Kitchen of the Week: A Scandi Design in Brooklyn - Remodelista
Commissioned to remodel an 1840s Brooklyn brownstone for a Swedish-American family of four–Jakob Trollbäck and Lisa Smith Trollbäck and their children, August and Stina–architects Solveig Fernlund and Neil Logan transformed the first floor into the beating heart of the house. Photography by Matthew Williams for Remodelista. Fernlund and Logan also solved the trickiest riddle of the room–where to place the staircase–by turning tradition on its head and building an open-tread stair at the back end of the space; their stair design, like the first floor itself, is at once low key and undeniably grand. The wide-open kitchen revolves around a modernist picnic table and mobile-like Ingo Maurer light, the Zettel’z 5 Chandelier, clipped with pieces of paper decorated with drawings and notes. The table’s bench seating is inset with shaggy seating cushions. The kitchen work area features cabinets of Douglas fir laminated to multi-ply birch plywood and an elegant, wafer-thin stainless steel counter that’s also laminated to the ply. A detail of the stainless steel countertop. A large custom cabinet of Douglas fir laminated onto birch multi-ply sections off the kitchen from a small living room area by the entry. The cabinet knobs are custom made of Douglas fir. A Sub Zero refrigerator is tucked into the end closest to the sink. Shallow shelving designed for glassware. The other side of the cabinet is divided into open shelves that section off the living area, which functions as a casual parlor. The front entry presents another built-in divider, a coat closet made of Douglas fir. The living area is used for practicing and playing music. The staircase has open risers that are made from old floor joists removed from the house and glued together to get the desired width. For more on the subject, see Remodeling 101: Things to Know About Radiant Floor Heating. The picnic dining table is used for kids’ art projects as well as for family meals and dinner parties. Rising from the back of the kitchen, the stair presents a dramatic V-shaped profile. The stair has a rail that’s wrapped in Spinneybeck leather. A new kitchen terrace extends over a ground floor garden patio. A floorplan of the newly opened-up first floor shows the use of built-in cabinets as room dividers. And for more inspiration, browse our photo gallery of Scandinavian design.