Consider a painted piece, and switch out the seat covers to pick up the color.

Traditional Dining Room · More Info

I think that most hutches are not so modern looking so probably a buffet would lend itself beautifully to the dining set. That is a really lovely dining set and I think you've got something great to start with. I am sure that our talented crew here will surely have some great suggestions!

The table top appears to be a different wood than the pedestal base and the wood of the chairs. You could "match" either.

A new china cabinet or anything labeled "antique" will be a costly investment.

You might take some time wandering through "antique" stores that often carry used furniture that isn't actually antique and carry good photographs of your dining room furniture with you.

The most obvious decorator pitfall would be finding one that is ornate that isn't the kind of ornate as the chairs. For that reason, you should probably be looking for a china cabinet that has lines that are as straight and plain as possible.

Something else to consider would be having a wall of 18" cabinets built with the wood being the same finish as the table top. (Think upscale overhead kitchen cabinets.) You could have solid doors on the base cabinets. You could use a solid black countertop to coordinate with the black chair seats. You could use glass doors for the overhead cabinets. If the cabinets were built by a pro (in two or three or four sections) and then installed -- affixed to the wall -- you could probably take them with you if you ever again move.

If using the same wood and wood finish as the table top makes the "built in" cabinets too costly, you might consider using other wood and painting the cabinets the same color as the wall.

Thank you for your suggestions, I really appreciate it! I would like to find a piece that complements the furniture, not necessarily matches. I did look into built-ins but they are unfortunately too expensive. I like the idea of reupholstering the chairs in the future, I don't think we can do that right now.

These are some that we are considering:

No, these won't work well I think. And the "why" lies in the fact that they strive to be old while being new..they're too "rustic distressed'. While your set is authentically old, and much more polished looking.

The last piece (the gray one)- I can see working with it, because it doesn't pretend, it is what it is..it's also painted vs stained so that makes things easier.

No stains don't have to match exactly but they need to share some common sensibility..say pine plus mahogany will be always hard to pull out because they signal very different things to us. While take some other woods in a bit different stains and it will all work.

I support suggestion of looking through vintage stores in your area, Craigslist and such. New furniture is extremely expensive whether justifiably so or not. You might stumble onto great find. Won't be neccessarily cheap either if more modern lines; but will be built better

I love your plan; it's a great set to work with. You can change the chairs' upholstery for something bright and modern too. These chairs will smile at you every moment.

iheartsix - Thank you :-) It's hard to keep the kids' stuff in the play room but hopefully once I finish the dining room and playroom storage it'll stay a bit more separate

aprilneverends - Thank you for the feedback. We've tried craigslist and local antique shops but haven't found anything we liked...my husband is getting tired of shopping and just wants to be done.

Staying on the grey idea - I found this, it's like built-ins but less expensive. It will fit in the space, based on measurements, but will it be too overpowering for the room? Or a nice focus piece?

Love the glass and the pale gray color

The hardware is wrong for the vibe you're going for..but that, you can switch as to tie more with your set. To something less sleek. These are long though. Won't be so easy.

Actually you can spay them ORB for example-and will be somewhat better. You can try and look for vintage ones on Etsy etc (amazing place for vintage hardware)

You can mix styles, as you also can mix your guests at dinner..but you do want them to be able to connect to each other somehow as different personalities as they might be

In terms of size..hard to say..yes might be overpowering. Looks very light and all, but it won't stay empty, you know(and shouldn't stay empty..I love glass precisely because one can have books, collections, what not behind it)

Your dining set it beautiful. Your floors are beautiful. I would avoid anything gray. The lovely warmth in your room will be brought down with gray. What color are your walls? Are you planing to get a rug or drapes? That could help you to determine what you might choose for your hutch. I know that it is annoying to keep looking, but I would try until you find the right piece to go with your set.

That's a lovely table and chairs. Forget the modern hutches/cabinets - they will never work in there. If you desperately need true storage, then start saving for custom painted built-ins. But I would shop for a nice antique mahogany sideboard. "Brown wood" is a great buy these days, and sideboards that sold for $15,000 15 years ago, now go for under $3000. Look for one with some good storage in it. Every room in ones house need not be of the exact same period, especially if one is using antiques (and no, your mom's Drexel DR set from the 60's is NOT "today's antiques" - it's dated used furniture, no matter how proud she was of it.

