8 Open Kitchen and Dining Room Ideas to Steal If You Host Often

No reservations needed.

Your home isn’t just for you – it’s for your guests, too! Be it for a game night, or a cosy dinner party, hosting guests is a great way to spend time with your friends and family while showing off your gorgeous home.

And what better way to facilitate this than with an open-concept kitchen and dining area? Here are a few examples to show you what we mean:

1. A multipurpose kitchen island with a unique asymmetrical shape

Why stick with a standard rectangular kitchen island when you can experiment with different shapes? Case in point: this particular asymmetrical kitchen island, which isn’t just a stunning focal point in the home, but also provides extra countertop space for food prep and buffet spreads.

Additionally, it’s also an ideal gathering point for guests, with the rounded shape making it conducive for conversations.

However, this design idea is admittedly more feasible for spacious living rooms – so if you don’t have a huge jumbo flat like these homeowners, consider the subsequent point.

2. An island and dining table combination that makes serving food easy

For regular-sized HDB flats, combining an island with a dining table is a stunning (and functional) feature to have at home. This dining room idea can be tweaked to suit your layout, is a great way to connect your wet and dry kitchens, and makes it easier to serve dishes.

Exhibit A: this executive apartment in Bukit Batok, with a island-dining table combination that can comfortably fit 10 people!

3. A bar and dining area that takes up the original living room space

Can a 5-room HDB flat living room comfortably host more than 20 people? Yes, if you have a layout similar to this home.

Intentionally ensuring that the communal area has enough room for 3 tables/islands, the homeowner of this VIP suite-like home converted the living room into a bar and dining area, where guests can either stand around the island to chat, congregate around the table to watch a football match, or wait for drinks to be served.

4. An open concept kitchen with a one-of-a-kind design

The last thing you want during a gathering at your crib is awkward silence – but perhaps decking out your home in a one-of-a-kind design will give them something to talk about.

With a look reminiscent of the iconic design concept of Coexist Coffee Co, the homeowners of this Simei maisonette decided to give their own kitchen their own spin of the look, with a space given a half-white half-orange design.

If you look closely, you’ll realise that the dining area design demarcates the kitchen spaces as well, with the white half functioning as the dry kitchen, and the orange side serving as the wet kitchen!

5. A dining area that wraps around a structural wall…

Having a structural pillar smack in the middle of the kitchen isn’t the end of your open kitchen dreams. Instead, take advantage of this structural oddity by wrapping your dining table and island around the pillar, like what the owners of this 5-room resale flat did.

Bonus: with this layout, you can easily chat with your guests sitting at the dining table while preparing the food!

6. …or curves around a household shelter

Proper space planning can help your home look bigger no matter the actual size – and this 92sqm 4-room BTO flat is proof.

Featuring a curved countertop extending past the kitchen and into the communal area, this home shows that it is possible to work around a household shelter situated in the middle of the space.

It also creates a smooth flow between the kitchen and living area, and provides extra room for guests to mingle while enjoying the food spread.

7. A semi-open-concept kitchen that lets you close/open up the space whenever necessary

Cooking up a feast for your guests can be fun, but it also can leave strong cooking fumes lingering in your home.

So, instead of the typical open kitchen, how about a semi-open-concept one, like the one in this 5-room BTO flat? This gives you the opportunity to close up the kitchen whenever you’re cooking up a storm for your guests, and open it when you’re passing food over to your guests, or are done. A win-win situation either way, we think!

8. A curved dining nook that accommodates more people

Dining nooks are the cosier, more casual versions of dining tables – and are also a great way of demarcating different spaces.

Built along the kitchen entrance, this 4-room BTO’s curved dining nook (and the glass panel above it) is a stylish way of separating the kitchen from the communal area. With its rounded layout, it's able to facilitate conversations that everyone can easily be a part of – no need to strain to hear anyone speaking on the other end of the table.

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