For years, the kitchen was one stop on a longer tour of the house. As we move toward 2027, that is not true anymore. Formal dining rooms keep shrinking or disappearing in the homes I design, and the square footage they once claimed is going somewhere specific: a bigger kitchen or a flex space the family will actually use every day. The kitchen has stopped being a single-purpose room for me. It has become the room I design the rest of the house around, the space that sets the tone for how a family actually spends its time at home.
The clearest sign of this shift, in my own projects, is the scullery kitchen. A few years ago, it was a nice extra for clients who had the budget and the square footage to spare. Today, it is one of the first things nearly every client of mine asks for. A working kitchen behind the scenes lets the showcase kitchen stay camera ready, while the real mess, the real prep and the real small appliances live somewhere else entirely. That single request has reshaped how I lay out an entire main floor.
That shift away from one set formula is something I notice everywhere right now. White oak floors, boucle chairs and the same arched doorway have shown up in house after house until nothing about them feels specific to the people living there anymore. It is the trend I would most like to see fade. I am seeing homeowners grow more willing to make one strong, personal choice in a kitchen or bath rather than build a space designed to play it safe, and I would always rather see that. My goal with a client is never a home that photographs well on install day. I want one that looks even better five years in and still feels unmistakably like that family’s own.
Looking ahead, I think 2027 will be less about achieving a particular look and more about designing homes with personality. After more than 15 years in this industry, I expect homeowners to move away from the safe choices that have dominated residential design in recent years and embrace richer colors and materials that bring more individuality into the home.
What I Am Watching In 2027
Color makes a comeback, with deeper hues like ink blue and olive replacing years of neutral “oatmeal” interiors.
Materials gain more character, with plaster, honed stone and brass finishes that I let develop character with age.
Formal dining rooms continue to disappear as my clients prioritize larger kitchens, flexible-use spaces and, increasingly, thoughtfully designed mudrooms.
Interiors become more individualized as homeowners grow less interested in recreating what they see online and more interested in making their homes feel personal and memorable.
To me, these shifts point to something bigger than another cycle of what’s in and what’s out. For homeowners, they offer new ways to bring personality into their spaces without completely reinventing their homes each year. The common thread I keep coming back to is confidence: a willingness to choose a color, a material or a layout because it fits how a family actually lives, rather than because it matches what everyone else is doing.
—Devon Tobin, ASID, NCIDQ is the owner and principal of Duet Design Group, a Denver-based architecture, interior design and construction firm and serves as President of the Colorado Chapter of the American Society of Interior Designers
