How to Create a Scandi Kitchen
The kitchen is where Scandinavian design philosophy is perhaps most honestly expressed. There is nowhere in the home where the relationship between form and function is more direct, and nowhere where the consequences of poor design are more apparent every single day.
A Scandi kitchen isn't defined by a particular look so much as a particular attitude. Every element should earn its place. Nothing should be there simply because it fills a gap. The result — when it's done well — is a kitchen that is a genuine pleasure to cook in, to eat in, and to be in.
Start with the Kitchen Itself
The foundation of a Scandi kitchen is cabinetry that is honest, precise, and free of unnecessary detail. Flat-fronted doors, clean integrated handles or simple finger pulls, materials that are tactile and genuine rather than simulated. The kitchen sets the tone for everything that follows.
Fantin, the Italian kitchen brand, brings a sensibility that aligns naturally with Scandi principles — rigorous in its design thinking, minimal in its detailing, and uncompromising in its quality. Where Italian design tradition meets Nordic restraint, the result is a kitchen that feels both beautifully resolved and entirely liveable. Fantin kitchens are built to last and to be used hard — the kind of investment that only looks better as the years pass.
Timber, stone, and matte lacquer are the natural material choices. A pale oak veneer, a honed stone worktop, or a matte white or warm grey lacquer finish — each brings a different quality of warmth and texture to the space. Avoid high-gloss finishes wherever possible; they show every fingerprint and rarely age well.
Choose Your Seating with Care
Where space allows, seating at a kitchen island or breakfast bar brings the Scandi dining sensibility into the kitchen — the idea that food and company are inseparable, and that the kitchen should accommodate both with ease.
The CH56 bar stool, designed by Hans J. Wegner for Carl Hansen & Søn, is one of the finest pieces of seating in the Scandinavian canon. Its elegant, tapering legs and sculpted seat carry the same craft and material honesty as the rest of Wegner's work — a stool that looks as considered at a kitchen island as it does anywhere else in the house. Available in a range of timber finishes, it works equally well alongside pale oak cabinetry or a darker, more dramatic kitchen.
HAY's About A Stool — the AAS — offers a more contemporary, accessible alternative. Clean-lined, comfortable, and available in a wide range of colours and seat materials, it brings a quieter, more everyday Scandi sensibility to the kitchen counter. The two stools mix well together if you want a relaxed, collected feel around a longer island.
Think About Storage
Kitchen storage is one of the great design challenges — there is rarely enough of it, and the temptation to add more cabinetry can easily tip a kitchen from calm to cluttered. The Scandi approach is to be deliberate: closed storage for everything that doesn't need to be seen, and open storage for the things that are worth looking at.
String Furniture's shelving system is a cost-effective and beautifully resolved solution for open kitchen storage. Wall-mounted and endlessly configurable, it keeps the floor clear while giving you a place for cookbooks, ceramics, everyday glassware, and the small objects that accumulate in a kitchen. It sits well alongside almost any cabinetry and adds warmth and character to what might otherwise be a purely functional space.
A few well-chosen open shelves in a kitchen will always feel more alive than a wall of closed cabinets — the key is to edit what goes on them ruthlessly. A set of matching glass storage jars, a row of cookbooks, two or three pieces of ceramics. No more than the shelf needs.
Get the Lighting Right
Kitchen lighting tends to be treated as a purely practical matter — task lighting above the worktop, downlights in the ceiling, and nothing else. The Scandi approach takes it further.
Good task lighting is essential, but the kitchen also needs ambient light that makes it feel welcoming rather than clinical. A pendant or two above an island — hung low enough to feel intimate — changes the character of the space entirely, particularly in the evening. Louis Poulsen's kitchen pendants are designed for exactly this: warm, glareless light that makes the food look good and the room feel like somewhere you want to be.
If the kitchen opens into a dining or living area, consider how the light in both spaces works together. A consistent approach — warm colour temperature throughout, layered sources at different heights — creates a flow between the spaces that feels natural and considered.
Choose Natural Materials Throughout
The surfaces you choose for a kitchen — worktops, splashbacks, flooring — are where the material honesty of a Scandi interior is most tested. These are hard-working surfaces that need to function well, but that doesn't mean they need to be anonymous.
Honed stone — marble, granite, or a limestone — brings warmth and genuine beauty to a worktop, and develops a patina with use that only improves over time. Timber worktops are a more forgiving choice and feel entirely natural in a Scandi kitchen, though they need regular oiling to stay in good condition. Poured concrete and terrazzo both work well as flooring materials — durable, tactile, and visually calm.
For the splashback, consider handmade ceramic tiles in a simple format — a white or off-white glaze with a little variation in the surface that catches the light. Far more interesting than standard metro tiles and just as practical.
