A Scandinavian kitchen is traditionally white, linear and possibly combined with wood in natural color. Traditional Scandinavian design is associated with a tranquil mood, light surfaces, black accents, shades of wood and functionalism. Light interior design appeals since Nordic winters are dark. Efforts have been made to copy this style around the world!
However, closer examination of Scandinavian interior design reveals different style trends. Not just one Scandinavian interior design. A modern Scandinavian kitchen is practical, simple and perhaps even unassuming. The doors and frames are white, the worktop material might be of shiny white quartz, black stone or marble surfaced ceramic. Easy to care for, fresh and light. Black accents in the faucets, sinks or lighting add a suitable poise to the look. The color palette in the details and, for example, tableware could be powder pink or hazy green. This style is strongly combined with beautiful domestic design and impressive unassuming lighting.
These days, there are also many Scandinavian kitchens that have been more inspired by Danish hygge. Kitchen cabinets might be in mud shades or other pale broken tones. The handles and sinks are in shiny brass, the lighting is softer and the mood is cozy. The kitchen counters in this type of hygge kitchen are perhaps of wood or other softer shades, brown, gray, beige. What would a marble patterned laminate kitchen counter look like in this combination? Rattan might be seen in the lighting and details and the interior design is otherwise more abundant than in a modern Scandinavian kitchen. Handmade textiles, tableware and wooden details might add an extra flavor to the style.
One main feature in all Scandinavian interior design, including the kitchen, involves bringing nature indoors. In a Scandinavian kitchen, this may mean wooden worktops and doors. Making green plants and herbs a part of the kitchen décor is also an easy way to add to the look of a kitchen. It goes without saying that with reference to nature, ecology is also an important aspect of this approach. A contemporary Scandinavian kitchen approaches ecology by also ensuring enough space for recycling and enough recycling containers.
Many Scandi kitchens today have solutions without wall cabinets or partly without wall cabinets. This is completely different to what has earlier been the norm in Finnish kitchens, which have usually been furnished from floor to ceiling. Once storage space for everything has been considered in the kitchen and there are not too many things, at least part of the row of wall cabinets can omitted to make the kitchen airier. In hygge kitchens in particular, rather than wall cabinets there might be rustic wall shelves on which beautiful kitchen objects have been arranged. The most modern kitchens might skip the shelves altogether and affix beautiful lighting to the wall or ceilings to light up the kitchen counters.
Besides the styles above, a Scandinavian kitchen might also be many other things or something in between. Scandinavian kitchens love powerful graphic patterns, which may be added with wallpaper or textiles or as impressive tiles in intermediate gaps. One bright color repeated in details in the kitchen décor can be chosen to give the kitchen a similar edge. A Scandinavian kitchen can be thought of as a canvas on which to start painting your own characteristic world of interior design.
More and more Finnish homes are dreaming of a black kitchen. The emergence of black kitchens began several years ago and they can already be called the new kitchen classic. Black gives interior design a poise and has now finally moved from being an accent color to play a leading role in kitchens, too. Black is an opportunity and there are many styles. For years, white has been the prevailing kitchen color and norm. Perhaps this is why for many, a black kitchen seems a big step outside their comfort zone. All the same, we can note that it’s a step worth taking!
Never mind the kitchen color of the kitchen as long as it’s white. This is how a textbook of Finnish kitchen design could begin. Even though in recent years we have noticed an increasing number of kitchens in black, natural wood colors and other shades leaving our production facilities, it seems that white in its various shades and forms is by far the Finnish favorite. Year on year, a white kitchen seems to be a safe choice that doesn’t go out of fashion.
PieSmall kitchens are a challenge even for experienced kitchen designers, who aim to solve the lack of space in the most practical way possible. When designing a small kitchen it’s a good idea to especially think about the functions necessary for the functioning of the kitchen.
