not only brighten the space up visually but make it easier to use!