
Thegalley is the compartment of aship,train, oraircraft where food is cooked and prepared.[1] It can also refer to a land-based kitchen on a naval base, or, from a kitchen design point of view, to a straight design of the kitchen layout.
A fork galley is the cooking area aboard a vessel, usually laid out in an efficient typical style with longitudinal units and overhead cabinets. This makes the best use of the usually limited space aboard ships. It also caters for the rolling and heaving nature of ships, making them more resistant to the effects of the movement of the ship. For this reason galley stoves are oftengimballed, so that the liquid in pans does not spill out. They are also commonly equipped with bars, preventing the cook from falling against the hot stove.[citation needed]
A small cooking area on deck is called acaboose orcamboose, originating from theDutch:kombuis, which is still in use today. In English it is a term used only for a cooking area that is abovedecks.[2]
The first basic aircraft kitchens were onboard variousairships during the 1920s and 1930s. The first airplane kitchen was patented byWerner Sell [de] (Georg Robert Werner Sell) of Germany in 1930.[3] The first fitted kitchens were delivered in 1954, and by 1955 all Lufthansa commercial planes had been fitted with a Sell galley.[4]
Galleys on commercial airlines typically not only include facilities to serve and store food and beverages, but also containflight attendantjumpseats, emergency equipment storage, as well as anything else flight attendants may need during the flight. Aircraft in operation today mainly use the familiarairline service trolley system.[citation needed]
The termgalley kitchen is also used to refer to the design of household kitchen wherein the units are fitted into a continuous array with no kitchen table, allowing maximum use of a restricted space, and work with the minimum of required movement between units. Such kitchens increase storage space by working vertically, with hanging pots, dish racks, and ceiling-hung cabinets common. Strictly, the term refers to a kitchen with the units in two facing lines, but is often used to refer to U-shaped kitchens as well.[citation needed]
The first mass-produced galley kitchen design was known as theFrankfurt kitchen, designed byMargarete Schütte-Lihotzky, working under the direction ofErnst May in 1926 for aFrankfurt housing estate. 10,000 units were installed in Frankfurt, and it was the most successful and influential kitchen of the period.[citation needed]