Kitchen of the Week: A Copenhagen Stylist Reinvents her Kitchen, Ikea Hack Included

Pulling off sophisticated Ikea kitchen upgrades seems to be getting easier by the day. We recently spotlighted Plykea in London, Stylish Cabinet Fronts and Worktops for Ikea Kitchens. We also investigated a French designer’s own improved Ikea Kitchen in Provence. And today, we’re taking a look at a sprightly apartment kitchen in Frederiksberg, Copenhagen, that was given the Reform treatment (see High-Brow Ikea Hack from Reform of Denmark).

The kitchen belongs to girl-about-town Tikkie Elsøe and her husband, Mads Elsøe, who works at Politiken. A boutique owner turned IT grad student and Instagrammer (@tikkie_adelie)—not to mention a mother of one—Tikkie has an eye for design and a passion for detail. Applying readymade components and a far-ranging color palette, she made the results very much her own.

Photography by Karen Maj Kornum of Another Ballroom, courtesy of Reform.

Ikea hack kitchen with mint green cabinet fronts from Reform — Above: The horseshoe-shaped kitchen has Reform’s sixties-inspired Basis linoleum fronts and oak counters applied to Ikea’s standard cabinets (known as Sektion in the US and Metod in Europe).

Tikkie’s favorite color is pale green and she had long envisioned it for her kitchen “The cool mint in combination with the warmth from the wood handles and the countertop play quite well together,” she says. “But finding the right shade was a long process; we didn’t want our color choice to be too warm or too blue.” Note the range hood—Tikkie had that, too, encased in Reform fronts. She planted a small Frama Shelf next to it.

Tikkie Elsoe's Ikea hack kitchen in Copenhagen with mint green cabinet fronts from Reform — Above: Further customizing the setup, the simple grid-work backsplash is composed of Nudalava Tiles from Made a Mano. The range is from Ikea.

Reform is now selling its fronts in the US: This month, it opened 22 Waverly in the Brooklyn Navy Yard, a showroom that it shares with two other Scandinavian creative companies. Tikkie’s Reform cabinet fronts (not including the oak counter) cost approximately $1,800.