“Few home improvement projects inspire as much as excitement as a kitchen renovation. Once hidden away as a service space, the kitchen has come a long way over the past century to claim its place as the heart of most homes.
Frequently larger, more open and more central than it was decades ago, the kitchen now has an outsize impact on a home’s overall interior design scheme and often communicates a lot about its owner’s personal sense of style.
It can embody clean-lined minimalism, rustic country charm, a passion for color and pattern, or something far more creative.
Whether you’re contemplating a kitchen renovation in 2026, mulling over a few upgrades or simply dreaming, here are some of the most striking kitchens that appeared in On Location home features in 2025.
A Kitchen-Centered Loft
Renovated by Velocette Studio and Ambit Architecture, this loft in Philadelphia was designed around a large cooking area. Centered between an open dining area on one side and a seating area on the other, the kitchen occupies a substantial portion of the primary living space, making its position as the central hangout area clear. Beyond the 17-foot-long island, which is topped with Calacatta Viola marble and has deep storage drawers and space for stools, there are generous bench-like seats by the windows and a stand-alone bar. “The kitchen is the centerpiece of that main room,” said Hope Velocette, the founder of Velocette Studio.
Feel-Good Materials
If you’re tired of cookie-cutter kitchens that seem to look the same, consider this one in Australia conceived by Dylan Farrell Design, where hefty textured materials create a one-of-a-kind space. There are stools with frosty cast-glass tops, an island made from cracked wood, weathered copper pendant lamps with leather sleeves and granite counters with a rough, leathered finish. Reclaimed wood shelves covered with worn paint run right across the window to add color with a display of glasses, bowls and vases.
Bringing the Outdoors Inside
This kitchen in Austin, Texas, designed by architect Paul Lamb and interior designer Christina Simon, demonstrates that it’s possible to create an attractive kitchen even in a space without many windows. A skylight above the island and potted plants on racks suspended from the ceiling make the room feel almost as verdant as a garden (which was perfect for homeowners who maintain a vegetable garden outside). A red brick floor, tiled wall and decorative sunburst mirror add to the impression of an outdoor space, even though it’s all protected from the elements.
A Color-Blasted Kitchen
Many real estate agents and serial house-flippers might suggest installing perfectly plain white cabinets in a kitchen for resale value. But if you’re not worried about a future sale, you can do whatever you want. When a couple bought this Los Angeles home, but were bored by its new white cabinets, they asked interior designer Dani Dazey to blast them with color. Ms. Dazey kept the cabinets, but had the fronts repainted pink and green, and added coordinating wallpaper to the ceiling. The changes transformed the kitchen at minimal cost.
A Space for Gathering
As Annie Leslau remodeled a home in Sag Harbor, N.Y., updating the cramped kitchen at the back of the home was a top priority. A new central island leading into a sunny living room creates a place for friends and family to gather and gives everyone space to be comfortable, whether they’re cooking or merely conversing with the chef before a meal. The crisp edges of the white waterfall marble top serve as a foil to the rustic character of the room, where exposed rafters and painted rough-hewn paneling provide a sense of age.
A Just-Right Kitchen
A kitchen doesn’t have be enormous to be desirable. Faced with a compact space for a kitchen at the back of a townhouse in Philadelphia, the founders of the architecture firm Lo Design installed only base cabinets to keep it from feeling crowded, and added counters and a backsplash made from soapstone. The fridge and pantry are concealed in cabinetry in an adjacent hallway, opening up views to a verdant garden that helps make the space seem more expansive than it is.
A Focus on Entertaining
In most eat-in kitchens, the dining area is squeezed into a little nook, or compactly positioned in a leftover corner. When Cheryl and Jeffrey Katz of C&J Katz Studio renovated their kitchen in Truro, Mass., however, they flipped the script. They pushed all the cabinets, counters and appliances to one side of the room to leave a generous dining space where they could entertain guests. Open shelves put their dishes on display, and simple lights, designed by the Katzes, plug into outlets on top of exposed ceiling joists to illuminate the dining surface below.” [1]
1. Our Favorite Kitchen Renovations of 2025: On location. McKeough, Tim. New York Times (Online) New York Times Company. Dec 30, 2025.
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