Whether you’re entertaining colleagues or inviting extended family home, a designer dining room is always sure to impress. No longer just for family dinners, dining areas can be the central feature of specially-cooked cuisine, or just the platform for some wine and a few hor d’ouvres. Rediscover your love of entertaining with these fifty dining rooms that each inspire our awe. All modern in look, they combine exposed brick walls with complex chairing, sloped ceilings with tinted glass and pendant lighting with the most beautiful dining surfaces. Find the style best suited to your interior, for an inspiring space that makes your meal time delicious.
We’ve never seen a better way to utilise an attic. This curved space exploits a seeming disadvantage to full effect, with illuminated metal beams making waves across the kitchen. Painted wooden floors and monochrome furniture let the structure be the hero. Matte white dining table matches the pale flooring beautifully.
Another ceiling forms a triangle in this white and bright dining room. Folding together like origami, its walls stay neutral in white, while inset cubbies hold windows, books and a full-length wooden table. A red floral offering on the kitchen bench ties together with the chairs.
A feature light can make ceilings more interesting. This wooden fixture folds over like a floppy hat, matching tonally with wooden flooring and a lighter-coloured bench. White and wood chairs let a turquoise squab and cushioning mark out a space for eating.
Make your bench part of your wall. This white and wooden interior frames an inlet, with warm timber panels and LED lighting. Three hanging pendant lights complete this space-saving look.
Scandinavian pastels never go out of style. Resonating with the mint in the lounge, dreamy lemon chairs match with plastic dome lighting and wooden furniture, for a colourful look that’s easy on the eye.
Go darker in tone, with shades of black thrown in. This modern dining room sits among a block sofa, padded chair and LED-lit kitchen, forming a tidy circle looking out on a view. A host of white cylindrical lights mark the space from the ceiling.
Blue is not always the right choice, but in this design, it shines. Paired with unusual raftered ceilings and exposed brick, modern furniture stencils a space for eating, heroing cabinetry in bright blue. An array of blown-glass vases and indoor pot plants settle it in.
Looking for something a bit more minimalist? This monochrome dining area is all texture, no colour. Slanted black flooring holds eight black silicone chairs, while a white frame table encircles them. Tinted glass pendants drop definitively from the ceiling, meeting simple accessories head on.
Go to the other extreme, with a dining room all in white. Set with unique teapots on a rustic wooden board, two pendant lamps blend into white cabinetry, letting wooden chairs with matching crockery do the talking.
Let your dining chairs take over the room. These beautiful filigree seats match perfectly with over-sized wall clocks and black dome lighting.
Make your dining room stand out, with a stunning living wall. Cosying up to a paper lantern and a shelf full of books, a white table, simple chairing and sprigged glass vase give this green feature dominance.
White and wood need not be boring. Two grandiose discs full of scintillating lightbulbs grace this dining room table, a lesson in modern opulence amidst white and brown leather chairing.
Take your dining room to the space age, with a hollow round light as its centre. Black geometry and pops of greenery make this white-walled beauty a ‘how-to’ for black and white dining rooms.
Elevate your bachelor pad to a higher state of sophistication. Using a grey, black and wooden colour palette, three pendants drop down to a casually-styled table afront an exposed brick wall. A muted Turkish rug makes connections.
Want the splendour of a full-sized dining room, without the space? Drop a spider chandelier over the top of a monochrome table and surround it with translucent seating, a posy of flowers and a modern floating staircase.
Having your guests over for breakfast? Make it feel warm in full-walled wood; make it interesting with chairs of mesh; and make it healthy with a modern fruit bowl in the centre.
Don’t let your dining break your indoor flow. Backed by glass and bordered by a wooden kitchen cube, this dining area hosts guests and lets you watch TV at breakfast time.
A contemporary dining space doesn’t have to be colourful. This grey ensemble features a circular woollen rug, suede booth chairs, a table in stone and wooden disc pendant afront a bounty of books
Red induces hunger, passion and desire. Bring its senses to your dinner time, with these luscious quilted chairs accompanied by a crystal chandelier, marble façade and twin set of climbing orchids.
Rather be sailing than entertaining? Bring along your guests for the ride, with this diner’s example of nautical home décor. Using a small space to maximum effect, white walls and wooden floors hold white and lime chairs, as a ship’s steering wheel adds sailor’s focus.
Can’t choose between exposed brick and wooden panelling? House them both, in this industrial-style dining room with black filigree chairs and white block elements.
For a look you can live with day in, day out, this dining room covers the basics. Wide wooden floors hold a same-hue table, while low-lying leather chairs settle amongst an array of plants.
