A Brick Red Island Replaced the In-the-Way Wall Cabinets in This Copenhagen Kitchen

You’d think that having a long stretch of countertop in a tiny city-apartment kitchen would be a good thing, but Céline Hallas begs to differ. The design-savvy Dane refers to her old setup as a “highway.” “It left so much empty space in the middle of the room. It didn’t create a nice vibe,” she recalls. Not to mention, whenever she wanted to get some air circulating through the space, Hallas would have to climb up on the counter to reach the window crank. 

For the past seven years, Hallas tried to make, swathing the walls in a blue-green hue and mounting emerald cubbies to make it both aesthetically pleasing and storage-friendly. “But no matter what, it was still just a white, glossy kitchen with no personality and a highway in the middle,” she says. In 2022, she finally made the call to tear out the “highway” and carve out a new path using Reform’s Basis line. 

Bisecting the area with a large island gave the kitchen the focal point it had long been missing, while also allowing Hallas and her family to reach the windows, which boast the best views in the entire apartment. “You’re looking toward the oldest house on the street from the 1600s,” Hallas points out. The central structure offers plenty of space for stowing cookware and dishes, so Hallas was able to remove the extra cabinets she had previously installed on the kitchen’s crooked walls, freeing the room of visual clutter.

Naturally, while she was at it, she switched up the room’s palette. It may seem strange to hear that someone whose work and Instagram presence revolves around color was nervous about brick-hued linoleum cupboards and Calacatta Viola marble counters, but Hallas admits she was out of her comfort zone. “The reason I chose red is because it’s not my go-to color at all. I would have naturally chosen blue, but I really like to challenge myself in my choices, because in doing so I learn the value of other colors,” she explains. 

To keep things from feeling too fire truck–like, she opted for white fronts underneath the cooktop that blend in nicely with the gray walls. On the ceiling, she used a warm camel tone that “just makes everything a little cozier,” notes Hallas. Now, the space is a figurative—and literal—breath of fresh air.