The galley is the compartment of a ship, train, or aircraft where food is cooked and prepared. It can also refer to a land-based kitchen on a naval base, or to a particular design of a household kitchen.
A galley is the kitchen 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 often gimballed, 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.
A small kitchen on deck was called a caboose or camboose, originating from the Dutch: kombuis, which is still in use today. In English it is a defunct term used only for a cooking area that is abovedecks.
The Douglas Aircraft DC-3 was the first airplane with a planned galley for food service.