Before and After: 5 Inviting Eat-In Kitchens
These kitchens achieve the best of both worlds by combining cooking and casual dining areas in a single room
Eat-in kitchens are combined kitchen and dining areas that are closed off or otherwise separated from other spaces within the home. They offer many of the benefits of an open-concept kitchen, but they have some advantages. For example, both designs let the cook and diners socialize, but an eat-in kitchen can be quieter and more intimate than one also open to living areas. Both can use space efficiently, but an eat-in kitchen usually has more walls for cabinetry. And the more traditional walled-off configuration may feel more consistent with an older home’s architectural style.
Below, see how pros remodeled closed (or mostly closed) kitchens to include dining tables and chairs suited to quick lunches as well as longer family meals.
Below, see how pros remodeled closed (or mostly closed) kitchens to include dining tables and chairs suited to quick lunches as well as longer family meals.
After: Zeigler raised the ceiling by a foot and expanded the kitchen by 85 square feet by eliminating a mudroom and the rarely used bathroom. She switched up the appliance locations and replaced them with a new 30-inch induction range, 36-inch stainless steel French door refrigerator and coordinating dishwasher. Above the range, she added a custom hood with vertical grooved paneling to create a focal point and highlighted it with with floating cherry shelves.
One of the kitchen’s owners is French, and she shared with Zeigler that she’d always wanted a large eat-in kitchen because they are common in her culture. Now there’s plenty of space for a black table and four faux leather chairs in the center of the room.
Custom cabinets: Paramount Cabinet and Design; cabinet paint: Jasper Stone, Sherwin-Williams; wall, ceiling and trim paint: Pure White, Sherwin-Williams
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One of the kitchen’s owners is French, and she shared with Zeigler that she’d always wanted a large eat-in kitchen because they are common in her culture. Now there’s plenty of space for a black table and four faux leather chairs in the center of the room.
Custom cabinets: Paramount Cabinet and Design; cabinet paint: Jasper Stone, Sherwin-Williams; wall, ceiling and trim paint: Pure White, Sherwin-Williams
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A new large window and a half-lite door leading to the side yard bring more sunlight into the room. Glossy zellige-style white ceramic tiles, graphite gray marble-look quartz countertops with pronounced white veining and soft green cabinets perk it up too.
To make up for the lost mudroom, Zeigler added built-in storage to the right of the door. On its right is a tall cabinet with the look of a freestanding furniture piece that includes a stand-up desk counter.
Read more about this kitchen remodel
To make up for the lost mudroom, Zeigler added built-in storage to the right of the door. On its right is a tall cabinet with the look of a freestanding furniture piece that includes a stand-up desk counter.
Read more about this kitchen remodel
Photos by Darren Chung
2. Garden-Fresh
Kitchen at a Glance
Who lives here: A couple and their young daughter
Location: Southwest London
Size: 245 square feet (23 square meters)
Designer: Chantel Elshout
Before: The owners of this Victorian terraced house in London hired designer Chantel Elshout to make the room feel lighter and maximize the space. They wanted to preserve access to the outdoors and views of their garden and at the same time replace the patio doors, which were old and warped.
2. Garden-Fresh
Kitchen at a Glance
Who lives here: A couple and their young daughter
Location: Southwest London
Size: 245 square feet (23 square meters)
Designer: Chantel Elshout
Before: The owners of this Victorian terraced house in London hired designer Chantel Elshout to make the room feel lighter and maximize the space. They wanted to preserve access to the outdoors and views of their garden and at the same time replace the patio doors, which were old and warped.
After: The new and improved layout removed a peninsula that divided the kitchen and dining areas to create a combined kitchen-dining space. Replacing a large sash window next to the peninsula with two smaller windows brought more light into the room. It also allowed Elshout to create a run of cabinets with a storage bench built into one end. A farmhouse-style table tucks right up to the banquette, allowing for a smooth flow from the kitchen through new custom French doors to the garden.
Kitchen cabinets: Davonport, painted in Sage Green, Little Greene; wall paint: Drop Cloth, Farrow & Ball
Kitchen cabinets: Davonport, painted in Sage Green, Little Greene; wall paint: Drop Cloth, Farrow & Ball
The kitchen wraps around the back of the room and has reeded glass fronts on its upper cabinets. The garden’s greenery inspired the new cabinets’ mossy paint color, which Elshout complemented with brass hardware, a white Macaubas quartzite countertop and a warm-toned oak herringbone floor.
