What we want now: listening bars, hidden wet bars, Argentine grills, and spaces where every room pulls double duty for the party.
Every generation has its own way of gathering at home—the conversion pits and buffets of the ’70s, the formal dinner parties of the ’90s, the open-plan kitchens of the 2000s. So where are we now? Architectural Digest AD PRO surveyed top interior designers about their clients’ latest requests and consulted today’s most sought-after party planners and tastemakers. Today’s hosts want their guests to feel relaxed, whether that means serving dinner buffet-style, opening up unconventional rooms for gathering, or designing bars homeowners can tuck out of sight.
Two clear trends emerged: First, entertaining spaces are becoming more experiential—think dedicated listening bars, sauna sessions with friends, and interactive outdoor grills. Second, formality remains off the guest list.
Today’s hosts want their guests to feel relaxed and formality remains off the guest list.
Listening bars, lounges, speakeasies and home saloons
If you design the perfect bar at home, there’s no reason to go out. The demand for wine bars and cocktail lounges in private homes has continued to rise since the pandemic began. Rather than annexe off the living or dining spaces, these are dedicated rooms that recreate the enveloping feeling of a favourite neighborhood watering hole. The key to their success is highly personalized details, from custom cocktail menus to monogrammed napkins. A listening bar in a former sunroom or screened porch might become the hottest bar in town. You can have a hundred people over on a weekend. For an even more intimate vibe, some designers are creating at-home speakeasies, in the basement of their family homes with the space functioning as a “speakeasy-style guest suite where the homeowners ‘check in’ every Friday night to unwind.
If your home is small, create a serve-your-own bar nook in the dining room – using a console table. The aha moment might be a Lazy-susan tray for wine bottles. People can just spin it to whatever bottle they want.
The cocktail buffet revival
Dinner parties remain a staple of entertaining, but these days, homeowners are leaning into a more casual version than the seated multicourse dinner. Cocktail parties are on the rise with elaborate hors d’oeuvres or extravagant grazing buffet tables. Home bar requests are on the rise too, but many homeowners now want bars they don’t always have to see.
One design element designers keep returning to is the hidden wet bar.
Whether tucked off a living or dining room, it allows people to make drinks without needing to retreat to the kitchen. Concealed behind panelled doors or inside dedicated cabinetry, these bars can be integrated into the room’s larger material palette when closed. Open them up, and a statement colour or luxe material can offer a delightful jewel box moment. The cocktail buffet is another idea being embraced. It’s a great way to have a crowd for a delicious dinner without having to set up tables. The approach involves a mix of DIY and hired help: Set the dining table with elegant dishes of food, station servers nearby to help guests fill their plates, and let guests roam and find a place to perch around the house. The format allows people to mix and mingle and works especially well in smaller homes.
People are asking for multipurpose living rooms with built-in open fire grills, integrated bars and adjacent outdoor areas, all designed to encourage conversation. A great example is the Palm Beach, Australian house featured in Melissa’s new book ‘Natural Living by Design’ (Vendome Press, $70). Photo: Simon Brown.
Partially concealed kitchens
While entertaining spaces are becoming more casual, kitchens are moving in the opposite direction—toward a bit more separation. Many people now prefer kitchens that are slightly removed from their entertaining spaces. It’s not about going back to the closed-off kitchens, but rather about creating a balance. They want spaces that allow for cooking and preparation without exposing guests to the inevitable mess or lingering smells. You can achieve this with framed glass pocket doors that create subtle partitions in room layouts that flow kitchen to dining room (or kitchen to patio) to help keep the focus on the social spaces while making it easy for a host or chef to work.
For those who entertain frequently, up the ante with a full catering kitchen for out-of-the-way food preparation.
Designs that encourage conversation
Homeowners are embracing old-school room layouts with extra-long sofas and banquettes, multiple seating areas in a room, and conversation pits. It’s all about making spaces for conversation and mingling. People are also asking for multipurpose living rooms with built-in bars, custom banquettes, or adjacent outdoor areas, all designed to encourage conversation. Whether hosting two guests or 50, homes should feel welcoming, adaptable, and resilient, so that hosting feels effortless. Choosing beautiful materials that are durable enough to stand up to a lively evening—like leather or a performance velvet—helps the host relax and enjoy.
During a more casual party, smaller tables can also be placed in different rooms throughout the house, something that keeps guests circulating and the party dynamic going.
Sauna socials
As bathing culture has expanded from a solitary soak to full sauna- steam-cold plunge circuits with friends, the pursuit of wellness has become an opportunity for entertaining too. Home yoga studios and saunas have become party spaces. A midday session with friends might be followed by lunch or smoothies. There is definitely an emphasis on wellness-focused design: gyms, cold plunges, and full spa experiences that make entertaining at home feel less like a typical party than welcoming guests to a private retreat.
