A nancy meyers kitchen is a big, bright, traditional kitchen that looks expensive but lived in: warm white cabinets, countertops made of honed stone or marble, an oversized island or table, hanging lantern lights, and fruit, flowers, and cookbooks displayed on top of the counter. You could mimic the cabinets painted in cream and the copper pots and still miss the look, because it lives in the small details. The second island. The lamp on the countertop. The crock filled with wooden spoons. A white that isn’t quite white.
Below, we go through what each movie kitchen actually has, from the dark counters of “Something’s Gotta Give” to the blue cottage cabinets of “The Holiday.” And we will consider the real house behind them and how you can achieve the same look in your own kitchen, including measurements, paint colors, and budget. There’s a new movie on the way, too: Meyers’ first since 2015 arrives in theaters on Christmas Day 2027. Meyers’ first since 2015 arrives in theaters on Christmas Day 2027.
What is a Nancy Meyers kitchen?
A nancy meyers kitchen is a large, bright, traditional kitchen that looks expensive but well used. Think warm white or softly colored Shaker cabinets, honed stone or butcher-block counters, a big island or table, lantern pendants, open shelves of white dishes, and everyday things left out on the counter.
The look comes from the sets of her films and from her own kitchen in Los Angeles. Nancy Meyers interior design changes from film to film, but the nancy meyers kitchen aesthetic stays recognizable because a few things never move:
- Soft, warm colors. Pale cream or white, occasionally blue or tan but never stark.
- Materials that are natural and have a matte finish. Soapstone, marble, wood.
- A large surface around which everyone gathers.
- Multiple sources of light.
- Everyday life on show: cookbooks, a fruit bowl, a coffee maker nobody puts away.
Every Nancy Meyers kitchen, film by film
Every nancy meyers kitchen gives you the same feeling, but the details change a lot between films. Here’s what each one actually has. Where sources disagree, we say so.
| Kitchen | Cabinets | Counters and tile | Gathering spot | Signature detail |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Something’s Gotta Give (2003) | Warm white Shaker, glass-front uppers | Dark honed stone, usually read as soapstone; white 3×6 subway tile | Two islands, one for prep and one for serving | Black lantern pendants, books, lemons and green apples, hydrangeas |
| It’s Complicated (2009) | Cream to tan lowers, open shelves above | Marble island with soft, rounded edges; small square handmade-look tile | Freestanding island, two kitchen carts, a dining table steps away | Copper pans, skirted storage under the counter, rustic floor tile |
| The Holiday (2006), Rosehill Cottage | Chalky duck-egg blue with wooden knobs | Butler sink | Small eat-in table and a cart, no island | A fireplace in the kitchen with platters and crocks above it |
| The Intern (2015) | Deep dusty blue | Glossy white beveled subway tile | Island on industrial-style legs | Lantern pendants close to the Something’s Gotta Give ones |
| Father of the Bride (1991) | White, glass fronts | Butcher block | Breakfast nook with spindle-back chairs | Counters crowded with everyday things |
| Meyers’ own LA kitchen | White, glass-front uppers | Marble | Two islands | Ann-Morris pendants, Carolina Irving & Daughters plates, custom Buell stools |
Something’s Gotta Give (2003)
The Something’s Gotta Give kitchen is the one most people picture. Erica Barry designed her Hamptons house for herself following 20 years of marriage. Her kitchen is big, orderly and white. The countertops are dark and matte. Most designers call them soapstone, though some read the outer island as black granite. Production designer Jon Hutman and set decorator Beth Rubino designed it with Meyers, who drew inspiration from her own kitchen.
Steal this: warm white cabinetry with a dark, matte countertop. That contrast does most of the work.
It’s Complicated (2009)
Jane runs a bakery, so her kitchen works hard. The marble island is freestanding, with two carts and a dining table a few steps away. For plenty of fans, the It’s Complicated kitchen is where the obsession started. Hutman told the Washington Post it was attractive and comfortable “but in a lived-in way.”
Steal this: put a cart or an old table beside the island instead of adding more cabinets.
