Galley Kitchen Planning Preparation Checklist

Measure the clear gap between the two facing walls at several points along the room, and write down where the narrowest point falls rather than an average.

Older rooms are rarely square, and the tightest point is what governs whether two people can pass while a drawer is open.

Note the depth of the existing worktop on each side and whether either run is shallower, since one shallow run is a common way narrow rooms are made to work.

A shallower run changes which appliances and units can sit on it, so it needs raising early rather than discovered late.

Ask the supplier and each appliance manufacturer what depth their products need before assuming a shallow run can take them.

Write down anything projecting into the room along either wall, such as a boxed pipe, a meter cupboard, a radiator or a chimney breast.

Projections eat into the corridor at exactly the height people move through, and they are often left off a rough sketch.

Ask a qualified professional what is inside any boxing or duct before assuming it can be moved or reduced.

Note whether the ceiling slopes, steps down or carries a bulkhead over either run, and at what point along the room that begins.

An interrupted ceiling limits where tall and wall units can go, and it is easy to overlook while standing in the room.

Record any change in floor level, threshold or step at either end of the room, including anything that appears only underneath the existing units.

Level changes affect how units sit and where appliances can be pulled out, and they often surface only when old cabinetry comes away.

Stand in the middle of the room and note where you currently have to turn sideways to pass, and what you are usually carrying when that happens.

Describing the pinch as an event tells a designer what the gap has to allow for, rather than leaving it as a bare measurement.

Write down which run you would prefer to carry the sink and which the hob, and the reasoning behind the preference rather than only the outcome.

The reasoning travels better than the preference, because a designer can honour a reason when the room will not allow the exact arrangement.

Where either could actually go depends on drainage, supply and extract, which are matters for qualified trades to advise on.

Note what you would be carrying across the gap most often, such as a hot pan moving from hob to sink or a drained pot coming back the other way.

Crossing the corridor with something hot or heavy is the defining risk of a galley, and it should shape which side holds what.

Record how much clear surface sits either side of the hob and the sink today, and whether that is genuinely where you put things down.

Landing surface beside the two busiest points is the first thing squeezed in a narrow room and the first thing missed in a brief.

Consider whether a dishwasher would sit beside the sink or on the opposite run, and what that means for crossing the gap with wet and dirty items.

A machine on the far run turns loading into a trip across the corridor, which is worth deciding rather than inheriting.

Note where the fridge is used from, and whether someone could reach it without stepping into the space between the hob and the sink.

In a galley the fridge is often the one thing other people come in for, so its position governs how often the cook is interrupted.

Decide and record where waste and recycling would sit, given that a narrow run leaves little room for a bin to swing open into the corridor.

Bins in galleys are frequently left until the end and then have nowhere sensible to go, ending up freestanding in the walking route.

List the appliance doors that would open into the corridor, including the oven, the dishwasher and a washing machine if one stays in the room.

Appliance doors project further than cupboard doors, and two of them opposite each other can close the corridor entirely.

Note which pairs of opposing units you would realistically have open at the same moment, such as a utensil drawer and the oven below the hob.

The clash that matters is the one that happens in the middle of cooking, not the theoretical worst case.

Consider whether a deep drawer or a hinged door suits each position better, and where a hinged door would swing across the walking route.

Drawers pull straight out and doors swing sideways, so the choice changes how much of the corridor is lost while they are open.

Write down which side an appliance door is hinged on where you already own the appliance, since that side is not always changeable.

A hinge on the awkward side makes a machine hard to load in a narrow room, and it constrains where the machine can sit.

Ask the appliance manufacturer or supplier whether a door hinge can be changed before planning a position around it.

Note where a full-height door, such as a tall larder or a fridge, would open, and whether anyone could get past it while it is standing open.

Tall doors sweep the whole corridor and are the most disruptive fronts in a galley, so their position deserves deciding first.

Record whether handles would project into the gap, and whether anyone in the household regularly catches clothing or pockets on the ones you have now.

Handle projection looks small on a drawing but repeats every time someone passes, and it is a common late regret in narrow rooms.

Note whether the room is a dead end or a route to another space such as a back door, a utility, a garden or a dining room.

A through galley has to accommodate people passing while cooking is in progress, which is a different requirement altogether.

Write down how often people pass through while a meal is being prepared, and where they are usually heading when they do.

Frequency and destination together tell a designer whether the route must stay clear at the busiest cooking moments.

