20 Best Galley Kitchen Design Ideas

Tend to change your mind a lot? Choose a simple, goes-with-anything color palette (like this rustic-chic white-and-gray galley kitchen by designer Loi Thai) and pepper in color with your accessories. (We love the strong wash of blue here, but you could just as easily swap it out for something else when you’re in the mood for a change.)

Another way to reduce that hallway feeling is to break up your materials. Here, a patterned floor and dark base cabinets ground the space, while the upper cabinets in a lighter color draw the eye up toward the ceiling.

See more at Studio McGee.

Light wood cabinets add a jolt of warmth in a space where white would have felt too cold next to the room’s gray floors. Black hardware and fixtures pepper in a little drama.

See more at Front + Main.

Think you have to steer clear of dark hues in small spaces? That’s not necessarily true. Enveloped by white walls and floors, a wall of dark cabinets, countertops, and tile make a statement without overwhelming the modestly sized space.

See more at BHDM Design.

Cabinets, countertops, and planked walls in a soft white give this rustic space a clean, serene feel, while large wide-plank wood floors ground the space with warmth.

See more at Hoedemaker Pfeiffer.

Think you have to keep finishes and accessories to a minimum in a galley kitchen? Think again! This gorgeous space by Erin of Kismet House proves you can mix and match in a small space without creating chaos. (We especially love that she used two different—but complementary!—tiles on either side of the kitchen.)

See more at Kismet House.

Skip the upper cabinets! If you’re blessed with high ceilings in your galley kitchen, you may be tempted to use as much vertical space as possible. But as designer Grace Gordon proves, forgoing upper cabinets in favor of keeping walls open can make a space feel much larger than it really is.

See more at @GraceArthur.

One way to make your galley kitchen feel less like a hallway? Open it up! And no, you don’t need to demo an entire wall to do so, as Sarah Sherman Samuel proves here in this serene California cook space.

See more at Sarah Sherman Samuel.

Love an all-white kitchen, but also love the darker cabinet trend that’s been growing? Go with both! Here, in this two-tone Queens, New York, galley kitchen, white uppers and open shelving make the space feel much larger than it actually is, while dark lower cabinets in a similar hue to the flooring ground the space.

See more at Sweeten.

Sometimes—especially in the case of small spaces—simple really is best. And this charming space by Shayden and Georgia of the New Zealand-based home and lifestyle Instagram account Moochstyle is a great example of that. White flat-front cabinets, countertops, and tile keep the tiny space feeling light and bright, while a small dose of darkness (upper cabinets and hardware) adds a bit of visual interest.

See more at @MoochStyle.

This sleek and sophisticated kitchen makes the most its long, narrow layout with a back wall of floor-to-ceiling cabinets. Housing the majority of appliances along one wall makes it easier for multiple people to navigate the narrow space at once.

See more at Bromilow Architecture.