Whether you live in a small home, a condo or city apartment, chances are you have or know someone with a galley style kitchen.
These spaces can be super efficient and charming but in most galley kitchens, the charm can be overshadowed by a lack of storage, feeling cramped when trying to work, not having entertaining space, and a host of other drawbacks.
With bespoke designer kitchens, you can address these challenges by enhancing storage and creating a layout that feels both open and tailored to your needs.
So, the question becomes, can you take a small galley kitchen and make it feel 5 times bigger with a few key changes?
You bet you can!
Here’s 8 ways to maximize a small galley kitchen.
This 12’ 6” x 8’ 8” kitchen has good flow.
There’s a functional work triangle, stove opposite refrigerator and the sink is perpendicular and under the window.
For all intents and purposes, this is a fine small kitchen, so why change it?
Well, my client was not thrilled with the layout.
Let me explain…
She’s lived here for 5 years and has really struggled with the layout.
She likes to entertain, and the current layout is tricky because it’s like a closed-up box.
There is no room for a proper dining table, but she found a console style table that fit under the window at the far end.
It’s not a comfortable set up because guests can’t sit and chat while she prepares food. (There’s a couple of stools that tuck neatly under, but when they’re sat upon, they take up space in the doorway.)
There’s lots of room at the back of the kitchen, but right now, it’s just wasted space.
She tried moving the console table over to the stove side cabinets, but it felt out of balance and odd.
Things needed to change.
Here’s a render of how the space looked.
The other things she didn’t like was the fact that the room felt terribly dark.
Her first instinct after moving in was to paint the builder beige walls a lovely sage green.
She loves the color but admits that it isn’t right for this room.
The floor was a 1970’s square terracotta tile.
Cool in that it was Mid Century looking but it was old and had a few chips and cracks from a few previous owners.
She also didn’t like the super dark appliances.
The refrigerator alone was a hulking beast that felt like it took up half the small room.
So, the order of business was to:
Lighten up the space.
Make it feel open
And, make a space for guests to sit while visiting and eating a meal.
The new layout was radically different than the original one.
The first major change, after removing all the cabinets and floor, was widening the entry from the kitchen to the living room.
This allowed us to build a generous sized counter that has overhang on two sides.
She can seat 3 people comfortably and, in a pinch, a fourth seat can be added. (She usually sits on the kitchen side when entertaining so she can move around easier.)
This new ‘open plan’ checked one very important requirement off the list, feeling connected to guests as she prepared food.
I left the sink where it was and although the amazing work triangle is now an ‘L’ shaped workstation, that sacrifice made this extended seating peninsula possible because the fridge is now repositioned on the long wall near the stove.
The counter also gives her a ton more surface for prep work and we were able to get storage from one end to the other on the longest wall.
Here’s how the kitchen came together with the new layout.
That brings me to tip number one:
When renovating a small galley kitchen, consider buying counter depth appliances.
These gems give you all the style and storage of their deeper counterparts but, they only pop out as far as the base cabinets.
The difference is incredible. The kitchen feels larger. That dark frig is replaced with a brushed steel that reflects the light and the same for the stove. It’s a smaller ‘full’ size but still has plenty of interior room to cook anything she wants and 4 burners on the top for multi-tasking sauces, soups, etc. (You can tell I’m not a cook .)
This cutaway shows my tip number 2 for small galley kitchens.
2. Upper cabinets with glass doors.
Now, you don’t have to install glass doors on all the uppers. Making 2 cabinets clear or translucent, will add instant visual openness to any small kitchen, especially galley styles.
You can even back light them for added ambience and drama – so perfect.
The transparency will encourage you to keep the cabinets neat and organized and it’s a lovely new focal point seen from the living room.
3. Add lights.
The original kitchen had just one ceiling light in the center of the room.
That was not anywhere near enough light for working any sort of culinary magic, let alone cleaning, or washing dishes.
