Japandi - Scandinavian Design kitchen
Together with renowned interior designer Alexandra Ogonowski, we have created an elegant kitchen in a lush apartment in central Stockholm. The kitchen combines stripped-down Scandinavian interior tradition with traditional Japanese design. In the meeting between these two styles, a harmony between colors, shapes and materials arises that creates a wonderful atmosphere.
Get the latest Nordiska Kök kitchen inspiration here.
The kitchen is spacious and therefore a generous kitchen island has been placed in the middle of the room to create a social space where the family can sit comfortably and eat together.
Alexandra Ogonowski's trademark is to use powdery warm tones and contrast this with clean and stylish details that breathe Italian and Danish design. She then adds her own personal finds and accessories to soften the rooms expression.
By being inspired by different cultures and interior design traditions, Alexandra's project gets that little extra and feels unique. She describes herself as a bohemian with a style where she loves to combine old with new and exciting details from different cultures.
The beautiful Jura limestone is used both in the extra thick countertop and also dresses the walls to create a feeling of extravagant luxury.
The cabinets in the kitchen have different dimensions but tailored to align the kitchen and create a restful and symmetrical impression.
The elegant herringbone parquet is stained in the same tone as the kitchen to create a uniform impression and tie the spaces together. The mix between the warm wood, the straight lines and the textured curtains around the kitchen's large windows, let a magnificent elegance emerge that feels both modern and clean.
The home is located in a house from the turn of the century, something Alexandra wanted to have reflected in the kitchen design, without letting it take over or feel too classic. She decided to go for shaker-inspired design for the upper cabinets, which are then paired with lower cabinets in stained oak. The soft, warm grain in the wood is contrasted with the upper cabinets and take the kitchen into the 21st century while the home's architecture still shine through in the design.
The kitchen island is the center of the kitchen, and this is where you gather to cook and talk. Inspiration for the kitchen island comes from Japanese teppanyaki hobs where the chef can entertain guests with their cooking.
Since the kitchen is spacious, we chose to build the cabinets extra deep, this so that the proportions in the large room would be right. If standard dimensions had been used, the room would have easily felt unbalanced.
The combination of oak and limestone takes you on a trip to Japan and traditional Japanese decor, where natural materials and serene beauty are at the core. Nothing has been left to chance and no unnecessary nonsense interferes with the calm and quiet impression in this kitchen. The cabinets is combined with a warm beige Jura limestone that is also used to clad the walls between the worktop and the top cabinets for an extra luxurious feel.
Above the hob is a small built-in shelf in Jura limestone. Here, art and beautiful ceramics can be placed to soften the otherwise stylish and stripped-down kitchen. Pots from Artilleriet.
Above the warm natural stone, we have placed the shaker inspired cabinets with thin frames, lacquered in a cold beige tone and fitted with neat grips in chrome. The stucco of the ceiling and the beautiful parquet then tie everything together and make the kitchen breathe history and elegance.
The apartment is located in a turn-of-the-century house, and I am often inspired by the architecture you are in. But what I'm trying to do is pick it up in a way that doesn't feel dated or imitated but create a contemporary modern version that is still timeless. Says Alexandra, referring to the meeting between Scandinavian shaker design and the Japanese-inspired lower cabinets in dark oak and kitchen island designed with teppanyaki hobs as inspiration.
All details in this kitchen are carefully thought out, with walls painted in the same tone as the wall cabinets and parquet stained in the same tone as the bottom cabinets.
The upper and the lower cabinets are a reference to the stripped-down Japanese and the sweltering French but performed in a Scandinavian modern way. By picking a few discrete details from different cultures, you can get a unique feeling without diverging too much from the home's original architecture.
This kitchen is truly beautiful with the lacquered doors, shiny chrome, warm natural stone and the natural grain of the wood. In this kitchen, these exclusive materials really come to their own and lifting the whole impression to a higher level.
The owner of the home loves to cook and enjoy spending many hours preparing home cooked meals for friends and family. The kitchen also invites to socialize around the kitchen island where several people can sit at the lower level and eat, work or drink a glass of wine while the upper level is used for cooking or baking. The level difference allows you to opt out of the often uncomfortable bar stools and instead have comfortable dining chairs that are also suitable for children. These three chairs were found by Alexandra at the Lauritz Auction House and then she had them renovated and re-dressed.
A lot of my work is to find the right furniture. Instead of just buying classics, I try to find old furniture with beautiful shapes which gives the home that personal touch," says Alexandra.
The induction hob with built-in bench fan almost flows together with the soothing Jura limestone. Bench fans are becoming more and more popular among our customers when you opt out of the classic fan hood to create more space in the kitchen.
Since the dining room is decorated with a large dining table, it is perfect to have a smaller seating area by the kitchen island for simpler meals or and early breakfast with the newspaper of the day. Above the kitchen island hang two beautiful Bai MaMa lamps from Parachilna which bring to mind a modern version of a Chinese light lantern.
The Fridge and freezer are hidden behind the shaker doors and the oven is placed in the kitchen island to keep the overall impression of the kitchen clean and polished. These details allows the kitchen to feel simple and elegant and create a serene calm that makes us want to spend a lot of time in this kitchen.
Photo: Erik Lefvander
