At the Intersection of Art, Architecture & Design

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This is a great galley kitchen for a small home. It’s got 2 9 ft counters with a sink on one side and a 36″ cooktop on the other.

A coffee and drinks bar that really makes sense for a small kitchen.

This is the 5th article about taking an isolated kitchen in an older home and making it the center of today’s activities. While not strictly a galley kitchen, the kitchen in this 1930′s home is isolated from the rest of the house. My clients asked how they could make the kitchen the center of the home

This is the 4th article about taking an isolated galley kitchen in an older home and making it the center of the family’s activities.

This is the 3rd article about taking an isolated galley kitchen in an older home and making it the center of today’s activities. The original kitchen had adequate space — including adequate counter space — so we didn’t need to enlarge the kitchen. Instead we removed the wall …

Galley kitchens can be very effective work spaces. The big problem with galley kitchens in older homes is that they are cut off from everything — and often have limited counter space. I’ve yet to find a small galley kitchen that I couldn’t successfully incorporate into an open plan.

My client wanted to create a sophisticated, serene look without too much expense. The original kitchen cabinets were oak with a door pattern and a honey stain seen in far too many homes.

This home uses a bright, energetic palette without being overwhelming. Let’s look at how the use of color sets the stage and creates visual boundaries. The only place red is used is on the column dividing the kitchen from the breakfast area. The column is necessary to hide a structural support, a waste stack and ductwork. The deep red marks the transition between the working Kitchen and the sitting area of the breakfast room.

You don’t think color when you look at this kitchen — the cabinets are an oyster milk paint finish. In this view, only the island cabinet is a cobalt blue milk paint. But look from this angle and cobalt blue is a dominant color. The impact of the cobalt is heightened by its limited and dramatic use.

This kitchen gives a stylist spin to traditional materials. We used glass subway tiles in the same way that period kitchens used ceramic subway tiles — with a running bond pattern and contrasting grout. We paired this tile with a custom concrete countertop in indigo, simple alder cabinets with a honey-colored stain, stainless steel appliances, black nickel cabinet pulls and other black accents.