My kitchen in Frederiksberg

|Camille Sousa Sousa
Mit Kvänum køkken på Frederiksberg

I live in an old villa in Frederiksberg with my husband Anders and our three children. My home is probably the place where my passion for interior design really gets to thrive. It’s filled with colors, beautiful vintage finds, and solutions that may not always be the most classic – but that feel just right for us.

When we bought the house, it quickly became clear that the kitchen was the heart of the home. We actually fell in love with the old kitchen that was already in the house, but quite quickly we had to admit that it did not work for everyday life. We needed a room where you could cook, have children around, and talk with guests at the same time.

That’s why we ended up tearing down the old kitchen and opening it up to the dining room. That way, we could create a large kitchen-living area with space for cooking, conversations, and long dinners.

A KITCHEN THAT CAN WITHSTAND EVERYDAY LIFE

When five people live together, a kitchen must not only be beautiful – it also has to work.

We therefore chose to paint all the cabinet doors dark green. The color gives the kitchen a warm and deep tone, but it also has a very practical advantage: it hides grease fingerprints of all sizes.

A painted kitchen is also incredibly easy to maintain. If scratches or small dents appear, you can always bring out the brush again, and then the kitchen looks almost like new.

I love kitchens that are allowed to live a little – they don’t have to be perfect.


3 THINGS THAT MAKE A KITCHEN COZY

If I may say so myself, there are three things that make a kitchen feel cozy:

COLORS
A kitchen should have depth. I love colored fronts – like our dark green ones – because they add warmth to the room.

A TABLE TO GATHER AROUND
A kitchen island or a large table makes people stay longer. That’s where conversations happen.

PERSONAL THINGS
Glass, ceramics, textiles, and small finds make a kitchen personal. It’s often the little things that create atmosphere.

In the store DORA, I am always on the lookout for exactly those things – beautiful glasses, table textiles, and small details that make everyday life a little nicer.

 

A KITCHEN THAT CAN WITHSTAND EVERYDAY LIFE

When five people live together, a kitchen must not only be beautiful – it also has to work.

We therefore chose to paint all the cabinet doors dark green. The color gives the kitchen a warm and deep tone, but it also has a very practical advantage: it hides grease fingerprints of all sizes.

A painted kitchen is also incredibly easy to maintain. If scratches or small dents appear, you can always bring out the brush again, and then the kitchen looks almost like new.

I love kitchens that are allowed to live a little – they don’t have to be perfect.


GET THE SAME ATMOSPHERE IN YOUR OWN KITCHEN

If you yourself love a warm and personal kitchen, you can create much of the atmosphere with small things for the table.

I especially love:

These are exactly the things I also use in my own kitchen – and that I’m always looking for for the store.

 

A KITCHEN THAT STILL LIVES

The kitchen is now a few years old, but it still works exactly as we hoped. Since then, we have changed the color to Pean Black from Farrow and Ball. So now it’s purple! It’s also really beautiful. 

The table in the kitchen island is still the heart of the home. BUT we have gotten a kitchen island with a downdraft extractor, since the kitchen wasn’t functional without a hood. This is where we eat breakfast, where the kids do their homework, and where friends end up sitting for a long time while cooking is going on. It’s absolutely PERFECT. 

And that might actually be the most important thing about a kitchen:
that it gets used.

Read much more about my lovely kitchen/dining area in the magazine RUM (August 2017) RUM magazine. There you can also see all these beautiful pictures in print.