The Kitchen
A working room that has to become a dining room by seven — dark wood, warm metal, and the discipline of a set table.
Every scene here is built from pieces that are actually in the House Theory catalogue — the flatware, the cheese knives, the trivet, the towel. Nothing is borrowed from a stock library.
Which means the dimensions below are real dimensions, and the arrangement is one you can reproduce on your own counter tonight.
- Blackened Oak
- Table and cabinetry. Open-grain, oiled rather than lacquered — it drinks candlelight instead of bouncing it.
- Honed Carrara
- Counter and serving slab. Cold to the hand, matte to the eye; it holds a cheese board better than any wood.
- Gold & Copper Metal
- Flatware and cheese knives. Two warm metals, never three — the mix reads as collected, not mismatched.
- Limewashed Olive
- Walls. A low-sheen olive-charcoal that turns a kitchen from utility into a dining room after dark.
- Washed Flax
- Runner, napkins, dish towel. Loose weave, unironed, allowed to crease.
The Long Table
Set the table before you light it. Matte stoneware in a single grey, a flax runner down the centre, and the flatware laid straight rather than fanned. Candles low — anything above eye level flattens the faces around the table.
- Runner
- 45 cm wide, 30 cm overhang each end
- Setting width
- 60 cm per person
- Flatware
- 2 cm from the plate edge, aligned at the base
- Candles
- Pillar height 6–10 cm, grouped in odd numbers
The Board
A cheese board is a still life you are allowed to eat. Lay the knives in a single row along the near edge — one blade per cheese — and let the fruit fall where it wants. Empty marble at the corners is what makes it read as styled.
- Slab
- 40 × 30 cm marble, 2 cm thick
- Knives
- One per cheese, 3–5 cm apart
- Cheeses
- Three, in ascending strength left to right
- Negative space
- Keep a third of the slab bare
Trivet as Altar
The trivet earns its keep twice — under a hot pan by day, under a candle after dinner. Set it off-centre on the counter with nothing else within a hand's width.
- Trivet
- 20 cm diameter, footed
- Candle
- Amber glass, 24 cl
- Clearance
- 20 cm bare counter on all sides
Linen at the Edge
A dish towel is the only soft thing in a kitchen — hang it long and unfolded so the drape reads, and keep the serving pieces loose beside it rather than in a drawer.
- Towel
- 50 × 70 cm, cotton gauze
- Drop
- Hang to 35 cm below the counter lip
- Serving set
- 4 pieces, laid parallel