In the Sub-50m market, Galley design is somewhat of an afterthought. I sat down with Chef Patrica Clark and discussed what she's seen that works, what doesn't, and how Ten Ten Marine can help yacht owners and shipyards make smarter design choices to keep the soul of the yacht functioning to the best of its ability.
Happy Crew = Happy Boat = Happy Owner.
The equation is easy, why do yachts keep missing the mark? Experienced Build Captains and Owner Fiduciaries are not being consulted! And give the Chef a view for Pete's sake!!
1. What’s the best, most surprising, and worst design choice seen in a career, and why?
Best: A galley designed around actual movement rather than aesthetics. The best galleys allow natural movement from refrigeration to prep, to cooking, to plating without repeatedly crossing the same path. Yacht galleys are often designed as rooms rather than as working systems. A beautiful galley can become exhausting very quickly when every meal requires hundreds of unnecessary steps.
Most surprising: Enormous amounts of space are often devoted to something used occasionally, while something used constantly is squeezed into an absurdly small area. Beautiful wine storage, oversized decorative cabinetry, or elaborate coffee stations are sometimes prioritized while there is nowhere sensible to put a sheet pan, Robot Coupe, mixer attachments, or groceries that arrived two hours earlier.
Worst: Refrigeration and storage-space allocation. Some boats install refrigerators built for homes that shut down quickly, and the same problem can apply to ovens and stovetops. Refrigerators with fixed shelving prevent reconfiguration when storing a large fish or a specialty birthday cake. Often, there is simply not enough refrigeration for the reality of the program: large cuts of meat, produce cases, and sometimes several weeks of food at once.
Sometimes the worst issue is power. Galley outlets are regularly shared with large appliances and, in some cases, with stew requirements as well. This means running both the blender and the Thermomix, vacuum sealer, thermal circulator, or even a toaster requires a matrix of unsafe extension cords, borrowing power from elsewhere, then reconfiguring and cleaning everything again for each meal service.
2. What is most important: flow, counter space, storage, or refrigeration/freezer space?
These elements cannot really be separated because they form one system, but refrigeration comes first. The correct order is refrigeration, prep and plating area, flow, and lastly dry store. Dry store is often used more for machines than dry goods because, unless the vessel is doing a crossing or remote exploration, large dry-goods storage is less necessary than refrigeration.
A chef should be able to receive provisions, store them, retrieve them, prep, cook, plate, and clean without constantly moving things out of the way. Counter space is extremely important, but usable uninterrupted counter space matters more than the total number of square meters. A huge counter broken up by sinks, pillars, appliances, and badly positioned cabinetry is less useful than one long clear bench.
Sometimes simple hinged counter extensions solve many plating and prep problems.
3. How important are crew pantries and workspaces on this size yacht?
Extremely important, particularly because sub-50m yachts usually do not have enough people or space for departments to operate independently.
A properly designed crew pantry can remove an enormous amount of traffic from the galley. Coffee, water, crew snacks, basic breakfast items, cutlery, crockery, and simple reheating should not require someone to enter the chef’s primary workspace.
The issue is not keeping crew out of the galley. The galley is part of crew life. The issue is preventing unnecessary traffic through a high-risk working environment in order to preserve safety, hygiene, and workflow. If a hot pan is being carried or twelve dishes are being plated, nobody should need to walk behind the chef just to refill a water bottle.
4. How can crew pass-through be made easier? Is it even possible if the galley leads to the crew area?
If the galley is structurally a passageway, the problem probably cannot be eliminated, but it can be designed around.
The most important step is establishing a no-traffic agreement during plate pickup. The crew route should not pass directly between the chef and the range, refrigerator, sink, or primary prep counter. Frequently accessed crew items should be positioned closest to the entrance or outside the primary galley altogether.
If the galley pass is near a door, exterior doors should not be opened in a way that lets wind disrupt plating or blow away delicate garnish.
Electrical outlet placement matters, especially independently wired outlets. Door direction matters, particularly if a service door can remain open during service without also functioning as a crew access door. Drawer direction matters. Dishwasher placement matters, along with having a professional marine-certified dishwasher dedicated to the galley. Even rubbish-bin placement matters.
If opening a refrigerator or dishwasher completely blocks the only route through the galley, that becomes an operational problem many times each day.
Designers should simulate two or three people moving through the finished galley with doors, drawers, ovens, and dishwashers open. A plan view alone does not reveal those conflicts.
5. What changes and technology have been used recently that are especially effective?
The Thermomix is the most important small machine with integrated technology in constant use. On a charter trip, it can support the production of multiple types of savory dough as well as countless pastries and sauces throughout the day.
Vacuum sealing is invaluable for both preparation and storage, although a small galley does not need an industrial-sized sealer. The same principle applies to an ice cream machine, standing mixer, and, if space allows, a blast chiller.
Induction has also become far more useful aboard yachts. However, it should not exist exclusively, which is often the case with many range tops. The best arrangement is a mixed setup with some simple electric burners and some induction units. Nothing is more frustrating than trying to sauté or flip on an induction burner that cuts out the instant the pan lifts to flip a crêpe.
Good refrigeration monitoring is also highly valuable, especially when linked to a notification system that alerts both chef and engineer if refrigerator or freezer temperatures move outside safe ranges.
Combi ovens and air fryers are not always worthwhile in a small galley if they take up too much space relative to their actual use.
6. How important is it to have professional ranges, combi ovens, and similar equipment?
A good chef can get on with the job using almost anything. That does not mean such compromises should be necessary.
There are important distinctions between aesthetically pleasing home appliances, professional equipment, oversized professional equipment, and marine-approved professional equipment. A sub-50m yacht does not necessarily need a restaurant line designed to produce 200 covers. It needs equipment capable of repeatedly producing perhaps 20 to 30 meals at a time, including guests and crew, several times a day, seven days a week.
It is critical to select machines that can handle constant use without overheating and triggering safety shutoffs. It is extremely disruptive to be in the middle of a complicated breakfast order or finishing the sear on a dinner filet only for the burners to shut off for five minutes to cool down.
The equipment should match the yacht’s actual culinary operation.
7. How can sea stowage be improved?
This is one area where yacht designers need much more input from working chefs.
A cupboard is not sea-stowage-ready simply because it has a latch.
Everything needs to be considered for heel and rough conditions: plates, ramekins, glass bottles, oils, jars, sheet pans, knives, appliances, produce, and refrigerated items. Deep shelves without dividers become projectile storage. Large refrigerator shelves can become particularly dangerous when the door is opened after a rough passage.
Adjustable shelving, positive locking systems, rails, and properly sized compartments make an enormous difference. Vertical tray and cutting-board storage is often better than stacking. Refrigeration shelving needs lips or retainers. Drawers need reliable positive catches, not just soft-close mechanisms.
A very simple question should be asked about every cupboard, drawer, and refrigerator: What happens to everything inside this space when the boat rolls 20 degrees?