Kitchen Layouts: A Vote for the Good Old Galley

catra7000 I'm not a fan of the galley kitchen, but growing up for a few years with a galley kitchen as a child, I know that my mom appreciated not having to walk all over to make dinner. It was more of a turn around and get to the faucet, and turn around and put the pot on the stove. I prefer a kitchen where you can fit more than 3 people at a time if you want to. It's nice thought that if you do have a galley kitchen that a dining or breakfast nook is close by so there can be people within easy reach to talk to without them having to be in your kitchen space.

Richard Martin - West Coast Home Design Assoc. Great post and visuals, Rebekah! Galley kitchens get a bad rap because they are normally perceived as separate spaces as with your first two images. When one side of the "galley" is a long island and open to the activity areas of the home, they are efficient spaces and usually well travelled, not to mention social central!

Paul Anater Fantastic IdeaBook Rebekah, thanks for shining the light on an easily dismissed style. Not only that, the kitchen you posted from Dufner Heighes is spectacular, wow!

colonial82 I think it all depends on width and length.

Alison Hodgson Rebekah, I am such a fan of your work and am thankful for this idea book. We're rebuilding after a house fire. I don't know the details of yours, but I think you understand it's not the ideal situation for designing a home. My kitchen is going have a similar layout to the one above that you designed. I really appreciated the comment about the sink in the island as that is what I'm going to have, but have been second guessing myself.

This was so timely and encouraging. Thanks again.

Thanks again for this idea book.

Alison Hodgson Regarding the galley kitchen where the island acts as another wall, I chose this design because there are five of us, four of whom cook, and we entertain a lot. When we have people over the island will allow civilians to be close but out of the work zone as the stools will provide a natural place for them to perch.

midmodfan As a European, I always have to smile when I see a style that's being called "European". Europe is very diverse, as is any other continent, so there is no European style.

But this is an interesting post with lots of good examples, most of all as I'll have a sort of galley kitchen in our next house: all sleek, with a long island housing the sink and the cooktop, and a long wall of high cabinets. Which, by the way, is a very popular and modern European kitchen style. ;-)

Rebekah Zaveloff | KitchenLab I know Paul, isn't that a gorgeous kitchen from Dufner Heighes! Thanks so much, chisedly, I really appreciate your comment and love that it's topical for you right now! Going through a fire is awful, and the process for us has be doubly stressful because of the building department and zoning issues - literally got our permits yesterday and the fire was last April! I wish you the best of luck and please post your photos when you're done. I think your reasoning for the design is great, don't second guess yourself! This is one of my favorite projects because of the sink in the island. What's important though, is to put the dishwasher at one end and then lots of counterspace to the other side of the sink rather than centering the sink. That way you never feel cramped. It's perfect for cooking and entertaining and keeping people out of your way!

Rebekah Zaveloff | KitchenLab midmodfan, your comment makes me smile too! I know what you mean, but it's so hard to come up with a term that encompasses the look I'm thinking of when I say that...what I think of is the unfitted look, often with lack of wall cabinets, and open furniture style islands, but you are so right, there is no true European style. Please post pics of your kitchen! Sounds terrific.

danthehandyman Nice ideabook. You make a really strong case for placing the main kitchen sink on the island.

Karen Jaffe In reference to the first picture:
where can i buy a pot rack like that?

froglet moss I have a galley kitchn and am looking for ideas to update it. Currently all fittings and fixtures are from 1970's so it's due for an update. I'm keen to do something that might be robust enough to last another 40 years. So thanks for this idea book. I think it's great.

PamDesigns 3D Regarding your quote for the Tracery Interiors kitchen "Typically people think of a galley kitchen as two parallel lines of base and wall cabinets, but I see the kitchen with an island and parallel wall as a modern interpretation of the classic galley kitchen." I think you nailed it. While the traditional galley is not common because it doesnt' open up to the common areas (i.e. open plan kitchen) the "island" galley does. I'm thinking this style is probably the most common these days as shown in the last couple of year's kitchen of the year by House Beautiful and the HGTV Dream Homes.

mari I love the looks and the kitchens you all put up!!! I am building a home in Sicily, and I live on this page...my kitchen is 7meters bu 4.35...i have like a whitich yeloowish kitchen cabinets..I was thinking of 3x3 small mustard yellow stone tiles, the floor is a shinny beige (looks like marble) but i have no idea what color to use as a counter top or what kind. The tile guy suggested i rap the mustard tile on the border and put a yellow one on the inside of the backsplash, but i can't visulize it. If you have any ideas or these color schemes in the kitchen pls post them...I really am having a hard time with the entire house!!! Europe just has a diffent look in homes than that of an east coast American does!! thanks
)

rdrijber Great ideabook! I am a fan of the arrangement of sink, counter work space then range. I prefer not to turn around to a sink on an island or opposite wall. Keeps my cooking mess more contained! I do like an island for the extra space when baking etc. and for additional cooks!

