What happens when a kitchen inspires a piece of furniture?
In this episode of The Sociable Kitchen® Podcast, host Julie Broberg sits down with award-winning Danish designer Rikke Frost, the creative mind behind Kvik’s Align kitchen and now The Sociable Bench — part of the Kvik Living collection.
Rikke shares how the idea for the bench grew naturally from the kitchen, how its soft curves echo Align’s signature handle, and how every small detail — from the hidden shelf to the curved edges — serves both form and function.
She also reflects on what makes Danish design so human, why good design should be both inviting and practical, and how autumn colours are currently inspiring her creative world.
✨ The Sociable Bench is Danish design made for togetherness — from the heart of the kitchen to every corner of your home.
This page is a transcript of the episode.
Danish design — Rikke Frost & the Sociable Bench
How did the bench come to be?
Julie: Welcome to The Sociable Kitchen, a podcast by Kvik. I'm Julie Broberg. We've managed to lure award-winning Danish designer Rikke Frost back into the studio to talk about the new bench she has designed for us.
You may remember that we talked to her earlier this year about Align, the kitchen she created for us. If you haven't heard that episode, you really should go back and have a listen, but let's get right into it. Where did the idea for creating a bench for the kitchen begin?
Rikke: It was a dialogue with Kvik, of course, but I believe a bench is actually quite a good extension for the kitchen.
Rikke: It has this sociable feel to it because it's a bench where you come together. That's what you do on a bench. You sit together with somebody or you sit there by yourself. And I thought that the bench would be really good for this kitchen because it's an extension where you can be part of the kitchen and be sociable.
It could also be for the children to stand on so they can take better part. So they can reach. But also if you have friends over somebody who would like to just participate by talking to you while you prepare the food.
So I thought this was a great idea to start with after the kitchen. I think the challenge is also that. Of course the bench is sort of thought together with the Align kitchen. But of course, I wanted the bench to be able to stand on its own and be used in several rooms, several settings, different architectures.
So I think the challenge is always to make it, simple enough and functional, of course, that it can be used many places and not just for the kitchen. So it's not just an arm on on the actual kitchen, it's, it's more of a independent piece of furniture. So that is always the challenge that you can make something that looks natural with Align, but also looks natural when it's put somewhere else off the kitchen or with a different kitchen.
Julie: The Sociable Bench has the same quiet confidence as the Align kitchen, soft curves, solid oak, and a lightness that makes it easy to move from room to room. It comes in light oak and dark oak, so it's a great companion to any of our kitchens. It's just as natural at the end of a kitchen island as it is in a hallway or under a window, a place to pause, talk, or take off your shoes.
It's great as extra seating at your dining table when you've got a crowd around for dinner. Its form is a soft curve on one side and a straight back that fits perfectly against a wall or up to your kitchen island. And if you look closely, you'll see the same distinctive lines that run through the Align kitchen. The elegant curve of the handle is scaled up and reimagined in the bench’s form.
Rikke: Because I'm the one drawing it, these kind of lines and these shapes and the geometric lines are extended into the next kind of product. It was also the idea that it has to look like Align. But without only looking like Align. But the shapes, of course, are continued into the bench. So yean, the handle is kind of scaled up to a bench.
Designing furniture vs. designing a kitchen
Rikke: I guess it's more of my comfort zone to design furniture. They're more free in a way. You can put them anywhere. Whereas a kitchen is fixed. It's built in.
Julie: It's kind of architecture in a way.
Rikke: So of course this is a different kind of design, but at the same time, it's still the same process that I go through. You can say it was more into my comfort zone to design the furniture. But of course thinking the bench, actually, I quite like that it has this starting point, the kitchen.
Rikke: And then you start thinking of it in a different way than if I was just given a brief of, could you please make a bench?
Julie: The connection between the Align kitchen and the Sociable Bench isn't just visual, it's emotional. Those same soft lines and gentle curves that make a line feel calm and tactile now find their way into the bench where form becomes feeling and design meets everyday life. In true Danish design fashion.
