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You Can Totally Steal These Restaurant Design Trends for Your Own Home

We asked a superstar designer to tell us what trends she’s seeing in the dining scene—and how to bring that look home.
By BRIZO KITCHEN & BATH COMPANY
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Many say that we’re living in the golden age of restaurants. It’s true—never before has the dining landscape been so creative and diverse. The same, you could argue, goes for restaurant design. We spoke with Dolores Suarez, founder of commercial and residential design firm Dekar Designs, about her favorite restaurant design trends and how to get the look at home.

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    Warm Metals

    “A rust, bronze, or gold metal is a new trend of today,” says Suarez. “We’re in the middle of renovating Bobo, a restaurant on Fifth Avenue. In the new space, there are big lanterns in the upstairs dining room in this rustic bronze. We also have added old tiled tables in a rust color.” While rust may not be on your radar quite yet, you can still stay ahead of the design curve by adding warm tones like gold instead of everyday silver to your kitchen and dining table.

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    Gold is the new silver. To update your dinner table, set gold flatware alongside your plates. For a bolder statement, bring the sparkling hue to your sink with a Luxe Gold™ Litze™ Pull-Down faucet with Square Spout and Industrial Handle.

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    Dramatic Light Fixtures

    “We love making custom light fixtures,” says Suarez. It’s true that unique sconces, lanterns, and exposed bulbs are a design statement, but they serve another purpose, too. “Other designers will do 20 lights that are all the same in one space. We like the idea of creating areas with their own fixtures to separate a large dining room.” It’s one way to make a large, open space feel a bit cozier. It works perfectly at By Chloe, shown here.

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    While open-concept kitchens give that light, airy feeling that’s so in style, they can feel a bit big and sparse. Give your recessed lighting a break and opt for pendants, sconces, and even chandeliers to carve out nooks in your kitchen and bring in layers of light. Plus, a cool light fixture will draw the eye up, giving your space depth.

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    Tile and Wallpaper

    “Tile and wallpaper are some of our absolute favorite things to use. This is especially true when we’re trying to give a restaurant a residential feel,” explains Suarez. “We often like to tile near an open kitchen, like we do at Claudette, to attract the eye back there and give it a focal point.”

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    While a backsplash is an obvious place to experiment with unique, colorful tiles, covering an entire wall brings any space to the next level. Tile is equally exciting on the floor—and when it’s a neutral terra cotta, you can do both, like Suarez did at Claudette. You can (and should!) play with color in your space, but a neutral decorative tile gives that timeless, placeless look Suarez loves.

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    Vintage Inspired Pieces

    “We incorporate vintage pieces as much as we possibly can,” says Suarez. “It adds warmth and a sense of authenticity.” In addition to giving a space texture, vintage pieces are conversation starters. Guests would be thrilled to learn that they’re sitting on an old Moroccan bench or that your plates live in a thrifted hutch.

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    While there’s nothing better than a good vintage find, it’s never guaranteed. If you come up empty at your local thrift and consignment shops, try incorporating vintage-inspired pieces or furniture that uses reclaimed material. For Rosemary’s tables, Suarez used reclaimed wooden planks from an old bicycle factory in Massachusetts. “It was a way to give a lived-in look in a very new space,” she says. Try a decorative buffet or a French farmhouse-style bench made from reclaimed teak.

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    Bringing the Outdoors Indoors

    In places like California, restaurants are obscuring the divide between indoors and outdoors. Lush green plants, like palms or ivy, line walls in heavy pots or spill down from a shelf. You can find this vibe in New York, too, at Rosemary’s. “On top of Rosemary’s there’s a farm,” says Suarez. “The idea was to create this feeling that the separation of outdoor-indoor is transient, especially given that one entire wall is floor-to-ceiling windows that bi-fold back.”

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    Adding things like greenery is another element that gives a space a layered look, according to Suarez. Though you may not have shelf space for plants, you can still bring your greenery to new heights—literally—with hanging planters.