People no longer separate wellness from hospitality. They want their guests to feel nourished as much as they feel impressed.
During a more casual party, smaller tables can also be placed in different rooms throughout the house, something that keeps guests circulating and the party dynamic going. Photo of Lauren Santo Dominigo entertaining at home.
Open-fire grills
While outdoor kitchens remain popular, homeowners are clamoring for one appliance in particular: an Argentine-style open-fire grill known as a parilla. With its adjustable cooking surface, wood or charcoal firing capabilities, and integrated drip pan for basting, it invites guests to gather around the flames, providing a more interactive experience than a standard American barbeque. A grill is included in an outdoor kitchen and dining area (similar to what’s known in Argentina as a quincho, a covered, outdoor social space designed for cooking and dining). A series of sliding doors and overhangs allow for versatility.
Open-fire cooking also offers guests more input over ingredients and preparation – welcome news for those with dietary restrictions who can now guide their meal from raw to plate.
Cooking becomes a whole event with an Argentinian grill. Australians have been practising this custom for decades.
Games tables
Games tables are back in a major way. With Mahjong’s rise as the preeminent game du jour, a home would be remiss without one. But designers are also thinking strategically about how such tables—whether used for poker, bridge, or Settlers of Catan (no judgment)—can maximize a home’s square meterage and engage non-traditional rooms. It’s about how to create entertaining spaces outside of the dining room or formal living room. Add a games table to your family room, and you can serve appetizers to your guests here.
Entertaining now means abandoning traditional ideas about what each room should do. Every room now has a double life: A library can be a cocktail lounge or dessert bar. Photo: Lauren Santo Dominigo.
Flexible tables
Flexible space is particularly important for hosts who throw large holiday gatherings. Doubling up on dining room tables has become a go-to strategy. For those who don’t formally entertain it’s an ideal way to occasionally host large gatherings for the holidays. You can source a pair of identical square tables so dining spaces can easily expand or contract as group sizes dictate. During a more casual party, smaller tables can also be placed in different rooms throughout the house, something that keeps guests circulating and the party dynamic going. Hosting events across several connected rooms allows you to have a drum roll and open the door to the next stage of the party.
Parties can last for hours, and no one wants to stay in one room all night.
Throw out room rules
In that spirit, entertaining today means abandoning traditional ideas about what each room should do. Every room now has a double life: A library can be a cocktail lounge, on a folding table covered in a custom tablecloth and pulled up to a sofa. If you’re going to go to the effort to create a beautiful environment in your personal spaces, it’s a shame not to share it with people. Regardless of which rooms you use, every successful party benefits from a dose of lagniappe, a Cajun word meaning an “an unexpected extra, given or obtained gratuitously.”
Dress the table, step back, and add a little surprise. Your guests will thank you—and have a darn good time.
It’s not how much money you spend for your tablesettings; it’s how much you don’t spend.
The blood sport of competitive table setting
Many people battle fiercely in the competitive art of table setting – and the best abide by certain rules. It’s not how much money you spend; it’s how much you don’t spend. Use unique plates, found objets and coloured glasses unearthed in back alleys and market fairs here and abroad.
Whatever your income or background, you score on originality and style. Whether placing antique jars on vintage cloths in the countryside or violet Venetian glasses on an upmarket urban tablescape, the feeling you want to project is, I’m cooler than you. The goal of the finest tables: Mix and match a cohesive still life on your dining table that would stop Henri Matisse in his tracks.
You can’t walk into a Hermes flagship, admire the napkins of a highly curated tablescape and say, “Just send me everything on that table. Sixteen of each.” That’s cheating. The stakes always rise around major holidays. Christmas is just around the corner. At Easter, it’s not about little colonies of Herend china bunnies and painted eggs from Hungary.
Many influencers like to think they are Ph.D-level table setters. You want your people to ask, “Where did you find these?” Then you can answer, “Oh, some island off Croatia.” The more far-flung the location, the better.
Even if all the plates have a pattern, the way we set the table has to have some sort of improvisation. Cut some branches and pile clementines in a dish if you haven’t got flowers. Imagine Renaissance paintings with garlands of figs. Candles are essential. A warm mood transpires in a table collected over the years. It’s the feeling of ‘Time is going to stand still”, and we are going to have this wonderful time and conversation.
Put miniature apples in piles. Replant long vines temporarily in wine glasses, artichokes in shot glasses so they stay straight, Brussels sprouts laid out, but only if still on long stems. Our go-to is unusual fruit and vegetables, in groupings of three. Never the same flower arrangements, even if the same vases are on the table.
Don’t try too-hard. You want your friends leaving your dinners smiling. You want to care, but not so much that it loses the fun.
Don’t try too-hard. You want your friends leaving your dinners smiling. You want to care, but not so much that it loses the fun. Photo of Hudson Valley interior by Steven Gambrel.
