25 Scandinavian Kitchens That Celebrate Nordic Cool

Scandinavian-style kitchens are known for their functional layouts, neutral palettes, less-is-more aesthetics, wood tones, and occasional eccentric touches. The same clean lines, fine craftsmanship, and timeless design principles that informed so much of midcentury design in Europe and the United States in the 20th century still inspires modern interiors.

Today, an ever-evolving interpretation of Scandi style, often mixed with other interior design styles and regional influences, is one of the most popular interior design styles in many countries around the world.

Check out these Scandinavian and Scandi-inspired kitchens from interior designers and stylists around the world located everywhere from minimalist chic city apartments to warm, rustic Swedish farmhouses that offer ideas for incorporating some cool Nordic style into your own kitchen design.

Celebrate Natural Wood Tones

This modern Scandinavian kitchen from Fantastic Frank has flat-front cabinetry with barely there hardware that keeps the focus on the warm-toned floor-to-ceiling wood, while a cool aluminum backsplash adds contrast and reflects light. Kelly green chairs around the pale wood round kitchen table break up all the natural wood colors and add energy to the design.

Embrace an All-White Palette

This airy kitchen from NYC-based Sissy + Marley Interiors has a clean, modern feel with all-white cabinetry and light oak flooring, and Scandi-style spindle-back painted wood bar stools and a trio of pendant lights with a Danish modern bent.

Minimize Upper Cabinetry

This serene kitchen from UK-based deVOL Kitchens uses classic English Shaker-style cabinetry to create a Scandi-style oasis in shades of taupe and white. A side wall features ample storage and glass-front cabinetry, allowing the back wall above the sink to remain free and clear to contribute to the calming, Scandi-style aesthetic.

Add Industrial Farmhouse Elements

This spacious Flatiron kitchen from NYC-based Chango & Co. combines industrial, modern farmhouse, and Scandi-style elements, with its stainless steel appliances, white subway tile backsplash, white Shaker-style cabinetry, and custom-built island stained in a rich dark wood tone.

Blend with Classic French Style

Scandi style is wildly popular in France, where many interiors marry classic French architecture with Scandi style decor to create a pleasing contemporary mix that celebrates both styles. This Parisian kitchen from Chloé Leymarie and Eva Gourdon of Leymarie Gourdon Architectes has elegant French bones and intricate historic ceiling moldings that are contrasted beautifully with minimalist warm wood cabinetry and a restrained Scandi-style aesthetic that brings the period room into the 21st century.

Prioritize Function

This California kitchen from Cathie Hong Interiors has a simple palette of white, black, and silver, a functional layout, and warm wood accents throughout that keep it feeling homey and warm. Pale oak flooring reinforces the Scandi-style aesthetic.

Add Sculptural Accents

This slick contemporary Scandinavian kitchen from Fantastic Frank has a wall of white cabinetry, silver appliances, a shiny marble dining table in place of a kitchen island, and black accents from the countertops to lighting to chairs.

Highlight Midcentury Classics

A Scandi-inspired modern kitchen and dining area from Joshua Smith Inc. features soft white walls and sculptural midcentury bentwood chairs and wishbone bar stools.

Add Black Accents

This Southampton, New York kitchen from Chango & Co. has a polished, clean aesthetic that blends American modern farmhouse with Scandi-style accents like the black painted wood bar stools and black metal pendant lighting.

The 18 Best Places to Buy Home Decor in 2024

Maximize Natural Light

This white-washed, light-flooded Scandinavian eat-in kitchen from Fantastic Frank has pale painted floors and simple midcentury furnishings like Eames Eiffel chairs and a Danish modern pendant light hanging over the tulip-style table.

Add a Touch of Bling

This glossy take on Scandi style from Costa Mesa, California-based Lindye Galloway Studio + Shop has a mix of warm toned wood and pale marble effect quartz countertops and gleaming white backsplash tiling. Double islands and touches of gold add some American-style bling, but the Scandi-style pendant lighting is a callback to the source.

Use Flat-Front Cabinetry

This Copenhagen kitchen from Fantastic Frank has a contemporary Scandinavian feel with its streamlined layout and minimalist white flat-front cabinetry. Here, the kitchen island has a lip on one short end that accommodates bar seating for two, leaving the long side unencumbered by bar stools and full of under-island storage that helps maintain an uncluttered look. A nearby dining table in the open plan room accommodates sit-down meals for friends and family.

Add Warm Wood Touches

This homey L-shaped kitchen from Camden, Maine-based Jessie Tobias Design has floor-to-ceiling built-in cabinetry accented with black hardware. With simple glass bulb pendant lighting, and warm wood detailing from the ceiling to the oven vent to the bar stools and flooring, it's a warm American take on Scandi style.

