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Joy Strom loves galley kitchens. “Some spaces are actually very functional for cooking,” says the Washington, D.C.-based designer. Her key to designing a galley kitchen that doesn't feel like a dungeon is to strike a balance between doing just enough and not doing too much. Exhibit A: This townhouse renovation.
When a newly engaged couple came to Strom wanting to match their 100-square-foot builder-basic kitchen with the rest of their cheerful 1915 architecture, the designers went funky with the flooring and old-fashioned with the cabinetry. , I kept it simple at the counter. , It is practical to use home appliances. “You can strip the uppers all together and put some great art on the walls, but ultimately you want to maximize storage space,” says Strom. Working with construction company MPS Property Solutions, she shares how she transformed a small space.
Pave the way to a seamless prep space
If you think there's no way to make your galley layout look larger without blowing out walls, think again. Simply rearranging your appliances can change the flow of the entire room. In this case, Strom thought that by flipping the sink and range, the basin would be placed within a long extension of the countertop, making meal preparation easier. Needless to say, relegating countertops and ventilation hoods to opposite sides of the room allows for seamless factory planning. “As our main focus, we wanted an unbroken line of cabinetry above the sink,” says the designer.
Let your ventilation hood shine
Fun fact: Strom hasn't installed a gas range on the project in over two years. Everything is moving towards induction and electricity. “Honestly, the technology has become so sophisticated that all of my customers have come to love their induction cooktops and ranges,” Strom says. Many designers would have covered the ventilation hood with a drywall box, but she left it as it allows more light to come in through the windows. Moreover, her customers don't mind seeing metal boxes at all. “They were like, we want a refrigerator to be a refrigerator, and we want a microwave to be a microwave,” Strom added.
Let's work hard on the backsplash as well.
Designers take every opportunity to clear up clutter on their countertops. That's why she added a small shelf to the Caesarstone backsplash. That's a convenient place to keep a bottle of olive oil and salt and pepper shakers. For the kitchen's prep aspects, Strom chose simple white square tiles reminiscent of her 1950s utilitarian kitchen. “Not everything needs a voice,” she points out.
Combine bold colors with butter yellow
In the adjacent dining area, the designers used the couple's existing PH5 pendant lights as a starting point for the room's palette. The previous walls were a light white-gray color, so the bright orange pieces looked out of place. “I think a lot of people, when they're overwhelmed with choosing a color, automatically choose a bright white and build the color around that. I wanted the atmosphere to be bright and warm,” says the designer. She pulled it all together by applying Mood Her lighting by Backdrop to the walls.
Find fun and historic flooring
The heavy, dark granite tiles that were previously in the kitchen were the furthest thing from the rest of the house's original wood inlay flooring. Strom wanted to create a more natural transition. She landed on a tile combination of original her style her tiles, laid out in a Victorian inspired design. “I like to blend vintage elements and make them new again, so you can't tell which era they're from,” Strom says.
Ask a furniture designer to consider cabinets
To make the cabinets unique, Strom customized them. “I think this is one of the best investments you can consider for your kitchen, especially in awkward (small, difficult to use) spaces,” she says. The Willard Kaufman-crafted slab doors are painted with Farrow & Ball pointing, a creamy hue reminiscent of laminate from the '60s and '70s, and wrapped in oak siding. Not pictured: Clever 2-tier cutlery insert, cutting board, slash, cookie sheet drawer, spice drawer insert, trash and recycling drawer.
When it came to adding hardware, Strom switched craftsmen and asked furniture design and fine woodworking firm Petr Studio to make the elongated wooden handles. “They were an important part of that kitchen. They gave these cabinets so much personality,” says the designer. “As they continued to play, it felt like the space really came together.”