Sink: Shaker 600 single, Shaws of Darwen; faucet with hand spray in aged brass, Perrin & Rowe; flooring: Cottage Character oak herringbone, Havwoods
Read more about this kitchen remodel
Sink: Shaker 600 single, Shaws of Darwen; faucet with hand spray in aged brass, Perrin & Rowe; flooring: Cottage Character oak herringbone, Havwoods
Read more about this kitchen remodel
Photos courtesy of Nicolette Jarquin
3. Coconut and Cream
Kitchen at a Glance
Who lives here: Designer Nicolette Jarquin; her husband, David; and their two sons
Location: Eureka, California
Size: 206 square feet (19 square meters)
Designer: Nicolette Jarquin of Arcata Cabinet & Design
Before: Designer Nicolette Jarquin and her husband, David, were already eager to remodel the 1960s-era kitchen in their 1925 California bungalow when an electrical problem forced their hand. Out went the aging wood cabinets, wall paneling, yellow-toned vinyl sheet flooring, laminate countertops, shallow double-bowl stainless steel sink and a peninsula that cut the kitchen off from the dining area.
3. Coconut and Cream
Kitchen at a Glance
Who lives here: Designer Nicolette Jarquin; her husband, David; and their two sons
Location: Eureka, California
Size: 206 square feet (19 square meters)
Designer: Nicolette Jarquin of Arcata Cabinet & Design
Before: Designer Nicolette Jarquin and her husband, David, were already eager to remodel the 1960s-era kitchen in their 1925 California bungalow when an electrical problem forced their hand. Out went the aging wood cabinets, wall paneling, yellow-toned vinyl sheet flooring, laminate countertops, shallow double-bowl stainless steel sink and a peninsula that cut the kitchen off from the dining area.
After: Jarquin took the kitchen down to the studs and swapped the locations of the kitchen and dining area, installing wood-look luxury vinyl plank flooring throughout. In the kitchen, she installed creamy off-white semicustom maple upper and pantry cabinets with a Coconut finish. The lowers are a more kid-proof rustic hickory with a Buckskin stain. A zellige-style tile backsplash in varying cream tones and a polished white quartz countertop with black veining complements the two-tone cabinetry.
The new breakfast area has a 42-inch round tulip table and four midcentury-modern-style wood chairs with charcoal-colored cushions.
Wall paint: Mascarpone, Benjamin Moore
Shop for tile on Houzz
The new breakfast area has a 42-inch round tulip table and four midcentury-modern-style wood chairs with charcoal-colored cushions.
Wall paint: Mascarpone, Benjamin Moore
Shop for tile on Houzz
Flipping the layout allowed Jarquin to create a more efficient L shape with a counter-height island measuring about 2 by 5½ feet. Whereas the tulip table is great for sit-down dining, the island’s two stools offer another place for family and friends to perch while chatting with the cook.
Read more about this kitchen remodel
Read more about this kitchen remodel
Photos by John Gruen
4. Creative Craftsman
Kitchen at a Glance
Who lives here: A couple and their two teenage children
Location: Rhinebeck, New York
Designer-builder: Kathryn Whitman Architecture with Quatrefoil
Before: Quatrefoil, a firm led by builder Michael Whitman and his wife, architect Kathryn Whitman, overhauled this kitchen as part of a larger remodel of a 1920s Craftsman home in New York’s Hudson Valley. Small and out of date, with drawings by the previous owner on the walls, the kitchen sat between a closed-off living room and a porch that stretched across the back of the house.
4. Creative Craftsman
Kitchen at a Glance
Who lives here: A couple and their two teenage children
Location: Rhinebeck, New York
Designer-builder: Kathryn Whitman Architecture with Quatrefoil
Before: Quatrefoil, a firm led by builder Michael Whitman and his wife, architect Kathryn Whitman, overhauled this kitchen as part of a larger remodel of a 1920s Craftsman home in New York’s Hudson Valley. Small and out of date, with drawings by the previous owner on the walls, the kitchen sat between a closed-off living room and a porch that stretched across the back of the house.
After: Whitman opened up the kitchen to the dining room and absorbed part of what had been the back porch to create a much larger eat-in kitchen. A peninsula with counter seating delineates the two zones without fully separating them.
The perimeter cabinetry is painted Off-Black by Farrow & Ball and has a black quartzite stove backsplash and countertop. On the walls are scratch- and water-resistant hardwood wall tiles by Mirth Studio. A warm white island topped with walnut barely peeks out in this photo.