Curtains will also make a huge difference in this room, and a rug. My daughter used a large seagrass rug in her DR - could not possibly afford even a newer oriental in the size she needed. She has two boys, not born when the bought the house 19 yrs ago, now 15 and about to turn 18. There are also 2 cats. Her husband is not careful. The rug still looks great. The seagrass rug will make the room less formal and younger and more contemporary (DD was 25 when they bought this house - it WAS an issue for her).

You can probably reupholster the chair seats yourself. All you need is a flat head screwdriver and a staple gun.

I emptied the room if anyone wants to Photoshop.

How adventurous are you?

Super easy to reupholster the chairs yourself for $100 and a staple gun and a screwdriver. If you flip them over, you'll see a couple screws just holding those green pads in place. Unscrew those, stretch a piece of fabric over the existing and staple gun the edges, and then trim off the excess. Re-screw on. The whole project is less than an hour and about as diy as you can get. Put on a cool modern velvet or something else contemporary.

i'm not a huge fan of furniture from the era, but i think that set is quite simple and charming. Do you want the room to feel like the "queen anne's dining room"? Or do you want to use that table set and mix with some more modern stuff? My preference would be the latter because i think the former tends to look silly and out of place in most people's houses. But it's your choice. Also, as an aside, don't feel bound to use that set if you don't like it or feel like it's pinning you down to a style you don't like. Shocking as it sounds, you probably wouldn't fetch $150 for the whole thing on craigslist. It can always end up in the basement.....

Anyhow, back to your dining room. Regardless of the style, i think the pieces you posted above are all way too heavy for the space and don't feel modern at all with the table and chairs. I would far prefer a more linear modern buffet/side board, regardless of style. i just think they look so much cleaner than a big heavy hutch.

This is two painted overhead kitchen cabinets with glass doors with one mounted atop the other:

https://i.pinimg.com/originals/e0/a8/59/e0a8595c3442139df8bfd213a045ca9d.jpg

https://www.pinterest.com/pin/44613852538385370/?lp=true

Anyone looking for furnishings on a tight budget should begin making trips to Habitat for Humanity Restore Store. When spring remodeling season begins, their donations tend to increase, including used kitchen cabinets.

You might even find a cabinet intended for a different purpose that could work for your space as a china cabinet such as an oversized barrister's bookcase.

Another more budget friendly idea is to use shelving board to build your own shelving that are any overall height -- even floor to ceiling shelving -- but do so after checking the measurements of stock cabinet doors available locally so that you could add doors later -- solid ones to bottom shelves and glass front doors to at least part of the upper shelves.

Also, rather than having cabinets built, it might be practical to consider using use stacked stock overhead cabinets from one of the big box stores.

I like Groveraxle's photoshop color splash! The turquoise provides a great backdrop to show off the table, whereas, a matching wood piece wouldn't. Makes me want to paint my sideboard from black to aqua! I also love the red on the chairs.

I love these threads about mixing old and new in a home. I have a very similar dining room set that I inherited from my mom. I sort of grew up with it, but as an adult I never liked it. I wanted a high quality mission or shaker style set. Now that I have inherited the set, I am finding that I have so many other more important things I want to spend my money on. It's so much more cost effective to make the old things work in fresh ways, than completely redoing everything. I've also been influenced by spending time in Great Britain where they are very good a blending old and new and many style influences from around the world.

As this thread illustrates, there are many color schemes and styles that could make that set work in an eclectic way, but there are a couple of considerations. The first would be the kinds of colors you want in there. Any set of colors can work with brown wood if you get the right tone. And the second is kind of the "feel" you are going for. Do you want light and airy? From the slight glimpse of the rest of your house, seems like that is the case. What other rooms relate to this dining area? Looks like probably a living room or family room right? That's also going to influence your color scheme. Sometimes you can totally choose a color scheme, and sometimes it chooses you. My dining room is open to a formal sitting room, and I inherited a lot of Japonaise art from my mom, so that along with my love of good wood and my own art which emphasizes beach and nature themes, pretty much dictated my color scheme. I can't quite get a sense of yours, that's where it might help to find an inspiration piece or photo.