Record the position and swing of every door into the room, including whether each opens inwards and what it would collide with if it did.

A door opening into the run removes a whole section of usable wall, and it is often assumed to be fixed when it may not be.

Whether a door swing or opening can be altered is a question for a qualified professional to assess for your property.

Consider what is carried through the room routinely, such as laundry, shopping, waste, sports equipment or pet supplies.

Carrying things through a narrow room is where collisions happen, and naming what is carried makes the requirement concrete.

Note whether children or pets pass through while cooking is happening, and where they tend to stop rather than simply pass.

The stopping point matters more than the passing, because that is where someone stands while a hot pan is being moved.

Arrangements involving children, pets or anyone with particular needs should be discussed with a suitably qualified professional.

Consider whether either end of the room could stay clear of cabinetry, and what you would give up in storage if it did.

Keeping an end clear is often the only way a through galley works, so it is worth weighing against the storage you would lose.

List what is stored in the kitchen today and mark what could live elsewhere in the property if the room turns out to be tight.

Galleys rarely hold everything a household owns, and deciding what leaves is easier now than once the units are drawn.

Note whether wall units on both runs would feel enclosing, and whether you would accept open shelving or nothing at all on one side.

Facing wall units narrow the room at head height, which is where the sense of tightness comes from rather than at floor level.

Write down what you reach for while standing at the sink and at the hob, since those two positions govern most of the storage decisions.

In a straight run the comfortable reach is narrow, so what sits within it has to be chosen rather than left to chance.

Record which items are heavy or awkward and whether you want them low down, given there is no corner to absorb them.

Heavy items in a galley tend to end up in a base unit that is hard to reach past an open appliance door.

Consider whether a full-height run at one end could take the storage that will not fit along the two runs.

Concentrating storage at one end often works better than spreading it thinly, but it uses an end of the room that has other claims on it.

Note anything tall or bulky you own that has never had a proper home, such as a step stool, an ironing board, trays or tall bottles.

These are the usual cause of a cluttered galley worktop, and they almost never appear in a brief unless written down.

Note where daylight enters the room and at what part of the day it actually reaches the worktop on each of the two runs.

Whichever run faces away from the window will be the darker one, and that often decides where preparation should happen.

Write down whether a tall unit or a full-height fridge at the window end would block the daylight you currently have.

The end of a galley is the most tempting place for tall storage and the most damaging place for daylight.

Record where you currently cast a shadow over your own work, and whether the existing lighting sits above you or behind you.

In a narrow room the cook stands between the ceiling light and the worktop, which is the usual reason a galley feels dim.

Consider whether lighting under wall units would be wanted on one run or on both, and where the switching would need to be reachable from.

Deciding this before cabinetry is drawn matters, because any provision has to be allowed for behind the units.

What can be provided and how it would be arranged is for a qualified electrician to advise on rather than something to settle from a list.

Note whether the room takes any borrowed light from an adjoining space, such as a glazed door or an opening above head height.

Borrowed light is easily lost when a run is extended to the end wall, and it is rarely mentioned unless the owner raises it.

Write down how the room feels after dark compared with during the daytime, since a galley often behaves quite differently.

A room that is acceptable in daylight can read as a corridor at night, and that difference belongs in the brief.

Photograph the room from both ends and from the doorway, including the ceiling and the floor at the ends of each run.

End-on photographs show the corridor as it actually reads, which a plan view never conveys.

Sketch the room with the position of every door, window, projection and visible service point marked, however roughly drawn.

A rough sketch with the awkward things marked is more use to a designer than a neat one with them left off.

Note where the existing services appear to enter and leave the room as far as you can see them, without opening anything up.

What is visible is useful context and what is hidden is a question, and separating the two keeps the notes honest.

Do not open up boxing, floors or walls to trace services; ask a qualified professional to establish what is there.

Write down which of your requirements you would give up first if the room turns out not to hold everything you want in it.

In a galley something usually has to go, and saying which in advance keeps that decision with you rather than with the drawing.

Record whether you have considered a single run with something else opposite, and what put you off that idea if you dismissed it.

Designers often propose a single run in narrow rooms, so knowing your reasoning saves the conversation starting from nothing.

Write down whether anything beyond this room has to stay reachable while work is going on, and whether there is another way of getting to it.

A narrow kitchen that is also the only route to a garden or a utility raises access questions a supplier would rather answer than discover on site.