To capture the feeling of vintage lighting but provide the kitchen with modern light levels, Whitman installed small brass fixtures from Color Cord where one might expect recessed lights and dropped black-corded, bare-bulb pendants over the peninsula and in front of the windows.
The perimeter cabinetry is painted Off-Black by Farrow & Ball and has a black quartzite stove backsplash and countertop. On the walls are scratch- and water-resistant hardwood wall tiles by Mirth Studio. A warm white island topped with walnut barely peeks out in this photo.
To capture the feeling of vintage lighting but provide the kitchen with modern light levels, Whitman installed small brass fixtures from Color Cord where one might expect recessed lights and dropped black-corded, bare-bulb pendants over the peninsula and in front of the windows.
At the other end of the room is a dining table with a cushion-topped built-in banquette. As pictured, it’s set up for daily meals. For larger groups, the family turns the table sideways and unwraps and reconfigures the adjustable chandelier (also from Color Cord) to run lengthwise.
Read more about this kitchen remodel (and see the rest of the house)
Read more about this kitchen remodel (and see the rest of the house)
“After” photos by Laura Metzler
5. Retro Redo
Kitchen at a Glance
Who lives here: A couple and their teenage daughter
Location: Reston, Virginia
Size: 200 square feet (19 square meters)
Contractor: Dean Turner of Evolution Design + Build
Before: The U-shaped work area in this Virginia kitchen was basically functional, but the refrigerator placement reduced countertop space and blocked the view of the rest of the kitchen when entering the room. Style-wise, the black-and-gray mosaic tile competed with the granite countertops’ busy pattern.
So the owners hired contractor Dean Turner to slightly tweak the kitchen’s layout and “update” its look with finishes more consistent with the 1970 home’s midcentury modern architecture.
5. Retro Redo
Kitchen at a Glance
Who lives here: A couple and their teenage daughter
Location: Reston, Virginia
Size: 200 square feet (19 square meters)
Contractor: Dean Turner of Evolution Design + Build
Before: The U-shaped work area in this Virginia kitchen was basically functional, but the refrigerator placement reduced countertop space and blocked the view of the rest of the kitchen when entering the room. Style-wise, the black-and-gray mosaic tile competed with the granite countertops’ busy pattern.
So the owners hired contractor Dean Turner to slightly tweak the kitchen’s layout and “update” its look with finishes more consistent with the 1970 home’s midcentury modern architecture.
After: Drawing style inspiration from Houzz, the homeowners picked funky new finishes including Cement Tile Shop’s Dubois pattern for the backsplash and a 1970s-inspired orange Smeg vent hood. New walnut veneer cabinetry, white quartz countertops and a chrome faucet also look fresh yet period-appropriate.
Turner moved the fridge to the end of the cabinet run to the left of the microwave. Doing so displaced a pantry but resolved the homeowners’ problems with the fridge’s original location. He preserved an existing skylight and the home’s signature clerestory windows, which the owners had already upgraded. He supplemented the natural light with a new LED lighting scheme.
Turner moved the fridge to the end of the cabinet run to the left of the microwave. Doing so displaced a pantry but resolved the homeowners’ problems with the fridge’s original location. He preserved an existing skylight and the home’s signature clerestory windows, which the owners had already upgraded. He supplemented the natural light with a new LED lighting scheme.
This eat-in dining area is just past the new refrigerator. Here you can see the home’s original beams and view out to the trees. The niche’s marble-topped Saarinen Tulip table and matching chairs and PH pendant light by Poul Henningsen are all iconic midcentury modern designs.
Pantry cabinets flanking a slim wine cooler and adjustable shelves replaced an unused desk area and make up for the pantry taken over by the relocated fridge.
Read more about this kitchen remodel
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Pantry cabinets flanking a slim wine cooler and adjustable shelves replaced an unused desk area and make up for the pantry taken over by the relocated fridge.
Read more about this kitchen remodel
More on Houzz
Read more kitchen stories
Browse kitchen photos
Hire a kitchen remodeler
Shop for kitchen products
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1. Nod to Heritage
Kitchen at a Glance
Who lives here: A pair of empty nesters
Location: Salt Lake City
Size: 285 square feet (26 square meters)
Designers: Nicole Zeigler and Lacy Green of Enzy Design
Before: This kitchen in a 1905 farmhouse in Salt Lake City had drab, mismatched and worn-out cabinetry and appliances, and its dining table had an unfortunate view into a pink-tiled bathroom. Ready for a complete overhaul, the empty-nest owners hired designer Nicole Zeigler.
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