Unlike some other posters, I don't think those cream colored pieces you picked will not go with your dining set. My mom had a similar buffet in our dining room. She got it as unpainted furniture, and she gave it an antique finish. The right color of cream will go with brown furniture. But you could go with grey too, if you put the right accent colors in there. Unfortunately, I think that it is your walls that will clash with the grey, not the dining room set. I'm guessing you don't want to repaint the walls? One thing to consider is unpainted furniture. Lots of style to choose from, and you an either order it finished or finish yourself. Where I used to live I had an unfinished furniture store just up the road. If you can find one, that's a great option if you need finish flexibility. I havea cream, gold, jade green and various shades of brown and rusts color scheme in my current dining room. I find it quite flexible, peach and mauve work with it as well, and I also have some blue in there similar to what Groveraxle shows on the buffet. Mine is a watercolor-ish washed look palette. But the wood furniture is strong enough that even when I go red and green for Christmas, it looks good/rich. But you could easily go in another direction, with bold contrasting colors all the time. That's the first thing you need to sort out, what kind of overall feel you want. I wouldn't be a slave to the "50 shades of grey" current trend. I'm not dissing the style, but it is limiting, just as MCM can be, or not, depending on your creativity.

I can so relate to your dilemma...I have been working on updating my dining room for several months. I started with a nice table and chairs, sideboard, and fold-down secretary/desk that a lot of people might think are outdated, but I really think they are classics if you like traditional style. My biggest issue besides not wanting to spend thousands on a new dining room set was the fact that everything was BROWN. I moved two wing chairs from my living room and placed at the head and foot of the table and recovered the seats of the dining chairs in a complementary fabric. (Agree it is easy to do - have done it many times!) Since the secretary was a flea market find, I painted it taupe to further break up the avalanche of brown. I updated the chandelier, added some colorful lamps, and used my existing artwork. I like how it turned out - you might find these photos helpful?

Love that chandelier!!!! Awesome. Very pretty. Nice you have the space to do this. Great look.

In order to update your current dining room, definitely do remove the black cabinets. Also color will help your situation a lot. Go for a modern chandelier, and perhaps some nice artwork on the walls?

High-End Traditional Home: Dining Room · More Info

Transitional Home Design: Dining Room · More Info

I was picturing something like Groveraxle's post, in part because of pieces I have seen at a place here. I realize you are not likely to order something handmade in Texas (though he will ship), but I want to give you a website to look at for ideas.

We ordered a custom table from them and every time I went in the shop, I had to look at touch the tables, chairs, buffets and sideboards. It's new furniture with an old feel. The craftsmanship and style are older than your DR set, but not as formal, and the proportions and colors offered are newer. There is a blue sideboard pictured that is very much like the one Groveraxle posted (front and center) -- I have seen it in person and was thinking of something like that one that one or possibly one of the taller pieces -- especially if you have things to display (and what you display can make it feel newer or older). A couple are pictured with tables -- maybe that will help you picture what you could do. Look at the tables too -- some have buffets behind them. Hope that helps.

Wow thank you so much for all of the feedback, I really appreciate it! I love seeing the photos too - it helps a lot!

groveraxle - Your photoshop skills are amazing and I love the blue!

twinfield & bellburgmaggie - It really helped seeing what you both did in similar dilemmas - both of your dining rooms look lovely!

lascatx - I looked at that website - they have really nice stuff! I'm of course worried it will cost too much to buy custom and have it shipped to NJ but I'm going to look into it.

The walls are beige and I would prefer not to change that. I would rather add color using furniture, rug, curtains, wall hangings etc. I plan to add that all but really wanted to get the furniture taken care of first. I'm dying to get rid of those black cabinets but need something else to use for storage in order to do so! And you've all definitely convinced me to do the chair covers - they need it and I think I can do it!

Color wise I don't want to go too dark, the furniture I do have is dark so I'd like to add lighter/brighter colors to the room. I like the idea of light and airy, the dining room is connected to our living room (that's where I took the photo from) which has a lot of windows with a grey couch, beige coffee table and and bluish/grayish carpet.

