5 Hints For Rocking A Galley Kitchen

Named after the skinny compartment in a ship where food is prepared, galley kitchens can be small and hard to navigate. Where open kitchen designs allow for larger gatherings and traffic, and a good flow throughout, galley kitchens are small, narrow, and tucked away.

The shape and intimacy of a galley kitchen can allow for greater focus when cooking, and for more privacy in behind-the-scenes culinary activity before food is brought to the dining area. Of course a galley kitchen's unique layout calls for specific organization and considerations. These five suggestions can help get your galley kitchen in shipshape.

GO VERTICAL. A distinct element of galley kitchens is their vertical cabinet space. If yours don't extent to the ceiling, consider adding pull-out bins or baskets above the cabinets for less-used-but-necessary equipment.

CREATE STATIONS. Julia Child herself advocated strongly creating stations in a kitchen, and this kitchen calls for it more than any other. Create larger stations, like a baking cabinet with all dry ingredients and equipment, to smaller stations, like an organized utensil drawer.

CLEAR OUT. Painful as it may seem, clearing out useless or repetitive equipment will change the culture of how you cook. Yes, get rid of those things with empty sentimentality. Get rid of the one-purpose appliances (that huge bread maker you pull out once a year).

CREATE SYSTEMS. The military knows the value of systems and protocol. Create consistent ways of doing things so that the less important functions become automatic, leaving mental space for the non-menial things like entertaining, visiting, and enjoying cooking.

MAKE CLEAN UP FUN. Yeah, right. There's nothing fun about those dirty dishes mounting during a dinner party. Lessen clean-up time by getting great gloves, soap, and a drying rack if you don't have a dishwasher. While cooking, place your dishes in a hot soapy plastic bin in the sink to cut down on scrubbing time.