Here, I installed a pretty trumpet pendant for concentrated light over the sink light and the rest of the room is lit by LED pot lights that can be run on the same line.
They’re placed on the perimeter of the room, over every appliance, eating and prep surface and I placed two in the center of the room for general lighting.
Best of all, they’re on dimmers so that they can provide more ambient light and dimmed almost completely for candlelight dinners and such.
Tip: don’t be afraid to use more light than you think you need. These pot lights are the same color as the ceiling, and they are practically invisible when not on. When on, there’s tons of light for every task imaginable.
Tip number four is all about the cabinets.
Yes, I love me a white kitchen.
I think white cabinets are timeless. They’re stylish and, in my opinion, you can beat a shaker door – simple, clean lines, and uber functional.
4. The real tip though, is take those cabinets up to the ceiling. Bam!
If you don’t have soffits – and sometimes if you do- get those cabinets to fill that height!
I’m telling you, even though you are adding more “surface” it will make the space feel open.
The other benefit is that you will have more storage space for everything, which will help you keep counter clutter to a minimum.
That space above the old cabinets is wasted real estate. It provides no function and is just a lost opportunity.
Tip number five can relate to any room, not just a small galley kitchen.
5. Bring your window treatments up to the ceiling.
I feel like a broken record saying this because, if you’ve been reading my posts over the years, it’s one of the basics of decorating I talk about a lot.
In small spaces like this, bringing that line up to the ceiling extends the visual height of the space.
It’s a simple change that will make visual impact in an instant.
Tip Six is all about the overall color scheme of a small galley kitchen.
6. I prefer to keep things light, bright and simple and the way to do that is to keep saturated color out.
I’m sure not everyone will agree, but hear me out…
If we stuck with the sage green color as before, the space would have felt dark and dinky. The white tiles and white walls visually expand the space.
I happen to love a classic subway tile – so did my client, but if you prefer a different shape, that’s great. My advice is still, keep it light and bright!
Last and certainly not least, is contrast.
7. I love high contrast in small spaces.
Here we have a layered contrast.
The floor is dark, base cabinets are light, the counters are dark, the walls and upper cabinets are light.
It’s a very simple stacking or layering of dark vs. light and it works every time!
8. Lay your flooring to enhance the length of the room.
We chose a soft, curved tile that has a definite direction. And that direction runs the length of the room – meaning the long sides of the tile run parallel to the length of the room.
This helps to visually expand the space.
Just like the height of window treatments, if you don’t have horizontal space, go vertical.
Even though this tile is on the floor, the long lines make the space feel deeper. If the flooring was square tiles, laid edge to edge like it originally was, that would’ve made the room feel boxy and short. If square tiles are your preference, try laying it in a diagonal pattern to achieve the same kind of movement.
There you have it. 8 ways to maximize a small galley kitchen:
Swap out conventional appliances for counter depth ones.
Install a couple of glass front upper cabinets.
Add light: task and ambient lighting. When in doubt add more and run them on a dimmer.
Run your upper cabinets all the way to the ceiling.
Take your window treatments up to the ceiling.
Keep your color scheme light and bright, but…
Embrace high contrast and layer in dark and light decorative fixtures.
Be mindful of the visual direction of tiled flooring. Run tiles the length of the room and try diagonal layouts to achieve visual expansiveness.
I’d love to hear your experience with making over a small galley kitchen. What worked for you? Would you do anything different if you had the chance to do it over? Lave me a comment below!
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Michael is Principal designer and blogger at Michael Helwig Interiors in beautiful Buffalo, New York. Since 2011, he’s a space planning expert, offering online interior e-design services for folks living in small homes, or for those with awkward and tricky layouts. He’s a frequent expert contributor to many National media publications and news outlets on topics related to decorating, interior design, diy projects, and more. Michael happily shares his experience to help folks avoid expensive mistakes and decorating disappointments. You can follow him on Pinterest, Instagram and Facebook @interiorsmh.
