Kitchen dining room combo ideas solve a plain problem: you cook and eat in one room, and no wall says where one stops and the other starts. The table has to fit around the island, the stools and the path to the fridge.
These 16 real homes, from a London townhouse to a 46 sqm flat in Europe, show what the owners actually did. Several give real numbers too, like bench length, rug size and what the wallpaper cost.
1. A Long Table At The Front, The Kitchen At The Back
Where: An early Victorian townhouse in London
Layout: Dining table at the front, kitchen at the back
Kitchen: Soft gray cabinets, a concrete countertop and a butler sink
Extra seat: A bar table along one wall as a breakfast nook
The front door of this townhouse opens straight into one long room. The dining table sits at the front, with bookshelves fitted into the niche beside it and an ochre-yellow ceiling above. The kitchen is at the back, looking out over a small garden through a sash window. Engineered oak floorboards run the whole length, so the two halves read as one room.
2. An Island Between The Cooking And The Dining Table
Where: A historic apartment, listed by Stadshem
Divider: A small beige island
Cabinets: Beige, up to the ceiling, with butcher block counters
Storage: A long peg rail above the stove
Original details stay in this apartment, and the kitchen and dining area flow toward the living room through an open doorway. A small island sits between the cooking side and the table, a natural pause between the two. The upper cabinets open with a push, so the top row has no handles at all.
3. A Round Table In The Sunny Middle Of A One-Room Plan
Where: A small open-plan apartment
Layout: Kitchen in a niche, table and sofa in the light
Table: Round, with black rattan chairs
Zoning: An area rug under the sofa only
The living room, dining area and kitchen share one room here. The kitchen is tucked into a niche away from the windows, which leaves the sunny middle of the room for the round table and a green sofa. A small gallery wall hangs above the table. The rug sits only under the sofa, so it marks off the seating from the rest of the space.
4. A Wood Bar Shelf Off A 24 Sqm Kitchen-Living Room
Size: A 46 sqm flat with a 24 sqm kitchen-living room
Household: A family of three and a Labrador
Counter: Black stone, extended by a light wood bar shelf
Seating: Three black swivel chairs and one red
The kitchen, living room and dining area of this flat fit into 24 square meters. The architects at FlatforFox extended the veined black stone counter with a light wood shelf that serves as a bar. White matte cabinets run to the ceiling with no visible handles.
5. A Navy Island With Two Stools, A Breakfast Nook Behind
Where: A family kitchen in Michigan
Island color: Benjamin Moore Blue Note, a deep navy
Counter: White quartz (Vicostone Misterio)
Seating: Two stools at the island, a window nook just past it
Kelly repainted her island after her kids kept knocking barstools into it and damaged the old finish. She used the same cabinet paint her painter had used. The navy now stands out against white shaker cabinets, white quartz and engineered white oak floors, and the breakfast nook with its window seat sits just past it (that nook is idea 18).
6. An Industrial Island Plus A Big Table In One Eat-In Kitchen
Where: Her sister’s open eat-in kitchen
Island: A stainless steel work table from Walmart
Wall: A trim grid painted Hale Navy with peel-and-stick wallpaper
Cost: Wallpaper at $35 a roll, 4 rolls
This kitchen has room for a large dining table and an island. Brooke painted a wood trim grid Hale Navy and filled it with peel-and-stick wallpaper, and a woven bamboo pendant helps define the dining area. The island is a work table. They taped its outline on the floor first and kept at least 2.5 to 3 feet of walkway around it.
7. A Banquette Nook With A Tulip Table Beside The Island Stools
Where: An old closed dining room, opened up to the kitchen
Bench: Ikea upper fridge cabinets (Grimslov gray) with a sewn cushion
Table: A white tulip table under a brass pendant
Cost: Art from HomeSense for less than $70
Once a wall came down, the old dining room became a walk-through eating nook and bar that leads straight into the kitchen and its island. The banquette base is a row of Ikea upper cabinets, topped with a cushion sewn by a local furniture shop. Brushstrokes wallpaper from Wayfair covers the wall behind it.
8. A Leather-Strap Banquette In A Surprise Kitchen Remodel
Where: A kitchen and dining space in Utah
Bench: A banquette with a back cushion hung from leather straps
Light: A Pepe & Carol’s two-arm light with beige shades
Time: About five to six months from first ask to reveal
Crystal led this remodel as a surprise for her aunt, a single mom who raised four boys. The main changes: a new wall of pantry cabinets that helps the fridge fit, a custom range hood, open shelving and an eat-in corner. The bench’s back cushion hangs from leather straps against white vertical shiplap, a detail that would sit just as well on almost any bench.