Bring the forest to your supper. Set on a plush grey rug amidst stone pots and Eastern lanterns, simple black and wooden furniture lets the view work its magic.
Fancy a more decorated approach? Juxtaposing inside and outside worlds, this dining room shows rocks and shrubs outside, shiny bauble pendants inside. A seemingly-random assortment of cups, saucers and a fruit platter keeps the feel natural.
Inject the rustic into your inner-city apartment. Floored in light timber with stacked wood accents, this large space keeps it simple with grey fabric pods and a copper pendant trio.
Stencilling is an elegant way to make your dining space more modern. Framing the kitchen cabinets, bench and dining furniture in black and white, a hanging kitchen cabinet and row of magnetic lighting create a look slim and sleek.
Take your guests to another world, with this ethereal dining room in grey and white. As a large horse stampedes towards the exterior, finely-crafted chairs and a steampunk chandelier linger amidst pops of violet. A shaft of grey blinds sequester off the space.
Go earthy and modern in your dining room. Pops of copper, olive and burgundy invite in hungry guests upon a cleansing backdrop of solid white.
Artwork can focus your dining setting. This simple round table hosts furniture in beige and brown, while monochrome prints and a striped pot plant give the space a modern edge. Simple copper and white LED pendants add the final touch.
Designate your dining room through colour and form. Bathed in a sea of white, wooden cabinets and bookshelves lead the way to a solid dining table and bold dome lamps.
Make the most of a smaller space, in shades of grey. This dining area sits astride the lounge and kitchen, marked by a pair of charcoal pendants, a wooden table and non-intrusive seating. An LED-lit ceiling panel highlights the divide.
Draw attention to your dining room with one bold colour. Turquoise dominates this dining area, with linen chairs and hanging baubles around a solid, rustic table.
Making your dining room modern can be achieved with chairs. These futuristic pods look as fitting in a Miami penthouse as in this simple white-and-wooden home. A black enamel table adds contrast.
It doesn’t get much simpler than this. Go back to basics with light wooden floors, a classic table and white walls. Clean and contoured lines in the chairs, vase sprigs and drop lanterns make it modern.
There’s no need to follow a rulebook when designing for dining. This space proffers a corrugated ceiling, concrete dome lamp and art deco painting astride Scandinavian-style chairs.
Eat inside a geometric paradise. These honeycomb walls hold an array of wooden furniture, angled pendants, monochrome prints and indoor house plants to keep them company.
For those after a Scandinavian dining room, this space has the basics. White walls, a large extractor fan, exposed brick, and monochrome and wooden elements make designing your dining room easy.
Let the accessories do the talking. Set afront a charcoal feature plinth, wooden chairs and white lights round off to showcase fashionable abstracts, jugs and unique decorative vases.
Want to make the 60’s modern again? Set this marble table with lime wicker cane chairs, colour grid artwork, a vintage rug and a dangling of mustard drop lights.
Form and function dazzle in this black, wood and grey creation. As a fire roars in a box to the right, fine-legged low seating looks out to potted plants and a labyrinth of windows and chiffon.
Sometimes the most interesting elements are above the shelves. This white and wood dining room dangles a slatted lantern over a vase of pussywillow, and three bottles of green to draw in the eye.
Let your guests walk straight into dinner. Set on a warm wooden floor with a storage cabinet feature, a row of six chairs welcome with a bevy of green and cylindrical lamps.
take on a life of their own in this whimsical dining setting. Charcoal walls with minimal artwork mute the background, while terracotta leather chairs and a central water pitcher look up to the ceiling.
Black and white can be anything but classic. A zig-zagging LED hovers over curved black chairs and an intricate wooden table, as mini planters act the centrepiece.
Be dramatic with your dining. Bathed in black with cupboards and chandeliers in gold, this luxurious dining room oozes opulence with French panelling, a mosaic partition and stunning set of unique wine glasses.
Juxtapose nature with futuristic furniture. Chrome and white make their mark upon a hessian rug, beside a flowing chair, lantern and Lazy Susan.
Go for geometric black, in this dark and decadent dining space. Carving out a corner of a grey and white abode, it sculpts chairs out of angles, corrugates feature panels and plants shocks of orange on the insides of its lamps.
White space abounds in this modern dining setting. Floating black chairs zig-zag their way in and out of a solid white table and LED block sculpture.
Earthy and futuristic themes meet, in this chocolate and mandarin dining area. As sculpted wood makes waves in a partial wall, a hanging table welcomes silicone chairs in alternating shades.
Need a focal point for your monochrome dining room? Pick from either a canvassed grid or snow-capped pines, in this sleek dining area blessed with two views.
