3 Simple Ways to Make a Galley Kitchen Look Bigger

Best Ways to Make Your Galley Kitchen Look Bigger

Here are three simple ways to make a galley kitchen look bigger that you can apply to fit your home’s aesthetics.

Design from the Ground Up

Your eyes immediately focus only on what’s at eye level in a galley kitchen because space is more restricted and enclosed. 

Ignore that natural inclination as you think through what you want to do to make it look bigger. Instead, design from the ground up with these ideas: 

• Run flooring and rugs lengthwise: If you have tile or wood flooring, opt for lengthwise installation. Place a long rug or mat that matches your kitchen’s color scheme on the floor. 
  
  
• Use darker flooring: Making the flooring a slightly darker shade than your cabinets and walls will help your kitchen feel more grounded, with everything above the flooring seeming taller.
  
  
• Downsize appliances: No matter how modern they are, appliances that are too large for a space will make the whole area feel more cramped. Downsizing appliances will help open up the space. 
  
  
• Keep all cabinetry below eye level: The goal here is to reduce what’s visible at eye level overall. If this is a storage issue for you, consider the suggestion below about clearing clutter.
  
  
• Install white or stainless-steel countertops: Because countertops take up a lot of space in a kitchen, keeping them bright help make your kitchen feel larger.

Clear the Clutter

Keeping lots of utensils and appliances on the countertops tends to make kitchens look smaller. In a galley kitchen, which might have limited counter space to begin with, this effect is more noticeable. 

Some of the most effective ways to clear clutter involve making kitchen essentials look more like décor. Here are a few ways you can achieve that: 

• Install floating, horizontal shelves
• Hang utensils on the wall or backsplash
• Remove a few cabinet doors to create open shelving, then refinish them to make the inside of the cabinets ready for display
• Show off food prep essentials in glass containers on countertops
• Install cabinet customizations to stay organized
• Consider installing recessed shelves
• Remove bulky furnishings

Paint Cabinets with Bright Colors

Shades of white and cream are among the most popular kitchen cabinet paint colors that will naturally help your galley kitchen feel larger, brighter, and more open. 

You can use a low contrast color scheme to brighten up a dark kitchen that doesn’t have access to any windows. If your kitchen does have windows, take advantage of your access to natural light and find ways to let them shine. For example, you could install reflective countertops or appliances that will reflect light sources. 

If your cabinets are currently a darker shade, consider refinishing them to chemically strip the darker color off and replace it with a brighter color of your choice.

Call Oceanside to Freshen Up the Cabinets in Your Galley Kitchen

Like countertops, cabinets take up a lot of space in your kitchen, so the color you choose to paint them will influence how large your galley kitchen looks.

Our team specializes in upgrading kitchen cabinets through a process called refinishing to help you save money as you make changes to your galley kitchen. 

We’re happy to help answer any questions you have about changing the color of your kitchen cabinets. Call Oceanside Painting & Refinishing today at 732-818-0092 or send us an email at phil.oceanside@gmail.com.