9. A Storage Banquette And An Oval Table Under A Big Window
Where: Sarah and Emmett’s own kitchen nook
Bench: A banquette with a full-length drawer on side rails
Table: Oval, with a thrifted base and a new top, all painted
Time: About six months from the before photo to the reveal
The couple built this nook themselves, and the banquette hides a lot of storage in one long drawer. Custom cushions and bolsters sit under new black windows with interior mullions. Vintage cantilever chairs pull up to the oval table, and a globe pendant hangs from a ceiling medallion. The trim and cabinet paint is a custom mix of Sherwin-Williams First Star and Big Chill.
10. A Bay-Window Bench With Bold Wallpaper Above
Where: The breakfast nook next to the kitchen
Bench: A big bench built into the bay window
Wallpaper: Anthropologie’s Sylvia on the upper half of the walls
Cost: Just over $200 for two rolls, after a 20% sale
Time: Six weeks
Amanda and Corey redid this nook in six weeks for the One Room Challenge. Along with the bench and the wallpaper, they swapped one kitchen upper cabinet for three open shelves stained a dark walnut, so the kitchen ties into the nook. Amanda says the table turned out too small and a few inches too short for the bench.
11. An L-Shaped Blue Banquette That Seats Ten
Where: Her sister’s kitchen, three years after the first bench
Paint: Sherwin-Williams Aqua Sphere (SW 7613)
Seats: 10 now, 12 to 14 with a longer table
Cost: A pro bid for a slightly smaller banquette was about $2,200
Brooke first built a long banquette here, then came back and turned it into an L. The cushions are made from a rug, and leftover beam wood became open shelves around the window. A simple black chandelier hangs at 32 inches, with pink cane chairs on the open side. The table sits close to the island, so it can only grow longer, never wider.
12. An 11-Foot DIY Bench With Board And Batten
Where: Brooke Waite’s breakfast nook
Length: Over 11 feet
Materials: 2×4 supports, birch plywood and primed 1×3 MDF
Tools: Miter saw, pocket hole jig, nail gun, jigsaw and stud finder
Paint: Benjamin Moore Natural Linen
Brooke calls this her biggest build to date. The frame is screwed into the wall studs, and the plywood top came in two pieces because the bench is so long. A board and batten front and plywood strips on the wall behind give it a paneled look. Small shelves at each end hold leaning art, and she made the tufted French mattress cushions herself.
13. Kitchen Cabinets Carried On Into A Window Bench
Where: A 73 sqm apartment in Sweden
Building: Early 20th century, in the national romantic style
Bench: Built from the same cabinets as the kitchen
Table: Round, with bistro chairs
This kitchen mixes closed and glass-fronted cabinets in a classic style. When it was renovated a couple of years ago, the owners carried the same cabinets on into a built-in bench under the window. The bench and a small round table make a breakfast nook that looks as if it was always part of the kitchen.
14. Two Benches And A Walnut Table In The Kitchen
Where: A remodelled family kitchen
Table: Walnut, from Castlery
Seating: Benches along the walls plus chairs in Fumo Gray
Cabinets: Cream KraftMaid cabinets in Cottage
The walnut table warms up the cream cabinets and quartz in this kitchen. Benches run along the walls, and chairs fill the open side, with a fourth added when company comes. Castlery offers free fabric swatches, and she picked a dark color with spills in mind. A high chair pulls right up to the table.
15. A 48-Inch Round Table On A 7×7 Jute Rug
Table: White wood, round, 48 inches across
Rug: Round jute, 7×7 feet
Chairs: Wipeable leather in Pebble
Light: A wood bead chandelier, moved to the center
This nook sits off a dark kitchen that has no windows of its own, so Kelley painted the walls Sherwin-Williams Alabaster to brighten it. The ceiling mount was off-center, and once they hired someone to move it, the table could finally sit in the middle. A closed cane sideboard and a 5-foot gold arched mirror fill one wall.
16. A Washable Rug And Open Shelves In A Kitchen Dining Area
Rug: A washable Uzuri rug in beige and sage
Walls: Behr Garden Wall
Shelves: Repainted white, with wood brackets
Build: None, just a few small changes
Carissa moved this kitchen dining area from black-and-white farmhouse to cottage with a few small changes. The washable rug pulls out the green wall color, and the open shelves went white with wood brackets in place of black metal. A little lamp with a green gingham shade ties in with her bar stools.
