Coming home

Amanda Schulman is a driven entrepreneur. Together with her sister Hannah Widell, she manages Perfect Day Media, a high profile podcast company.

Amanda is married to Alex, praised novelist and journalist. They live on a posh address in central Stockholm with their children. In spite of their relative youth, Amanda and Alex are scarred veterans from the early days of the blog and pod era, and both have a publicist legacy to look after. Amanda’s paternal granny was Gunny Widell, a renowned publisher of weeklies with the Bonnier Group. Alex’s parents were both in television, his maternal granddad was the notoriously mean and droll litterateur and biographer Sven Stolpe, and his maternal uncle is Staffan Stolpe, a fine poet and travel essayist. So, there you are

No one lives closer to the fancy Östermalm Market Hall than the Schulman family, a classical fresh food indoor market from the late 1800s, a gourmet temple, a culinary cathedral of cast iron, red brick, and glass, then Sweden’s most modern building with novelties like electricity and bow light lamps, now reopened after years of refurbishing and restored to its ancient splendour.

It is an enviable site if you, like the Schulman household, have this weakness for a good life. Who has not? Here you would find a vast variety of fresh fruit, vegetables, fish, meats, bread, cheese, and spices, all the finest local and imported produce. And the winery is not too far away across the square. Amanda and Alex have always enjoyed cooking, lots of time is spent in their new kitchen with family and friends.

The Schulman family chose a Kvänum Real Classic Broby with a traditional recessed frame door. The inner edge of the frame has a hollow core profile which emphasises the expression from around 1900. It has a congenial atmosphere and matches the rest of the interior.

The quite imposing building from the first half of the 1800s is crowned with a gable roof. The style is some sort of lingering neoclassicism with elements of baroque. The façade has cornices, friezes, French balconies, bay windows, and vaulted entrances.

The interior has panelled doors, surrounds, and niches, wooden floors of broad boards, solid bases, stucco, and ceiling roses in spacious rooms full of daylight, and in one of them a magnificent tile stove like a high altar.

– Originally, the kitchen was located in another part of the flat, says Amanda. Moving a kitchen is a slightly tricky project; the result may look like a converted room which of course is exactly what it is. But we were lucky. Our new kitchen has that truly authentic feel thanks to the skills of the architect and assemblers from Kvänum; they are pro’s.

Their kitchen is the place where they all gather.

– Like any family with two working parents and a bunch of kids at different ages and stages, we are scattered throughout the day but tend to converge some time around five to cook, eat, socialise, and talk.

Amanda loves setting the table for a dinner party or a feast.

– Flowers, candles, and folded napkins make it a convivial time together, a shared experience offering something for the eye, for the stomach, and for the soul.

Finger food for a starter along with the drink is always a good idea, according to Amanda.

– It allows your guests to get to know each other in a relaxed manner.

In fact, she thinks planning and preparing the party is half the pleasure, and doing it in her new kitchen is a sheer joy.

They had a Kvänum kitchen once before. But for a few years they languished in limbo without one. Never again, they promised one another.

– This was a little like coming home, says Amanda. The cabinets are enchanting. Glass adds depth and lustre to the room. And it is funny how I keep discovering details, small things that make daily life easier. Okay, I am perfectly aware; it is only a kitchen. But, it sure is a delight.