For something truly distinctive, Barazza solid stainless steel worktops deserve serious consideration. At just 4mm thick, they are used in professional kitchens for good reason — hardwearing, hygienic, and a pleasure to work on. The satin finish means none of the cold, clinical shine you might associate with steel; instead it has a quiet, industrial warmth that sits surprisingly naturally alongside timber and stone. And like the best natural materials, Barazza worktops patinate beautifully with use — developing a subtle character over time that only makes them more interesting. It is a bold choice, but an entirely considered one.
Keep the Worktops Clear
Nothing undermines a Scandi kitchen faster than cluttered worktops. The discipline of keeping surfaces clear — returning things to their place, finding a home for everything — is what separates a kitchen that functions well from one that merely has good bones.
A few things can live on the worktop: a good knife block, a wooden chopping board, a simple ceramic utensil pot, perhaps a plant on the windowsill. Everything else should have a drawer or a shelf. When the worktops are clear, the quality of the materials and the cabinetry can speak for themselves.
Bring the Outdoors In
A kitchen with a connection to the natural world — through a window, through the materials used, through the plants growing on a sill — feels more alive and more human than one that doesn't. Herbs in simple terracotta pots, a branch of something seasonal in a tall jug, a bowl of fruit on the worktop. These small gestures cost almost nothing and give the kitchen a sense of warmth and life that no amount of styling can replicate.
Skagerak's kitchen and dining accessories carry this sensibility naturally — cutting boards, serving pieces, and objects made from natural materials with a simplicity and honesty that feels entirely right in a Scandi kitchen.
What to Avoid
High-gloss cabinetry. It shows every mark and rarely ages well. Matte and satin finishes are more forgiving and more honest.
Cluttered worktops. Clear surfaces let the materials and design speak. Find a home for everything that doesn't earn a place on show.
Purely functional lighting. Downlights alone make a kitchen feel clinical. Add a pendant above the island and warm the space up.
Overly matched accessories. A kitchen where every object is from the same range can feel staged rather than lived-in. Mix materials, mix makers, and let the space develop character over time.
The Brands to Know
Fantin — Italian kitchen design with a rigorous, Scandi-aligned minimal sensibility Carl Hansen & Søn — the CH56 bar stool, a Wegner classic for the kitchen island HAY — the About A Stool, versatile and beautifully designed for everyday kitchen use String Furniture — cost-effective, elegant open shelving for kitchen storage Louis Poulsen — warm, considered pendant lighting above the island or dining area Barazza — 4mm solid stainless steel worktops, satin finish, professional grade and beautiful with age Skagerak — natural kitchen and dining accessories rooted in Nordic craft
Browse our full kitchen collection at innes.co.uk, or visit our showroom in Hessle, near Hull, to see the pieces in person.
Frequently Asked Questions
What makes a kitchen feel Scandinavian? Simplicity, honest materials, and the absence of anything unnecessary. Flat-fronted cabinetry in a matte finish, natural worktop materials, clear surfaces, and warm considered lighting are the foundations. The Scandi kitchen is designed to function beautifully and feel genuinely good to be in — not to impress at a glance but to reward daily use.
Are Italian kitchens compatible with a Scandi interior? Very much so. The best Italian kitchen design — rigorous, minimal, and uncompromising in quality — shares more with Scandi design principles than it might initially appear. Fantin are a good example: their kitchens are built around simplicity, material honesty, and longevity, values that sit entirely naturally in a Nordic-influenced home.
What height bar stools do I need for a kitchen island? It depends on your worktop height. Standard kitchen worktops sit at around 90cm, so you'll need a stool with a seat height of around 63–65cm. Breakfast bars are often higher — around 100–105cm — and need a stool with a seat height of around 73–75cm. Always check the specific worktop height before ordering, and allow at least 25–30cm between the seat and the underside of the counter for comfortable legroom.
How do I keep a white or pale kitchen looking good? Choose matte or satin finishes over gloss — they show fewer marks and are easier to spot-clean. Honed stone worktops are more forgiving than polished ones. Keep the worktops clear and clean as you go rather than letting things accumulate. And accept that a kitchen in daily use will develop a little patina — in natural materials especially, that's part of the character rather than something to fight against.
Is open shelving practical in a kitchen? Yes, if you're disciplined about what goes on it. Open shelving works best for the things you use and reach for every day — everyday crockery, glasses, a row of cookbooks — and for a few objects that are genuinely worth looking at. Keep it edited, keep it consistent in material and tone, and it will add warmth and character to the kitchen. If you tend toward clutter, err toward more closed storage and use open shelving sparingly.