Photography courtesy of Kvänum (@kvanumofficial).
As the keeper of a vintage, ice-box white kitchen, I can’t help but wonder about life with a bit more color—and space, too.
“But I didn’t have the energy to start a dialogue with an overseas firm,” she says, by way of explaining that to get the look, she and her designer, Frida, ordered classic fittings from Swedish company Kvänum, specialists in traditional, top-of-the-line millwork.
The family took over the existing kitchen, dining room, and stair to create a roomy new open space—one with 10-foot-plus ceilings.
Kvänum offers the cabinets in 12 others colors and applies them not only to kitchens—this one is known as Broby Studio Green—but to dressing rooms, laundries, and baths.
The bracketed shelves are usually faced with framed-glass cabinet fronts, but are here left open—Sara refers to them as “bookshelves” and says, “I didn’t want everything to be hidden in cabinets—it looks so boring and museum-like. I like that this is a bit messy.”
In sunny weather, it’s very, very green, and when it’s cloudy it shows as almost black.”
Set in a Carrara marble counter, the sink has a show-stopping brass mixer faucet from Danish brand Toni Amatur.
The hand-painted finish is visible on close inspection—and “when there are nicks and scratches, we just erase them with a paint brush,” says Sara. The cabinet pulls are vintage British—Sara oversees Shop Dora’s antiques department and collected them over time.
The oak island is designed as a work table with an inset stove top. Inspired by Plain English’s daring color combinations (see for instance A Polychromatic Dream Kitchen in Hackney and its British Standard Design in Bold Blue), it’s painted Farrow & Ball’s Blazer.
The fridge, freezer, and ovens are incorporated into a cabinet wall.
The room is painted Nights in White Satin, a color from Danish firm File Under Pop that changes in the Nordic light from a warm white to palest pink (for similar shades, see Architects’ 10 Favorite Warm White Paints).