A “Nancy Meyers Kitchen” is the epitome of home decor aspiration. Nancy Meyers writes, directs, and produces time-treasured movies, most of which are rom-coms that are in and of themselves unforgettable. Beyond her heartfelt stories, characters, and relationships, though, Nancy Meyers's movies always deliver on their kitchens.

Particularly with the movies Nancy Meyers has directed, Meyers’ collaborations with her set designers consistently turn out truly iconic kitchens. We’re talking Architectural Digest-worthy spaces. Nancy Meyers's kitchens aren’t just unforgettable because of how they look, though. It’s also how they each support their movie’s larger narrative and character arcs that make these spaces so timeless.

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6. What Women Want (2000)

Mel Gibson as Nich Marshall dancing in his apartment in What Women Want
Image via Paramount Pictures

Nick Marshall’s (Mel Gibson) bachelor pad in What Women Want is textbook Chicago advertising playboy chic. We don’t spend all that much time in this Nancy Meyers kitchen, though, and thus, it earns the last place spot on this list. Kitchens aside, Nick’s apartment as a whole evokes classic Chicago architectural modernism. In the movie, Nick is a real chauvinist who, through a touch of magical realism, gains the ability to hear what women are thinking. Much like the minimalist, clean lines of his apartment, Nick begins this movie with a suave facade. Underneath that polished exterior, though, lies an unwillingness to really go deep with anyone, certainly not women.

Much like his apartment, on the surface, Nick is incredibly compelling – or so he thinks. Women seem to very much want him. Yet, the minute he gains the ability to hear these women’s thoughts, he realizes that underneath that surface-level attraction, they all see him as hollow, uninviting, and devoid of real heart. His home epitomizes this sleek exterior and that surface…it’s slippery!

5. The Parent Trap (1998)

Lindsay Lohan as Annie pretending to be her sister Hallie sitting in the kitchen in The Parent Trap
Image via Buena Vista Pictures Distribution

Chessy’s (Lisa Anne Walter) domain in The Parent Trap is everything you dream of when you think of Napa Valley. Annie (Lindsay Lohan), impersonating her twin-sister Hallie (also Lohan) seems to feel instantly at home in her father’s (Dennis Quaid) house despite having never been there a day in her life – that she can remember anyway. Nancy Meyer’s first directorial on-screen kitchen is cozy and inviting. A real homey feel.

We don’t necessarily get a lot of face-time with this Nancy Meyers kitchen but the quick hits we do get – Annie-as-Hallie grabbing a bite of breakfast on her way out to scheme, and then that classic moment when Chessy realizes the whole charade – is all we need. Remember, this movie is a remake and honestly, it’s pretty hard to compete with the quintessential mid-century modern Northern California charm from the 1961 original. What we do get encapsulates exactly what the story needs – a cozy, casual foil to Elizabeth James’ (Natasha Richardson) classic London townhouse.

4. The Intern (2015)

Anne Hathaway as Jules Ostin talking to her family in the kitchen in The Intern
Image via Warner Bros.

In The Intern, we get two kitchens – Jules Ostin’s (Anne Hathaway) Brooklyn home kitchen run by her husband Matt (Anders Holm) and Ben’s (Robert De Niro) kitchen in the home his late-wife made their own. Ben’s space is lived-in and clearly well-worn. Late into the movie, Jules even visits Ben at his home, commenting on how much she loves his space.

Jules’ kitchen is where we really get the sense that all is not right at home. It’s where she learns of Matt’s affair. Jules may be the CEO of an up-and-coming e-commerce start-up, but at home, things are crumbling. Even so, hers and Matt’s home does very much feel like something you’d find in a storybook, a point Jules makes. Maybe not Architectural Digest-worthy, but definitely Apartment Therapy. There’s potential in this kitchen, and in their marriage. It very much seems like the home of millennials who have a bunch of their shit together, but not quite all of it. It's not at Something’s Gotta Give or It’s Complicated perfection quite yet, but they’re young. They’ve got time.