The Holiday (2006)
There are two kitchens, and the contrast is deliberate. Amanda’s Los Angeles house is huge and polished. Meyers said Iris’s cottage kitchen was the one “filled with life.” The Holiday kitchen at Rosehill Cottage never existed, by the way. The exterior was a shell built in a field in Surrey, and the interiors were a set in Culver City, California. If this is your favorite, our guide to cottagecore interior design goes further.
Steal this: you don’t need an island. A small table and a cart do the same job.
The Intern (2015)
Jules lives in a brownstone in Brooklyn, and her kitchen is the most updated of the bunch. Her cabinets are dusty blue, her tile is white and shiny, and her counters are full, as always. Her kitchen was designed by Kristi Zea, with set decoration by Susan Bode.
Steal this: a darker cabinet shade still looks good if your tile is white and clean.
Father of the Bride (1991)
Meyers co-wrote and produced this movie. Charles Shyer directed it. The Banks family’s kitchen has white cabinets, butcher block countertops, and a breakfast nook. Sandy Veneziano was the production designer.
Steal this: butcher block is one of the warmest and most affordable ways to get into that style.
Inside Nancy Meyers’ own house and kitchen
The real nancy meyers house is a Provençal-style home in Los Angeles. Construction of the home began while she was married to director Charles Shyer. But once her daughter Annie went off to college, she found that the home was too large for her. So she purchased the neighboring home and then had architect Howard Backen design something more compact for her. In the meantime, she redecorated the existing home and fell in love with it again. She stayed.
Designer Mark D. Sikes later refreshed the house, and Architectural Digest toured it in its July/August 2022 issue. That tour is the best look at a nancy meyers house you’ll get, and it’s pure Nancy Meyers style. The kitchen has two islands, white cabinets, and white marble countertops. After posting the image of the kitchen on Instagram in 2020, she revealed through her comments that this kitchen was the source of inspiration for the Something’s Gotta Give kitchen. Ina Garten also left a comment on her post. The pendants are Ann-Morris fixtures, the plates behind the glass cabinet doors are Carolina Irving & Daughters, and the stools are custom Buell pieces. Out back, there’s an outdoor kitchen under a black pergola with a single hanging lantern.
The movie houses behind the kitchens
When people search for a nancy meyers house, they often mean the movie ones. None of the iconic kitchen scenes were shot within them. The exteriors of Something’s Gotta Give were shot at a real house on Meadow Lane in Southampton, but every interior scene was shot on a soundstage. The exterior of the Father of the Bride home is located in Pasadena, while backyard scenes were shot in a separate location in Alhambra.
What the movies don’t show you. These kitchens were sets, lit by film crews. On the Something’s Gotta Give DVD commentary, Meyers said that even with the same paint, a set wouldn’t look the same as a house, because the lighting is different. So if your nancy meyers kitchen looks flat next to the films, light is usually why. Test paint samples in your own kitchen at night, with your own bulbs. Add light at more than one height. And size your island to your room, not to a soundstage.
How to get the Nancy Meyers kitchen aesthetic at home
The nancy meyers kitchen aesthetic is built in layers: warm color and matte materials first, then light, then the everyday stuff on the counters. Most nancy meyers kitchen ideas online jump straight to the last layer. It only works once the base is right, so build a nancy meyers kitchen in that order.
Cabinets and paint
Go warm white, not bright white. Shaker or inset doors look right, and glass fronts on a few upper cabinets help. For door styles that hold up to daily use, see our notes on kitchen cabinets that work in real life.
The film paints were custom-mixed, so no exact match exists. These are good shades to sample, drawn largely from color consultant Kylie M.:
| For this look | Cabinets | Walls |
|---|---|---|
| Something’s Gotta Give | Benjamin Moore White Dove OC-17, Sherwin-Williams Alabaster SW 7008 |
The same whites, or Sherwin-Williams Creamy SW 7012 for more warmth |
| It’s Complicated | Benjamin Moore Grant Beige HC-83, Sherwin-Williams Sandbar SW 7547 |
Sherwin-Williams Creamy SW 7012, Benjamin Moore Cloud White OC-130 |
| The Holiday | Sherwin-Williams Stardew SW 9138, Benjamin Moore Silver Mink 1586 |
Sherwin-Williams Casa Blanca SW 7571, Benjamin Moore Navajo White OC-95 |
Use big samples, at least 12 inches square, and check them at night with the lights on.
