Dining Room Design Ideas & Inspiration 2024

The dining room is more than just a place to eat, it’s a space where memories are made. Often the heart of the family home, this space accommodates guests, holiday meals, and family time. 

Many important factors go into the design of the perfect dining room, but none more important than striking the right balance between style and functionality; when planning your perfect dining room, the room mustn’t be just visually appealing, but also practical for everyday use. In this blog post, we’ll explore modern dining room design ideas, and inspiration, and explore available options.

Before exploring dining room design ideas, we offer a best-in-class dining room interior design service, ensuring we turn your dream dining room design into a reality.

Choosing The Right Dining Table

The dining table is the centrepiece of the dining room, this means that selecting the right one is crucial. Both the size and shape of the dining table must correspond with the size of the room, and the number of people you expect to seat regularly. We have included links to our favourite products to help create clearer dining room ideas.

Different types of dining tables fit different rooms, for example:

  • Rectangular dining tables such as the Bonaldo AX are a classic and versatile choice, suitable for long or narrow dining rooms.
  • Round tables such as Calligaris Toyko are ideal for more compact spaces, or square rooms; round tables will encourage conversion by allowing everyone to face each other, whilst creating a more intimate dining experience for everyone present.

Oval tables like the Miniforms Acco are perfect for rooms which require less visually aggressive furnishings, introducing a much softer look than both round and rectangular tables.

When selecting a table, make sure to consider the finishing material, such as wood, metal or glass-topped. Each material brings its unique style to the dining table.

Choosing The Right Dining Chairs

Once a suitable table has been chosen, the next critical element is the seating; for this, comfort is key, but that doesn’t mean you should sacrifice style.

There are a wide variety of dining chairs available from a number of styles, such as:

  • Upholstered chairs like the Bonaldo Miss My Way offer the most comfort, especially for long dinners. These chairs ensure that your guests are comfortable for the duration of their stay, and are available in a variety of fabrics and patterns, such as velvet or fabric. 
  • Wooden chairs create a much more rustic and traditional vibe; these chairs are hard-wearing durable, and will stand the test of time for households which see a lot of guests. 

Dining Room Lighting

Lighting is a key element in the design of any room; influencing the overall ambience of the room by spotlighting key areas and adding soft light to others. With the right mixture of ambient and accent lighting, a well-rounded and functional dining environment can be crafted.

There are many types of lights to choose from, including:

  • Chandeliers add elegance and a focal point; if placed directly above the dining table, this can ensure that the area is well-lit, creating a comforting experience for your guests.
  • Pendant lights, much like chandeliers, add elegance and sophistication to the dining room, however, these lights are much more contemporary.

For the best ambience, we would always recommend the use of a dimmer switch, which will help remove the harshness of artificial light and create a much more intimate environment after dinner.

Dining Room Inspiration

Below are modern design ideas for dining rooms from our trusted manufacturers. Each of the inspiration pieces below presents a shining example of design excellence, and how form and function can be achieved to create the perfect dining room ambience.

Bonaldo Dining Room

The dining room above, featuring furniture crafted by Bonaldo showcases simplicity at its finest. The inclusion of the rectangular table lit by natural lighting from tall windows creates the perfect ambience for dining, no matter the time of day.

The Bonaldo AX table stands as an eye-catching centrepiece, complemented by the upholstered Agea dining chairs which ensure both comfort and style are achieved.

Calligaris Dining Room

The dining room showcased above by Calligaris perfectly portrays many textbook design factors, from the natural light and upholstered seating to the intimate layout of the table and chairs.

Sovet Italia Dining Room

The Sovet Italia dining room above utilizes various techniques, including the hanging pendant light which perfectly complements the brightness of the dining table, creating an inviting ambience which will help enhance your guest’s dining experience. 

Dining Room Interior Design

As well as providing the products found in the inspiration above, we also offer our dining room interior design service, perfect for turning design dreams into reality. We have worked with hundreds of clients who have had their ideas realized with a service which is built around customer satisfaction. We’re always on hand to answer any questions about your next project.