My galley kitchen upgrade

Two years ago I did a complete renovation of my small galley kitchen. The house was built in ‘44 and my parents bought it in in the early 50s. Bits and pieces were updated a few times over the years with the end result being a hodgepodge of awfulness (sorry Mom and Dad). So in 2013 when it became my house, I decided it was time for a total teardown and upgrade which I documented in a time lapse video near the end of this article.

Every inch counts in a small kitchen, and I’ll show you what I did to make the most of this challenging layout while keeping the cost as low as possible.

Right now, before I get into the details, I’m going to give you the goods—a couple of before and after shots.

Galley kitchen before and after photos

And now on to the backstory. Read on to learn:

• How I saved money
• How I made the kitchen look bigger
• How I changed the layout to improve appearance and function
• What I splurged on
• My design choices

Things that saved me money

Did not enlarge the kitchen

I decided not to put an addition onto the kitchen. Not only is there the cost of construction to consider, but also the taxes that are added along with new square footage.

Reused the nearly new appliances

Even though this was a total teardown, there were four things worth saving: almost new stove, refrigerator, garbage disposal and sink. Everything else was ripped out: the cabinets, flooring and lights.

Originally I didn’t want to keep the white appliances because I prefer the look of black or stainless. But it just didn’t make sense to replace perfectly good appliances. This was a really good decision in the end.

I’ve discovered stainless is really hard to keep spot-free. White appliances have the advantage in not showing every little water drop.

Kept the same white paint color

I also kept the white paint job. White is about my least favorite color for walls, but the kitchen had been recently painted and I didn’t want to have to repaint everything all over again.

I actually ended up having to repaint most of it anyway once construction was done on the ceiling and walls. But as it turns out, white paint was a good color choice to minimize and coordinate with the white appliances.

Made the kitchen look bigger by taking out a wall

Today everyone wants open concept which is the exact opposite of what people wanted in the 40s and 50s. I didn’t even have to take down a whole wall. I just widened the doorway from the living room to the kitchen. Removing that three foot section of wall made both the living room and kitchen look bigger.

Rearranged the layout to better utilize the space

The kitchen itself is kind of a T-shape, with the galley kitchen in the center, a pantry at one end of the T and a small dining area at the other end. Connected to the dining area is a small laundry room.

There were two things that really bothered me about the layout:

1. The refrigerator was on the wrong side. It extended past the countertop and blocked the view of the kitchen window. I had it relocated to the opposite side, recessed into the wall by about four inches.
2. There was no dishwasher. To make room for one, I moved the stove down as far as possible to create a longer section of countertop. And that made room for a dishwasher next to the sink.

Gave my small galley kitchen the Wow Factor

These were all things I splurged on:

Dramatic black granite countertops

The whole kitchen makeover was designed around one thing I’d been dreaming about for a few years: sparkly black countertops. I was going to use a quartz composite but that was actually more expensive than real granite. So, real granite it was. Black galaxy granite. Even the name is dramatic.

Full backsplash

I have a real pet peeve about skimpy backsplashes. A four inch backsplash is useless. I insisted on having a full one.

Originally I was going to do it in a different color, like silver or gray, but there would have been an extra charge to fulfill the minimum order requirement. So I just went with the black galaxy granite on that too. And I’m very glad I did because the countertops and blacksplash look like a sculptural piece of art.

New funky chandelier in the dining area

My fabulous chandelier practically steals the show from the granite countertops. I love it so much I wrote a post about it.

Other design choices

My taste favors clean lines, somewhere in between modern and contemporary. With this kitchen renovation, I was leaning a bit towards retro modern.

As for the colors, there needs to be contrast between the cabinets, countertops and floors. Since the counters are black, I chose a medium brown for the cabinets and a slightly darker taupey brown for the floor.

Shaker cabinets

I wanted cabinets that didn’t have to be painted so I opted for wood cabinets in a shaker style. Then I chose very simple and inexpensive polished silver drawer pulls for them.

As for the cost, these are medium grade stock cabinets. They’re fine and much better than what I had before, but I wish I’d spent a little more and gotten custom cabinets. There would have been more storage space and less dead space than with stock cabinets.

Porcelain tile floors

This was my second choice as I had originally ordered black and brown granite tiles online. The samples looked nice but on installation day my contractor discovered they were not perfectly flat.

They had to go back and I had to scramble to pick out new flooring locally. But I think the porcelain tile was a better choice. It has a very interesting texture and does not show the dirt. Very important.

Blanco sink

I reused the sink as it was still in good shape. It’s nice and deep. I had it mounted underneath the granite for a smooth look.

Simple kitchen faucet

I’m a bit of an oddball in that I don’t like single-handle faucets. The one I chose has a high curved faucet with two handles and a sprayer on the side.

Stainless steel dishwasher

Notice I did not get a white dishwasher to match the stove and refrigerator. I think stainless blends in better with the cabinets and the other silver accessories. White would have been too jarring.

Modern silver track lights

These were inexpensive and a little bit funky with that curved bar. The polished silver goes with the cabinet pulls and faucet. And they provide lots of light.

Black outlet covers

Another one of my pet peeves is outlet covers that don’t match the walls. I usually end up painting them but fortunately black ones were available.

More after photos of my galley kitchen upgrade

Let’s take another look around my new kitchen.

Pantry

This is a case when less is more. The new pantry is slightly smaller (length and width) than the old one. It fits better in that narrow passageway.

Stove

The new kitchen has a black and white theme which is carried on as accents throughout the rest of the house.

Longest stretch of countertop

The counter next to the stove measures seven feet long. The only things allowed to live there are the coffee pot, potholders, salt and pepper. That leaves plenty of room for me to cook.

Sink

I love how the sink is underneath the granite.

Short countertop

The counter in between the sink and refrigerator is just over three feet long. There’s just enough room for the microwave and toaster oven. They’re mostly hidden from view by the refrigerator.

Refrigerator

The refrigerator, being recessed into the wall, barely sticks out beyond the countertop, leaving more room in the middle of the floor.

Dining area

Time lapse video of my kitchen renovation

Watch this short video to see my new kitchen being built.

And that brings us to the end of this small kitchen makeover

Thank you for visiting today and please leave me your comments or questions.

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