Counters and tile
Honed soapstone, honed Carrara or Calacatta marble, and butcher block all work. Let the edges be clean. Mixing different materials in the island and the surrounding kitchen is very Nancy Meyers. For the backsplash area, 3×6 white subway tile will be perfect; for an It’s Complicated look, small handmade-look tiles work.
All of these materials age. Marble is etched by lemon juice, wine, and vinegar. Soapstone gets scratched and darkened; mineral oil evens out the color, and light scratches sand out. Butcher block requires oiling. Here, getting old is part of the deal.
Light
A single ceiling fixture will not do the job for you. Use pendant lamps over your island, a lamp over your counter, and lights under the cabinets for work. The counter lamp is the least expensive option on this list, and one that is often overlooked.
An island, or a table instead
Almost every film kitchen has one big surface everyone gathers around. There is no need for this to be specially constructed. Freestanding islands, old farm tables, and kitchen carts keep reappearing, and they look like found objects rather than catalog products.
Hardware and faucet
Polished nickel or aged brass. Drawers with cup pulls, cabinet knobs, and a bridge-style faucet if you need to replace one. Two metals in the kitchen is perfectly acceptable. Remember that polished nickel will show fingerprints and unlacquered brass will turn dark, so pick the finish whose wear you’ll enjoy.
The styling layer
This is where it really feels like you are on a movie set. A bowl of lemons or green apples. Hydrangeas in a see-through vase. Cookbooks that seem to have been read. Copper cookware, white dishes, olive oil in its original bottle and a jar full of wooden spoons. Leave the coffee maker out.
A plant on the windowsill helps; if yours never last, start with one of our hard-to-kill plants. Keep open shelves away from the cooktop, where grease settles on everything.
The numbers that make it feel right
A big island only looks relaxed when there’s room around it. Plan with these sizes. The first four come from the NKBA kitchen planning guidelines most designers work from.
| What | Size |
|---|---|
| Aisle around an island, one cook | 42 in minimum |
| Aisle, two or more cooks | 48 in minimum |
| Behind stools where people walk past | 44 in (32 in if nobody passes) |
| Each stool at a 36 in counter | 24 in wide, 15 in of knee space |
| Pendant height above the counter | 30 to 36 in |
| Space between pendants | About 24 to 30 in, and at least 6 inches from each end of the island |
| Open shelf depth | 10 to 12 in |
If your aisle would drop below 42 inches, skip the island and use a cart.
Nancy Meyers kitchen on a budget
You don’t need a renovation to get a nancy meyers kitchen feeling. Start at whichever level fits your lease and your bank account.
If you rent
Add a counter lamp, a washable runner and a freestanding cart. Swap the cabinet knobs and keep the originals in a bag for move-out day. Style one open shelf with white dishes, put the fruit and real bottles out, and stop hiding the coffee maker. Our apartment decor ideas with IKEA have more swaps your landlord won’t mind.
Small or galley kitchen? Copy Rosehill Cottage. A small table or a cart replaces the island, the aisle stays at 42 inches or more, and one or two pendants are sized to the room.
If you can refresh
Paint the cabinets a warm white. Change the pulls, put in a bridge faucet and hang a pair of lantern pendants. If you can, swap one run of upper cabinets for an open shelf.
If you’re renovating
This is where inset or Shaker cabinets, honed stone, a proper island or a marble-topped table, and a tiled wall behind the range come in.
