Galley Kitchens in London

Cabinetry for a galley from £4,900, fitted, including VAT; worktops and appliances are quoted separately. Book a free design visit for a fixed quote made to your measurements, finishes and colours →

Galley kitchen layout, illustrated cutaway How a galley worksSee the layout ↓ Shoreditch Oak Handleless Kitchen in London: light oak woodgrain handleless doors with a dark grey stone worktop, black tall units and a walnut dining table; the full L-shaped run with black oven tower, wall units and a walnut dining table. Made to measure by Metro Home InteriorsShoreditch Oak Handleless KitchenView this design → Maida Vale Handleless Kitchen in London: cream matt handleless doors with a white marble worktop, peninsula breakfast bar, walnut accents and black pendant lights; the peninsula breakfast bar with stools, pendant lights and walnut tall units. Made to measure by Metro Home InteriorsMaida Vale Handleless KitchenView this design → Clapham compact white shaker U-shaped kitchen with black bar handles, a black fridge-freezer, marble splashback and a washing machine, LondonClapham Shaker KitchenView this design → Marylebone white slab kitchen with a lit oak slatted feature panel over the hob, a glazed display cabinet, integrated oven tower and black steel-framed doors, LondonMarylebone Slab KitchenView this design → Hampstead sage green shaker kitchen with brass cup handles, a ceramic butler sink and a range cooker, LondonHampstead Shaker KitchenView this design → Chiswick cream high-gloss handleless U-shaped kitchen with a marble splashback, a window over the sink and integrated appliances, LondonChiswick Gloss KitchenView this design → St John's Wood Shaker Island Kitchen in London: sage green in-frame shaker doors with brass handles, a white marble island with breakfast bar, a range cooker and a chevron tiled floor; the marble island, range cooker and glazed wall units. Made to measure by Metro Home InteriorsSt John's Wood Shaker Island KitchenView this design → Blackheath Slab Island Kitchen in London: matt white slab base units with oak wall units, a black marble island and splashback, and a black fridge-freezer; the black marble island with timber stools under the window. Made to measure by Metro Home InteriorsBlackheath Slab Island KitchenView this design →
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Galley kitchen layout, illustrated cutaway
Kitchen Layouts · Galley

Galley Kitchens in London

Two runs of units facing each other across a walkway. The layout for a narrow room, a side return or a kitchen that is used seriously, because everything is within a step and a turn.

Galley kitchen · In plan

The galley kitchen, in plan

Two 600mm-deep runs face each other along the long walls. One is the wet wall, with the sink near the window and the dishwasher beside it; the other is the dry wall, with the hob, the ovens and the prep drawers. Between them the walkway needs 1.2 metres to work and 1.5 metres to let two people pass, so the room needs to be 2.4 to 2.7 metres wide. Its length can be anything from 2.4 metres; a window or a door at the far end decides where the light comes from.

Between the runs 1.2m minimum, 1.5m comfortable · Room width 2.4m minimum, 2.7m comfortable (600 + walkway + 600) · Length from 2.4m · Run depth 600mm both sides

Galley kitchen · What to get right

Getting a galley kitchen right

Six things a designer checks before a galley kitchen is drawn.

01

Width between the runs

Twelve hundred millimetres is the least a galley works at; 1.5 metres lets two people pass and two doors open opposite each other. Narrower than 1.2 metres, the room is a single wall with a shelf.

02

Wet wall, dry wall

Water on one side, heat on the other. The sink and the dishwasher share a drain; the hob and the ovens share the extract and the electrics. Each service runs once.

03

Drawers, not doors

Every base unit is drawers. A cupboard door opening into a 1.2-metre walkway blocks it; a drawer opens into the space in front of you and shows everything in it.

04

Tall units at the closed end

Fridge on one side, oven tower on the other, standing at the end furthest from the light, so both worktops run unbroken to the window.

05

What the galley ends at

A window, a door to the garden or an archway to the dining room. A galley is a corridor with a destination, and the destination should be light.

06

Through traffic

If the galley is the route to the garden, the walkway is 1.5 metres and the hob is kept away from the door. If it is not, 1.2 metres is enough and the working end can be closed.

Room sizes

Room sizes for a galley kitchen

What each size of room holds, and the clear floor it leaves. Your designer measures the room and adapts the layout to it.

RoomWhat fitsClear space
Minimum · 2.4m × 2.4m Two 2.4m runs: fridge, sink and dishwasher on one; oven under the hob and drawers on the other1.2m between the runs
Comfortable · 2.7m × 3.6m Most roomsTwo 3.6m runs with tall units facing at the closed end, a 900 hob and 1.5m of prep worktop1.5m: two people pass
Long · 2.7m × 4.5m or more Two long runs, a 900 hob, a second sink or a wine cooler, and a breakfast bar or a bench at the window end1.5m, and seating at the end
Minimum · 2.4m × 2.4m
What fits Two 2.4m runs: fridge, sink and dishwasher on one; oven under the hob and drawers on the other
Clear space 1.2m between the runs
Comfortable · 2.7m × 3.6m Most rooms
What fits Two 3.6m runs with tall units facing at the closed end, a 900 hob and 1.5m of prep worktop
Clear space 1.5m: two people pass
Long · 2.7m × 4.5m or more
What fits Two long runs, a 900 hob, a second sink or a wine cooler, and a breakfast bar or a bench at the window end
Clear space 1.5m, and seating at the end

Base units 600mm deep with the worktop at 910mm; wall units 350mm deep from 1450mm; tall units 2150mm. A guide, not a rule: your designer measures the room and adapts the layout to it.