Mix Metals

This California galley-style kitchen from Cathie Hong Interiors takes a minimalist Scandi-inspired approach with a black, white, and gray palette, minimal upper cabinetry, and adds mixed metal finished to keep it from looking too stark.

Add a Whisper of Color

This Scandinavian kitchen from Fantastic Frank includes plenty of negative space thanks to ceiling-scraping cabinetry that leaves room for a swath of blank wall, giving the design a chance to breathe. Pale pistachio green paint adds relief from all the white while acting as a neutral. A single acid yellow chair at the adjacent dining table adds a shot of color that wakes up the quiet design, showing that it doesn't take itself too seriously.

Incorporate Vintage Touches

This kitchen from Brexton Cole Interiors takes a page out of the Scandi playbook with acres of clear countertops, a white tile backsplash that reaches to the ceiling, a simple black-and-white color scheme, and touches of vintage art and decor to add a sense of timelessness.

Keep a Low Profile

Losing upper cabinetry is one way to streamline your kitchen design and create a serene Scandi-inspired feel, like this light and airy kitchen with white walls, warm wood cabinetry, and a central island defined by pendant lights outfitted with shades to produce diffused warm light.

Add Decorative Wall Tile

This country style Scandinavian kitchen from Fantastic Frank has a simple palette of white, blue, and green, with a backsplash wall of timeless patterned tile, a farmhouse sink, and a pair of colored glass pendant lights that add charm to the simple, timeless, homey design.

Opt for All-White Dishware

Glass-front cabinetry filled with an assortment of all-white dishware and wood accents like a collection of cutting boards leaning against the backsplash give this kitchen from Northern California-based Cathie Hong Interiors a Scandi-inspired sense of detail that's easy to emulate if you want to add some Nordic style to your kitchen without remodeling.

Incorporate Mismatched Seating

Instead of a kitchen island, this spacious modern Scandinavian kitchen in the Swedish countryside from Fantastic Frank has a long table that is a modern take on the farmhouse table. Anchored by a pair of colorful, sculptural pendant lights that perk up the overall neutral color palette, the table has a motley assortment of dining chairs in a couple of different styles that add personality and break up the otherwise clean and contemporary lines of the kitchen, with its flat-front cabinetry and stainless steel fittings.

Celebrate Rustic Elements

This classic family style kitchen located in a tiny fishing village in Skåne, Sweden from deVOL Kitchens and Our Food Stories features a mix of airy whitewashed floorboards and ceilings, with vintage and midcentury furniture that creates a warm and timeless feel.

Add Statement Furniture

This Swedish kitchen from deVOL Kitchens and Our Food Stories features a stunning Scandinavian-style kitchen island that creates a custom, one-of-a-kind design in this warm family home.

Refresh With Scandi Details

Cathie Hong Interiors gave a Sunnyvale, California single family home with a recently updated traditional American-style kitchen a Scandi-inspired refresh by adding new pendant lighting and bar stools to make the space feel more modern. A soft neutral palette of gray and white keeps the light-flooded space feeling serene.

Add Sculptural Seating

This kitchen from Philadelphia-based Melinda Kelson O'Connor Design puts the focus on natural materials with a kitchen island fitted with a wood bar and sculptural midcentury Cherner molded plywood bar stools in a rich walnut tone.

Embrace Eccentricity

And lest you think that all Scandinavian kitchens are an object lesson in serenity and neutral-toned minimalism, feast your eyes on this eccentric Swedish countryside kitchen from Fantastic Frank, with its mix of vintage furniture and accessories and bold Mondrian-inspired cabinetry and tile work in primary shades of red, yellow, and blue.

What is Scandinavian kitchen style?

Scandinavian-style kitchens are known for their neutral palettes, clean lines, less-is-more minimalist aesthetics, wood furniture and finishes, and eccentric touches. Modern Scandinavian kitchens tend to be uncluttered and to feature simple flat-front cabinetry. But Swedish country homes often incorporate more color, for example on backsplashes or accessories.

What are Scandi-style kitchen colors?

Scandi-style kitchens are often neutral in color, from white to black, gray, beige, taupe, and similar hues that complement signature elements like hardwood floors and simple wood furniture. But Scandinavian kitchens are also known to mix a minimalist approach to interior design with an embrace of color, pattern, and texture, and may include greens, reds, yellows, or any color of the rainbow.

What is the difference between Scandinavian and Nordic decor?

Scandinavian decor describes the styles of Sweden, Denmark, and Norway. Nordic decor includes Scandinavian decor as well as the associated Nordic territories that include Iceland, Finland, the Faroe Islands, Greenland, and Åland.

Read the original article on The Spruce.