3. Something’s Gotta Give (2003)

Diane Keaton as Erica Barry and Jack Nicholson as Harry Sanborn in bathrobes in Something's Gotta Give
Image via Sony Pictures Releasing

They say the kitchen is the heart of any home and in Something’s Gotta Give, Erica Berry’s (Diane Keaton) kitchen is certainly where her heart first begins cracking back open. The divorced playwright has the fright of her life when she finds her daughter Marin’s (Amanda Peet) much older boyfriend Harry Sanborn (Jack Nicholson) bottomless in her Hamptons kitchen. Then, when Harry has a heart attack, these two complete opposites find themselves trapped together in Erica’s house, Harry having to recuperate here with Erica as his makeshift nurse.

At first, neither Erica nor Harry can stand the arrangement. Harry wants to smoke his cigars. Erica wants peace and quiet. But before long, they’re meeting in the kitchen for a late-night pancake date. Pancakes never actually get made, but here in this perfectly coastal Nancy Meyers kitchen, there’s no denying that opposites have begun to attract.

Erica’s kitchen, and really the meticulous curation of her entire house, embodies her tight grip on doing things her way. This kitchen is a dream, almost to the point where it’s too perfect. Erica doesn’t want her space tainted by the likes of Harry – a notorious playboy who dates much younger women including her daughter. Yet, it’s here in her kitchen that Erica begins to, against her better judgment, fall in love with Harry. In their bathrobes in the middle of the night, they start having honest conversations. On the other side of that coin, places like Erica’s home are not Harry’s vibe at all. And yet Harry begins letting his own guard down and embracing Erica’s style. Before long, it becomes clear that Harry’s exactly the kind of character Erica stopped searching for a long time ago but likely has needed all along.

2. The Holiday (2006)

Jack Black as Miles and Kate Winslet as Iris in the kitchen in The Holiday
Image via Sony Pictures Releasing

Iris’ (Kate Winslet) cozy cottage kitchen completely baffles Amanda Woods (Cameron Diaz) when she arrives for a much-needed two-week house swap vacation. After sleeping with Iris’ brother Graham (Jude Law), Amanda can’t for the life of her figure out the coffee maker. Plugging it in, it seems, would help! Conversely across the pond, Iris immediately settles right into Amanda’s Los Angeles kitchen and home, trying on what it feels like to live as a woman as powerful as Amanda - at least as far as careers go. Juxtaposing Amanda and Iris’ kitchens, we watch two women so sure of the stories they’re telling themselves change their surroundings and instantly begin to see the cracks in those facades. By misplacing these women and putting them in environments where complete strangers can become these profoundly empathetic mirrors, each woman comes to see herself in a new light.

Iris and Amanda’s personalities each shine so brightly through the homes they’ve created for themselves – Iris’ a cramped but livable, comforting spot that could really use some updates, and Amanda’s the home of a well-maintained, modern success that doesn’t feel like anywhere but the home studio is all that well-lived in. Over the course of the movie, we get to see how trying on these unfamiliar lifestyles impacts each woman’s point of view about herself and how she intends to carry herself in the world moving forward.

1. It’s Complicated (2009)

Meryl Streep as Jane Adler in her kitchen in It's Complicated
Image via Universal Pictures

By the time we get to It’s Complicated, the Nancy Meyers kitchen has, in many ways, become a central character of the movie itself – or at least a central metaphor for the central character. Meryl Streep’s Jane Adler is working through a transformation over the course of this romantic comedy. She’s having an affair with her ex-husband Jake (Alec Baldwin) while simultaneously finally following through on her dream – remodeling her kitchen into that big space she's always wanted. If ever there was a push and pull between clinging to the past or plowing whole hog into the future, it’s Jane winding her way through this kitchen renovation. Get even more literal about it by making Jane’s architect Adam Schaffer (Steve Martin) into her new love interest and I mean…come on! It’s warm-chocolate-croissant-good writing if I’ve ever encountered any.

Jane’s kitchen is Santa Barbara at its best. She’s even got farm-to-table-ness going on with her unbelievable home garden. This kitchen remodel, though, it’s her dream. It’s been her dream for a long time. And now, suddenly amidst this affair with Jake, Jane’s letting this man and all his neuroses distract her once again from choosing and sticking with what she wants. Thankfully, Jane finally does choose herself and refocuses on the kitchen remodel – and Adam.

Another way of phrasing it is It’s Complicated is the ultimate Nancy Meyers kitchen because it gives us the opportunity to dream up an even better Nancy Meyers kitchen while standing in an incredible Nancy Meyers kitchen. A nesting doll of Nancy Meyers Kitchen magic! This top ranking isn't complicated in the least.