A family’s heritage informs their modern-meets-vintage kitchen.

The Mission: Build a kitchen worthy of its architect occupants using budget-conscious, assemble-it-yourself cabinets as a style starting point. First-generation American Christine Albertsson vows to pass down a love of Sweden to her children, Eva and August, both through the spoken word (she’s bilingual) and the language of design (she and husband Todd Hansen own an architecture firm in Minneapolis). So these pros turned to the clean-line, flat-pack cabinets from Scandinavian powerhouse Ikea—and designed a kitchen addition to their 1923 house around the cabinets. “Our kitchen is the place where American Colonial, which is the style of the original house, overlaps traditional Swedish painted interiors—with a contemporary twist,” says Todd. 

The Plan: Whip up a new cooking space that complements the intrinsic charm of this 1920s home, especially the unusual windows that sit just 4 inches off the floor to capture the views from this high-on-a-bluff lot. Maximize display areas for the family’s vintage hand-me-down Swedish textiles, dishware, and glassware.

The Savings: White oak cabinets from IKEA kept the budget in check. But premanufactured cabinets present design challenges, even for architects. “It looks effortless,” says Christine, “but it was a ton of work to make a layout that works.” Their tricks: Avoid corner cabinets, which can be tricky even in custom installations. (This layout includes a straight run plus an L-shape configuration for the island.) Choose cabinets first if you’re doing new construction; Christine and Todd adjusted the addition’s length so the cabinets would fit. Gaps at the ceiling highlight the modern cabinets in the traditional space.

The Splurges: White marble countertops for vintage charm. Sleek stainless-steel handles with a price tag that reached one-fourth the total cost of the cabinets.

The Palette: Warm neutrals—medium-tone woods, putty-color walls, and stainless-steel appliances—that show off the textures and colors of Swedish textiles.

The Lifesaver: Not converting the original 9x9 kitchen into a laundry room until after the new kitchen was done, ensuring home-cooked meals and avoiding takeout.

The Must-Have: A Viking stove. Says Todd, “I used to work in restaurants in high school and college, and I got very habituated to high Btu’s.”

The Odd Shape: Mother Nature dictated the kitchen’s unusual tapered rectangle dimensions. “The shape was determined by features of the lot,” says Christine. Angling one wall draws the eye to the view of a creek and woods.

The Happy Accident: The charming 8-inch-deep alcove that frames a section of the home’s original exterior sheathing. The original plan was to drywall that entire section, which hides plumbing pipes that run to a new upstairs bath. “We liked the texture exposed, so we cased around it instead,” says Todd.