Where to spend and where to save
| Worth spending on | Fine to save on |
|---|---|
| The faucet. Emily Henderson’s team suggests at least $300 for one that won’t fail in a few months | White dishes. Thrift stores are full of them |
| Light fixtures | Crocks, bowls and cutting boards |
| The counter you touch every day | Stools. Vintage ones often look better |
| Paint prep: cleaning, sanding and primer before the cabinet paint | Cookbooks. Use the ones you already own |
5 mistakes that make it look fake
Most copies of a nancy meyers kitchen go wrong in the same places.
- Bright white. Stark white cabinets look cold next to marble and wood. Pick a white with some warmth in it.
- All brand new and perfectly matched. One metal, one wood tone and one store make a kitchen look like it was bought in a weekend. Use two different metals and add an antique touch.
- Bare counters, or everything decanted into perfectly matched jars. Her kitchens leave the bottles, the toaster and the coffee maker out.
- Only one overhead light. It flattens your entire room. Install pendants and a table lamp.
- Film-set scale in a small space. When you place an island that limits the aisle around it to less than 42 inches, you end up with a claustrophobic effect.
For the traps that apply to every room, see our 5 interior design mistakes.
Is the Nancy Meyers kitchen still in style in 2026?
Yes. Interest jumped in 2024, when Pinterest’s summer trend report showed searches for “Nancy Meyers homes” up 2,055%, and it hasn’t gone away. There is a counter-trend, the minimal “invisible kitchen” that hides every appliance behind panels. But the nancy meyers kitchen aesthetic is made of classic parts (Shaker doors, natural stone, subway tile, lantern lights) that date slowly. A nancy meyers kitchen built carefully today should still look right in ten years.
Diane Keaton, who played Erica in Something’s Gotta Give, died on October 11, 2025, at 79. Meyers’ next film, with Penélope Cruz, Jude Law, Owen Wilson, Kieran Culkin and Emma Mackey, is due from Warner Bros. on December 25, 2027. We’ll update this guide once we’ve seen its kitchens.
FAQ
Not bright white but warm white. The paints used in the movie were custom-mixed, so there isn’t an exact color. Benjamin Moore White Dove OC-17 and Sherwin-Williams Alabaster SW 7008 are good starting points. Test large samples of paint yourself in your kitchen at night.
What countertops are in the Something’s Gotta Give kitchen?
Dark, honed stone, most often identified as soapstone. However, there is a possibility that some designers would classify the outer island as a glossy black granite, which means that two types of surfaces can be present. The trick is to use honed stone.
Was the Something’s Gotta Give kitchen real?
No. The exterior is that of an actual house on Meadow Lane in Southampton, but the interior scenes were filmed in a constructed set that was later dismantled. The kitchen set was loosely inspired by Meyers’ own kitchen.
Where is Nancy Meyers’ house?
The nancy meyers house is in Los Angeles. It’s a Provençal-style home she began building while married to director Charles Shyer, later refreshed by designer Mark D. Sikes and toured by Architectural Digest in 2022. Its two-island kitchen inspired the Something’s Gotta Give set, and it’s the clearest picture of the Nancy Meyers home look in real life.
Can you get a Nancy Meyers kitchen without an island?
Yes. Rosehill Cottage in The Holiday has no island, just a small eat-in table and a kitchen cart. In a small or galley nancy meyers kitchen, a rolling cart or narrow table, a counter lamp and one open shelf give you the same feeling without crowding the aisle.
Is the Nancy Meyers kitchen aesthetic the same as a coastal grandmother kitchen?
They overlap: pale colors, natural materials, blue and white, slipcovers. A coastal grandmother kitchen leans hard on beachy blue, though. The nancy meyers kitchen aesthetic is broader, and so is the wider Nancy Meyers aesthetic. Her films move from a Hamptons beach house to an English cottage, a Santa Barbara ranch and a Brooklyn brownstone.
Where to start
If you only do one thing this week, get yourself a small lamp for the counter and bring back the coffee maker from the cupboard. Light and a bit of everyday life cost the least and do the most for a nancy meyers kitchen. When you’re ready for the next room, our Nancy Meyers bedroom guide covers the lamps, curtains and old dresser most bedrooms are missing.