I thought a tall cabinet/hutch would be best - we have so much wall space I figured we should take advantage and have the extra storage vs. just a buffet/side table. I was planning to do a hutch/cabinet on the big wall and then a side board/buffet under the windows but now I'm thinking that's too much.

If budget is of concern, get some buffet/hutch on Craigslist and paint it with either chalk pain tor General Finishes milk paint.

chalk painted buffets

GF milk paint

Craigslist is full of pieces that you can paint or hire a professional to paint a beautiful color. Just do searches for "sideboard," "credenza," "buffet." Check Pinterest for "repainted sideboard," and the like.

Or check out Ikea Hemnes or Liatorp

Melissa, see if you can find something on craigslist that you can paint. Old, crappy looking, water marked...as long as it has good lines, you can paint and change the hardware and end up with a knock out piece.

I agree, my CL has the coolest china cabinets and/or buffets for less than 100.00 or even 50.00.

Your chairs were never sold as a set with that table. They were for a more formal table. The table and chairs have rather delicate, curved lines. If
you want to go "modern", you need to look for those lines in the piece.

The hulking squared-off current styles will look ill at ease. (true story: I was living in a 1920s house and scored a lovely Mission buffet with stained glass and tiles and everything. It was horrible ... nothing else in the house was that bulky and squared. So I traded it for a later curvy art deco piece and sent it off to a friend's house where the squat lines settled in and looked at home)

I would look for a used dark wood china cabinet with glass doors that's close to the chairs in formality and finish.

Line the back of the glassed area with bright fabric or wallpaper. Bring in the modern, lighter brighter with wall paint, new fabric on the chairs, rug, drapes and art.

If you temporarily want to work with your existing cabinets, I think you can create an assemblage of antique-like items to complement the dining table and chairs.

I get where you are coming from, you want something that looks good right now! And don't want to spend a lot of money on something you don't love or won't want for long.

Two ideas. #1. Clear off all the junk on top of your current buffet. Go to Michaels or Bed Bath and Beyond or some home goods store around you and get some low storage baskets, not too tall, like maybe 6". You can put some of the junk in there to hide it if you want, like board games, linens or desk items that you might use on the dining table some of the time. While you are there, get a light colored tablecloth that goes with your desired color scheme. I'm not sure why everyone avoids tablecloths, I can't live without them, and I can't think of an easier way to "lighten up" a dark brown wood table and lessen its dark presence in a room. Later on you can take it off. Also while you are there, get some fun blingy shades for your current chandelier in a light color you like. Maybe even some crystal bling to hang off of it or shades with crystal edging. And while you are at it, get some cheap square frames the size that would suit a calendar art page or old record sleeve. You can then make a quick and dirty inexpensive art montage to go atop your current black buffet. Pick something colorful and bold that you can see from up there. Done for now, and you can wait to find the perfect hutch.

Idea #2. Go to IKEA and find a plain jane white hutch set. The one Nosoccermom posted would be perfect. Doll it up with some shelf paper on the back and a fancy set of knobs, or not. Done for now. Once you get your nice things in it, it will look great. That's what I did in my last house. I still have the IKEA stuff in a different iteration in my current home, as bookshelves in the library, so not money wasted. Now I have inherited "Big Bertha" my mom's Rococo revival china cabinet. Suggestion #2 will give you a chance to figure out if you want or need a hutch as opposed to a buffet and also give you time again to find the perfect antique or more expensive piece. Or not, you may find that IKEA is fine for your needs.

Since I see you are in NJ, there may be some unpainted furniture stores around you. The one near me was just over the river in Allentown where I used to live. That would be another option, as I mentioned, if you don't want to try and refinish an already finished piece.

Edited to add after I saw Beverly's mock up, that is another way to go. Looks perfectly fab that way to me. I'm no Photoshopper, but there are any number of ways to doll up what you currently have and make it work wonderfully.

Another option is IKEA Besta. There are a whole bunch of configurations and fronts. You can float it, build a storage wall, and use it in any room of your house.