Rebekah Zaveloff | KitchenLab globi1017 I think that's a regular hanging bar potrack just hung without the chain.
http://www.amazon.com/Rogar-Hanging-Rack-1515-Finish/dp/B001172B12

Rebekah Zaveloff | KitchenLab Thanks pamdesigns, rdrijber and mari07039, wow, Sicily! Can you post your question to Houzz's design dilemma section under "questions" and let the community take a stab at it. I'll jump in too!

mari thank you kitchenlab ...i will , also i will try posting the first floor of the house , so you can see where the doors and windows are..what a headache..lol

mari kitchenlab:i put everything under questions, finally got plan and old pictures of the kitchen cabinets..Thanks

moccasinlanding I personally like the galley style kitchen. When we redo our tiny kitchen and take in the back porch, we'll still have a small kitchen. It will be galley style, except for the tiny bar height counter where two stools locate perpendicular to the range side of the kitchen. I already have a rolling skinny island which will park at the other end of the kitchen, adjacent to the back door, where it will allow me to drop groceries for the fridge, and store my mixing bowls and baking pans below. I like the design with only one sink beneath a window and the French door fridge a few steps to the left on that same wall. I'm not a fan of the U or the L, but have always enjoyed the galley style.

twinmommy great ideabook! thanks!

mbankson After reading all of these post I'm getting a little nervous about our new home we are building. We are putting in a galley kitchen with nine foot ceilings but it opens up to our living room with vaulted ceilings. The one thing that I loved that we did is right behind the back wall of the kitchen we built a walk-in pantry the length of the kitchen. It will be all shelves except down one part of the wall we are going to have a counter top so I can keep my toaster, coffee maker, crock pot etc all out and ready to use right there so I don't have to use my counter tops in the kitchen! So with the pantry I hope I still like the idea of the galley once we finally move in. Thanks for posting pics for more ideas!!

Rebekah Zaveloff | KitchenLab mbankson - that sounds like a great layout! I'm working with a client right now on something similar. The key is to use a pantry for more than just food storage. Carve out a spot for a little stool under the countertop too - you never know, it might be a great spot to hang out and browse a cookbook :)

rdonal My house is vintage 1983 and they built 'em small and incredibly user-friendly. My galley kitchen is just right! It's in between my formal dining room and the breakfast room so you never feel cut-off from your family or guests when working.

When I bought this little house, the kitchen was definitely under-whelming with a huge wall oven and wall mounted microwave, a stove top with a giant, empty box cabinet below it. In it's day, this was the kitchen everyone wanted! I removed the wall oven and the giant "wall tower" that housed it, stole a cabinet from beside the sink and used it where the old oven was. I used the small upper cabinet from the "tower" for my new upper and added a niche for the new microwave. The old stove top was replaced with a state of the art convection stove. I now have much more countertop space and the empty spot where I stole the base cabinet is now a wonderful spot for my antique butcher block on wheels! I re-used all of the cabinetry, painting them white, added my own trim to update them and mounted under cabinet lights. To open the galley feeling, I used mirrors as my backsplash. My home is English in style. Taking a 1980's kitchen back in time has proven to be a great improvement!

Toronto Designers I just love the way the kitchen with the chalkboard painted fridge all goes together in such an unfitted way - even the white stove looks good in there! Awesome! :)

gegolekduit Thanks for sharing about remodel a galley kitchen. Nice Ideabook.

donna1960 My heart tells me to build a galley kitchen, will I regret it? Here's my thinking: We just sold our home with a very large kitchen/island, etc. Center of the home. Large table off the kitchen, chairs that pull up to the island, and an open kitchen. I really did not like (at all) the fact that when entertaining, I had so many visitors in the kitchen cooking area. Everyone was excited to see what I was making, oh to taste a little of this or to peek at that, etc. I decided when I built my next home, I would want a very private kitchen. Then when the food is ready for presentation, it would be beautifully laid out for carrying into the dining area. So any suggestions? I' m settling into these two ideas: 1) Galley kitchen but not too narrow, with a table at the end of the galley for just the family OR 2) A kitchen with beautiful large doors doors such a beautiful french doors, so when it's time, I can open and invite people in. But I'm afraid people would just open the door and invite themselves for sneek peeks. Oh and finally the last thing I don't like from the non galley kitchens is that when it's open to the family room etc, dirty dishes, trays, etc are visible and I do not want to see that. So any suggestions?! I always said next home I'm locking the door to the kitchen! So now what?

xxmulissaxx I love this!!

froglet moss Love a galley kitchen! I grew up on a yacht so I love clever compact spaces. I love how a galley just works and I love not having all my cooking and dishes on show when I have guests over. Actually I can't believe galley kitchens aren't the vogue!

weyeswoman What to do...what to do...with a 70s galley kitchen where there is no place to expand. Here is what we did. What's not so visible is that we added extra counter space and glass-fronted cupboards for china by taking the run around the corner. It really made the whole space totally functional and added plenty of counter space the galley alone just couldn't accommodate.

coolwoman As A galley kitchen owner, maybe you write an article on why our galley kitchens work in smaller, single dweller condos. That is who the focus should be on for galley kitchens. It is hardnto find great ideas for smaller kitchens for those us living and loving our smaller spaces. Any experts or blogs you know who specialize in small galley whetevwe can maximize our space?

grammyck I've raised two sets of children - my stepdaughters and then my own 3 children- and am starting on grandchildren now, in a small 9ftx9ft galley kitchen with the sink across from the stove and a door at either end of the kitchen. I've been stressed with every meal I've had to try to cook with others running back and forth. It is dangerous every time one has to carry a hot pot from stove to sink not to mention very overcrowded if there are more than two people in the kitchen. It was almost impossible to accept help from anyone because there was nowhere for them to help. I can't wait to finally get a new kitchen. I definitely want the sink on the same counter as the stove. I realize as I age that it is harder and harder to lift those heavy pots across even a few feet; plus the safety considerations.