Rikke: I think the curves on the Align kitchen are all about making it a safe and sensual space. And this is something that I always look into. It has to be this inviting piece of furniture, So it has these rounded curves that invite you and is embracing you in a way. And then you don't bang your knee on it when you walk past.
So again, if you put it up against a kitchen island and, in my kitchen, my kids, when they were younger, they were running around.
This is why it's also so curved. It's because if these corners were sticking out, you would so often bump into them because it's low, it's lower than the kitchen island. So that's why these curves and these rounded soft areas are made because it's both functional, but it also visually something that is softer. It appeals to you and gives you this harmony.
Design is in the details
Rikke: Most of the details on this bench are, of course, something that I've thought a lot about. So there is this gap in the top which is in the middle. And that's made both to make the bench look lighter when doesn't have the cushion on it and when it has the cushion on it, it's made for making sure the cushion will stay where it should stay.
Julie: There's a really smart way that the cushion attaches, using that space.
Rikke: So all these details on the bench are made for a reason and most people will never notice, will never see it that way. But that doesn't matter to me. To me it matters that I've actually thought it through. And also, of course, the little shelf that's underneath actually is of course a part of the construction and it makes, it, makes it possible to make it flat pack. But also that it gives you this extra functionality. In all kinds of rooms, like in the hallway for shoes or in the kitchen. I see it as a place where you could put cookbooks or a little box with games in it or whatever.
Julie: A little mini storage of some sort.
Rikke: So to me, this shelf has more functionalities than you think because it's ideally of course, or initially, it's a construction part. But on the other hand, you could have made a bench without a shelf.
Julie: Every curve, every joint, every hidden detail tells a story about how we live with design and how design lives with us for Rega.
Julie: Every curve, every joint, every hidden detail tells a story about how we live with design and how design lives with us for Rikke.That way of thinking isn't just about one bench or one kitchen, it's part of something much bigger, the Danish approach to design itself.
Rikke: But I think Danish design is so much about looking into human behavior and what's going on in society and then solving some of those things that you think can be made better for your everyday life.
And that's what I'm trying to do with this bench. It's not just a place where you sit in togetherness, it's also a bench you can use in several ways. And also if you think of a bench that can be used so many different places, then it's also a piece of furniture that you would like to maybe inherit and that you would like to pass on to your kids. Because it can contain this story about when you were a kid, you were standing on this helping in the kitchen and then when you get your own kitchen, you would like this to be in your house.
So I think all of these extra layers are something Danish. It's something where you think of human behaviour first, because I think the most interesting thing about design is really how it relates to people. Of course, it has to be aesthetically really beautiful and all of that, but it's really, we make all these things for people. Not for using wood.
What's inspiring you right now?
Julie: Before we wrapped up, I wanted to ask Rikke what was inspiring her right now? What colors, shapes, or moments were catching her eye this season?
Rikke: At the moment, I'm very excited about autumn colors. We're in the beginning of October and the colors are just fantastic. I love it.
I love these houses with all the leaves on it that are red and golden and green together, and that's just fascinating. That's always very, very beautiful to me. We are lucky in Denmark to have these seasonal changes, so that's great inspiration.
Julie: And does it filter into your work?
Rikke: think it does — I'm just in love with this dark burgundy red kind of colour at the moment, and it's just, you just see it on these leaves and it's fantastic. I was just about picking up some of them on the way because they're just flying around on the streets and they're just, they are so beautiful right now.
Julie: From the first sketches to the final curve, the Sociable Bench captures everything we love about Danish design, honest materials, thoughtful function, and a quiet beauty that grows richer with time. Thank you to Danish designer Rikke Frost for sharing her process and her inspiration. The Sociable Bench is part of Kvik Living, a new universe of Danish design furniture made for togetherness from the heart of the kitchen to every corner of your home. You can see it in stores and online at kvik.com
