This ‘90s Kitchen Trend Is Making a Major Comeback in 2025 (It’s So Nostalgic!)

I actually miss the kitchen TV from my old home — I just didn’t realize it till I saw that the nostalgic ’90s trend of TVs in kitchens was making a major comeback. Our small wall-mounted Roku TV in the corner of the kitchen could be tucked back against the wall sort of inconspicuously (benefit of painting the walls black!) when it wasn’t on, but we often kept it on when we were in the kitchen. Not even so much to actively watch shows, but for “company” while we cooked or worked at the kitchen counter. 

The TV became part of my morning ritual of making coffee as I passively watched the news. When we hosted happy hours or dinner parties, I loved using it to add background vibes, playing a vintage movie on mute that served as a cheeky or maybe even on-the-nose reference to the occasion (Best in Show played when we hosted our puppy training class’ graduation party, and it was Tucci’s Big Night or anything Fellini if we were making pasta). And in the terrifying early days of the pandemic, I vividly remember having beers with Andy — everyone we knew in Kentucky would watch our governor give his daily briefing live at 5 p.m. (while we, of course, made our drinks).  

As someone who flips kitchens and homes professionally and as a hobby, it occurred to me that there’s a whole fascinating timeline to the nostalgic tech trend that I haven’t seen anyone talk about. Have you wondered how TVs landed in the kitchen to begin with? I did! And actually dug into that a bit when I went down the rabbit hole for an article on the evolution of the TV in the home for Apartment Therapy.

In it, I traced how televisions migrated from living room centerpieces to embarrassments to be hidden to integrated design elements. But I didn’t explore one important chapter: the brief, shining moment when they landed in kitchens. The late ’80s and early ’90s were the perfect storm for kitchen TVs — small, affordable models were now available, most kitchens were still separate rooms that needed their own entertainment, and cable companies charged one flat fee per household, no matter how many screens you had. Adding a kitchen TV cost just the price of the set (and the cable outlet, my mom reminded me!).

But in the end, it wasn’t technology or streaming subscriptions that killed the kitchen TV — it was the sledgehammer. People tore down the walls that made in-room entertainment “necessary,” then wondered why something felt missing from our newly open kitchens. I mean, think about it: Kitchen TVs began disappearing around the same time open-concept floor plans really took off by the end of the 1990s. And who needs a dedicated television in the kitchen when you can see your big-screen living room TV from the sink?

I was either way behind or accidentally ahead of the times with the kitchen TV I had a few years ago, because they’re officially having a moment in 2025. Mine wasn’t a nostalgic tech trend, though; I just lived in an old house with a 19th Century floor plan and the kitchen at the back. I actually wouldn’t have had it any other way, but without a TV anywhere near the kitchen, it just made sense to add a low-profile one in there.

Since we’ve moved to a mid-century home last year, there isn’t room for a kitchen TV, so the only one in the house is downstairs in the rec room (speaking of trends that should come back — why did they stop making rec rooms!?). Instead, we have a little Google Nest that can play television, but it’s such a small screen we don’t bother to use it for much more than timers, weather, and music. 

A family member mentioned to me recently that they actually wished they still had their kitchen TV, too. The truth is, so many of us are looking at screens while we eat, and at least when you’re watching TV together, my relative said, they were looking at the same screen. 

If you’re in that nostalgic frame of mind and are ready to plug in in the kitchen, here are some TVs that are suited for the space.