Kitchen Clarity » Classic Swedish Spaces

Classic Swedish Spaces

03.20.2010 · Posted in Kitchens

Swedish company Kvanum always has the most beautiful publicity photos. I think that the fresh greenery outside the windows contributes almost as much to the ambiance as the lovely kitchen designs:

Kvanum Broby

Do you have to have lived at a Northern latitude to truly appreciate the amazing green hues of a brief but blissful Summer? Looking at these images, I can practically smell the fresh cut grass. Growing up in Wales as I did, we would even play truant for whole days (“mitching” was our local word for it) just because the sun was shining. They don’t say “as wet as Wales” for nothing – you wouldn’t get much of an education at all if you did that in California!

Kvanum Broby

I could forgive a kitchen almost anything - yes, even stranding the range at the end of the run like this – for that park-like garden right outside the back door.

A book I highly recommend if you enjoy classical Scandinavian style is Neoclassicism in the North: Swedish Furniture and Interiors 1770-1850 – filled with absolutely gorgeous and evocative photographs, even though there’s hardly a kitchen or bathroom to be seen. Not as good as actually being there, but as close as I’m likely to get for the foreseeable future.

Now if I could visit Sweden, I’d definitely have to make a side trip to Kökets Hus at Kvanum itself – I wonder how many of these gorgeous displays are actually located there? If this was set-up as a boutique hotel for designers, I think there’d be plenty of takers. Though they might never persuade me to leave – imagine going to work here every day:

Kökets Hus in Kvanum

Here’s one more grand Kvanum kitchen – a backsplash to die for, and a LaCanche range in a scale to suit the space – but what I’d like to know is what’s that sitting on the end of the counter?