Galley kitchen · Where everything goes

Two runs, face to face

The two runs are planned as a pair rather than as two kitchens. The wet wall takes the fridge at the closed end, then the sink and the dishwasher; the dry wall facing it takes the oven tower at the same end, then the hob with drawers either side. The cook stands between them and turns rather than walks: from fridge to board, board to hob, hob to sink. Tall units stand at the closed end of both runs so the two worktops run unbroken towards the light.

Wet wall fridge, sink, dishwasher, cupboards · Dry wall oven tower, drawers, hob, drawers · Tall units facing each other at the closed end · Drawers rather than doors on both runs, so nothing swings into the walkway

Galley kitchen · Planning

Planning a galley kitchen

Five decisions, in the order your designer makes them.

01
Check the width
Two point four metres between the long walls at the least. Narrower, and the layout becomes a single wall with a table; wider than 3.2 metres, and one run can become an island.
02
Decide the end
Window, garden door or opening. It sets where the light comes from, where the tall units go and whether the galley carries through traffic.
03
Split wet and dry
Sink and dishwasher on the wall with the drain; hob and ovens on the wall with the extract route. Each service runs down one wall.
04
Pair the runs
Fridge opposite the oven tower, sink opposite the hob, so the triangle is a turn rather than a walk.
05
Light both worktops
LED under the wall units on both sides, on one dimmer, and the window doing the rest. A galley lit from the ceiling alone has the cook in their own shadow.
Galley kitchen layout, illustrated cutaway: two facing runs with the sink and dishwasher on one side, hob and oven on the other, and 1.5m between them
Galley kitchen · Built

The galley, built

The galley is the professional cook's layout. Restaurant kitchens are galleys because nothing is more than a step and a turn away, and the same is true at home: the cook stands between the sink and the hob and everything is within reach. In a London terrace it is the natural layout for a narrow kitchen or a side return, where the room is long, the width is fixed and the light comes from one end.

Where the room is wider than about 3.2 metres, one of the two runs can come away from the wall and become an island, which keeps the galley's efficiency and opens one side to the room. Where the width is not there, the galley stays a galley, and it gives more worktop for the floor it takes than any other layout we build. A room with only one usable long wall is a single wall kitchen.

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Galley kitchen · FAQ

Questions about the Galley layout.

Two point four metres at the least: a 600mm run on each wall and 1.2 metres between them. At 2.7 metres the walkway is 1.5 metres, which lets two people pass and a dishwasher door open opposite an oven door. Below 2.4 metres, one of the runs becomes a shallow shelf or the room becomes a single wall kitchen.

Wet on one side, dry on the other. The sink and the dishwasher share the wall with the drain and, usually, the window; the hob and the ovens share the wall with the extract. The fridge and the oven tower stand at the closed end facing each other, so the worktops on both sides run unbroken towards the light, and the cook works between the sink and the hob.

For cooking, it is the best one. Everything is within a step and a turn, the two worktops face each other so nothing is carried across a room, and the run lengths give more worktop for the floor area than any other layout. Its limits are social: it is a corridor, so two cooks need 1.5 metres between the runs and it is not a room to sit in.

Yes, and most London galleys are: the working end is closed by a wall with the tall units against it and the other end opens to the garden, the dining room or a side-return extension. The opening sets the light and the traffic. Where people walk through to the garden, the walkway is planned at 1.5 metres and the hob is kept away from the door end.

Usually on one side only. Wall units on both walls of a 2.4-metre room close it in at head height; wall units on the wet wall with open shelves or nothing on the dry wall keep the room feeling wider and give the hob its extraction without a hood between two cupboards. In a 2.7-metre room, wall units on both sides work if the finish is light.

Only when the room is wide enough to be something else. An island needs a metre of clear floor on every side, so a galley with an island is really an island layout in a room at least 3.6 metres wide. In a galley-width room a breakfast bar at the window end, or a run that stops short to leave a seat, gives the social benefit without the pinch.

Two runs of cabinetry with no corners to solve, so a galley is priced by its length. Our galley kitchens start from £4,900 for about ten units, delivered and fitted; the tall housings, the length of the two runs and drawers throughout are what move the figure, with most galleys between £4,900 and £7,000. Prices include VAT, delivery and installation by our own fitters; worktops, appliances, sink and tap are quoted separately. A design visit gives you a fixed written price for your room.

Two runs. One walkway. One design visit.

Our senior designer checks the width, splits wet from dry and draws both runs to your room, free, at your home, with the door samples.

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