Designing a kitchen is like deciding on a tattoo: What if you change your mind down the line? Founders of Copenhagen shop Stilleben, Ditte Reckweg and Jelena Schou, were obsessed with the idea of creating an updatable kitchen “to survive many styles and color trends.”
They teamed up with architect Trine Hjorth and cabinetmaker Ditlev Rahbek of HjorthRahbek to come up with a series of no-nonsense kitchens—practical and solid, but also fun. The kitchens are made up of a basic core design with hand-painted cabinets. The rule? “You must be able to repaint the kitchen at any point in a different color,” the designers say (obsolescence be gone). Here’s a look at the Stilleben Kitchen model in their Frederiksborggade 22 showroom in Copenhagen.
Above: Working with Stilleben Kitchen, clients can customize countertops, appliances, color palette, and more. The cooktop in the island is a Miele; “we like the understated design and warranty from Miele, but clients can choose their appliances.” The kettle is the Kalita Wave Kettle. Above: Over the counter is a framed vintage poster from the Centre Pompidou and on the counter is a large ceramic Midnight Blue Bowl from the Stilleben line of tableware and a Skagerak Edge Teapot on a Cassette Tray. Above: The stainless steel sink is from Blanco and the faucet is the Quooker Fusion Square Faucet. “We like to emphasize the kitchen as a modern place for modern people, so we chose a modern tap with a design that isn’t over the top.” Above: The Stilleben Kitchen Shelf is available to order a la carte for $466.32 at Stilleben. On the top shelf is Where to Drink Coffee from Phaidon, a stack of Stilleben Maroon Bowls and Stilleben Midnight Blue Bowls, a vintage glass pitcher, and an Iittala Kartio Pitcher. On the lower shelf are Stilleben Midnight Blue Cups and Stilleben Light Grey Cups. Above: Stilleben Kitchen offers different options for countertops. For longevity, the designers like Silestone, but their favorite is linoleum. Here the countertops are solid oak with a thin layer of dark blue linoleum. Above: Hardware is “old-fashioned chrome that cannot be worn out,” as seen here on the hinges. The simple drawer pulls are the same finish. The cabinets are hand painted. Above: Drawers are made of solid oak with dovetail joints, an enduring joinery technique. Customers can choose different colors for the cabinet interiors. Above: For more examples of Stilleben kitchens, see their completed projects with customized details.
When you register as a free Member of the Remodelista family of websites (Remodelista, Gardenista, and The Organized Home), you gain access to all current posts plus 10 archived posts per month, our internal bookmarking tool, and the community bulletin board.
Access 10 archived posts (older than one year) per month on each site
Use of our internal bookmark tool, so you can save products, posts, and other pages for quick reference
Access to our community bulletin board so you can ask and answer design-related questions
Unlimited access to the Product Catalogs, Design Travel sources, and Architect & Designer Directory listings
Choose from our ten newsletters to keep up with the latest on the sites
Or Subscribe for Maximum Value!
For $5/month ($59.99 paid annually) you'll enjoy unlimited, ad-free access to Remodelista, Gardenista, and The Organized Home and all the benefits of Membership.
Annual subscribers pay 50% off the monthly subscription price of $9.99
×
Subscribe to the Remodelista family of websites
For $5/month ($59.99 paid annually) you'll enjoy unlimited, ad-free access to Remodelista, Gardenista, and The Organized Home and all the benefits of Membership.
Annual subscribers pay 50% off the monthly subscription price of $9.99
×
Sorry! As a registered member you get 10 free posts from our archive (posts more than a year old) every 30 days. You have reached your limit for this 30-day period. If you would like to access unlimited posts from the archive (ad free, too), become a subscriber today, and keep reading as many articles as you want.
Full Access Individual Subscription
Benefits include:
Unlimited access to Remodelista, Gardenista, and The Organized Home sites
Ad-free browsing environment
Unrestricted access to 30,000+ archived posts
Receive the full-text daily newsletters
All features that Members have access to
Annual subscribers pay just 50% off the monthly subscription price of $9.99
Sorry! You have reached your limit of three (3) free posts from our archive every 30 days. You can increase this to 10 posts by joining as a free Member, or read unlimited posts with no ads by becoming a paid Subscriber.
Subscribe to the Remodelista family of websites
For $5/month ($59.99 paid annually) you'll enjoy unlimited, ad-free access to Remodelista, Gardenista, and The Organized Home and all the benefits of Membership.
Annual subscribers pay 50% off the monthly subscription price of $9.99
Become a Member at no charge
When you register as a free Member of the Remodelista family of websites (Remodelista, Gardenista, and The Organized Home), you gain access to all current posts plus 10 archived posts per month, our internal bookmarking tool, and the community bulletin board.
Access 10 archived posts (older than one year) per month on each site
Use of our internal bookmark tool, so you can save products, posts, and other pages for quick reference
Access to our community bulletin board so you can ask and answer design-related questions
Unlimited access to the Product Catalogs, Design Travel sources, and Architect & Designer Directory listings
Choose from our ten newsletters to keep up with the latest on the sites
Manage Newsletters
Congratulations on becoming a Subscriber to Remodelista, Gardenista and The Organized Home! You now have access to many great features across the sites:
Unlimited access to all three sites
Ad-free browsing environment
Unrestricted access to 30,000+ archived posts
Receive any of the newsletters, including the the full-text daily Remodelista and Gardenista newsletters
Use of our internal bookmark tool, so you can save products, posts, and other pages for quick reference
Access to our community bulletin board so you can ask and answer design-related questions
Congratulations on joining as a free Member of Remodelista, Gardenista and The Organized Home! You now have access to many great features across the sites:
Access to all posts published in the past year
Access 10 archived posts (older than one year) per month on each site
Use of our internal bookmark tool, so you can save products, posts, and other pages for quick reference
Access to our community bulletin board so you can ask and answer design-related questions
Unlimited access to the Product Catalogs, Design Travel sources, and Architect & Designer Directory listings
Choose from our ten newsletters to keep up with the latest on the sites
If at any time you want to become a Subscriber and enjoy unlimited, ad-free access to all our content, just go to the My Account link and choose Subscribe.
Have a Question or Comment About This Post?
Join the conversation