How to turn an awkward, narrow galley kitchen into an asset
Let it be known that the galley kitchen is back. The once derided long and narrow style, which takes its name from the cooking area on a large ship, is having a moment. This time around, though, it is being placed right at the centre of the home.
We’re renaming this phenomenon the corridor kitchen – and we’ve asked Marcante-Testa, a forerunner in designing interesting kitchen spaces, to explain the innovative ideas that can turn awkward zones into ones you’ll be proud of.
How do you approach designing kitchens in narrow or difficult spaces?
We treat smaller kitchens as micro-architectures, each one with a strong individual identity. Kitchens are becoming increasingly complex and sophisticated, but when the available space is not quite adequate, we are often compelled to imagine them integrated into multifunctional environments – we try to turn their weak points into strengths. In our ‘Teorema Milanese’ project, where the kitchen risked appearing like a real corridor, we used a bold colour and patterned wallpaper on the ceiling to attract attention, making it an unforgettable feature.
What are the main ways you can maximise space in a corridor kitchen?
Often, when we explore the area that’s dedicated to the kitchen, we realise that being confined within four walls isn’t sufficient. Unless we manage to limit the client’s requests (which never happens), we must initiate an expansive process – a true invasion of other territories.
It might seem a simple task, but soon the client begins to query things, making comments such as: ‘I don’t want to see a messy kitchen!’ or ‘I don’t want to smell odours!’, and ‘I don’t want it to be obvious there’s a kitchen in the living room!’ We interpret these requests as challenges to transform a potential limitation into the most distinctive element of the entire interior-design project.
Our aim is also to maximise storage space (using closed cabinetry rather than open shelving, for a streamlined look), increase usable worktop space and give the illusion of more room by choosing colours that complement the walls.
You often use structural beams in place of walls. Can you explain the benefits?
These custom-made structures can act as dividers, allowing us to lightly zone areas within larger rooms, such as in our apartment ‘History Repeating’ in Turin, where they identify a function. They can include sliding door tracks and recessed light, and can frame surfaces, but they also serve as visual axes. In our ‘Another Venice’ project, for example, the red metal frame outlines a path from the entrance via the kitchen and out to the living room.
How can you manipulate flooring to create the illusion of more space?
We try to open small kitchens out into adjacent rooms, so they often have the same flooring as the rest of the house. In ‘History Repeating’ we used a terrazzo floor throughout, while in ‘Another Venice’ we chose wooden boards. There’s a slightly different approach in our ‘Teorema Milanese’ project, where a marble floor continues from the living room through the kitchen, stopping just at the end of the space to create a visually separate small area for a kitchen table. marcante-testa.it
