What happened to dining rooms?

[Ronstar]

We built our house 16 years ago with a dining room - a must for DW. We use it every Thanksgiving, and only on Thanksgiving.

 

[Cattusbabe]

We do the big family Thanksgiving day dinner with all the trimmings. Its our biggest holiday celebration of the year and the one time most of the extended family is together in one place other than weddings and funerals. We extend the table to banquet size and set up all the extra chairs in storage in the basement. It is white linen table cloths and napkins all the way. The good china that has been handed down from brides past. With the guys in front of the set getting over loaded on Football and us gals showing off cooking skills. the kids running around the house doing what kids do as we remake at just how much they have grown since last year, well it is just an exhausting fun day with family.

The best part is all of us sitting down together at one big table and catching with all of our lives.Toasting those who came before us and the new additions to the family. Then eating all that comfort food from generations past and introducing new dishes from current family "chefs". So for me and mine a dining room is a must.

 

[Walt34]

Built in 2001 and 2002, our home has a formal dining room with a nice cherry wood table, matching chairs with white cloth seats, and china cabinet I inherited from my mother.

The table is the only one in the house big enough to spread out the newspaper, open large delivery boxes on, and is a convenient spot to throw the mail. I was going to upload a picture but DW got that big-eyed look that I know means "NO!" I suppose she expected me to clean it off first.

About once a year we use it for eating.

 

[Orchidflower]

Since Florida homes also have outside areas that we use all year a dining room is overkill .I have a great room with a dining area . When I have big family dinners we just extend the dining area into the living area and we also utilize the table on the deck . My house was built in 1998.

This is what I am finding in the newer built homes starting around year 2000: an "area" for dining off the kitchen but it is all one big room. You don't see china cabinets in these homes either, so where do you put the good china? Or don't you keep an everyday set and a dressier set in this style of home, which is what I assume.
Styles do swing back and forth. I'll be interested to see if this relaxed style lasts for the next 10 years or so.

 

[Moemg]

This is what I am finding in the newer built homes starting around year 2000: an "area" for dining off the kitchen but it is all one big room. You don't see china cabinets in these homes either, so where do you put the good china? Or don't you keep an everyday set and a dressier set in this style of home, which is what I assume.
Styles do swing back and forth. I'll be interested to see if this relaxed style lasts for the next 10 years or so.

I have a built in china cabinet in my dining area plus I have a hutch in my Living area so all my good china is stored there . When we entertain we open up the table and also set up the table on the porch so we can easily fit 16 adults and we have a separate kiddie table that seats 4 so no TV tray eating here .

 

[happy2bretired]

I was so floored by my realtor girlfriend who agreed with the guy realtor telling me that dining room sets were out of favor now that I asked where the heck do people eat when they come over for dinner? The answer: tv trays.
I say ewwwwww, ick! Just IMHO.

For you folks with no formal dining room, where do your guests eat when they come over?

If formal dining rooms are going the way of the Edsel, I guess my set of Lennox china will be out in the near future, too...bring on the Chinette paper plates?

Does anyone know if china cabinets are, also, out of style? I tried looking thru HGTV's website, but really did not get an answer there. Seems people need to put their "good" china somewhere other than their everyday cabinets, but who knows what is in style now? Are china cabinets out of style also?

I don't host dinners any longer since my husband died but did a few times for family holiday dinners before that. I set up a few folding tables in the great room and also used the dining table in my very small dining area that is between the kitchen and great room. (no walls) The kitchen has a long buffet type wall that separates the kitchen from the dining area.(also hides the dirty dishes) That was where the food was and people went thru the line for their food then back to their tables.

I had a formal hutch and dining table in my basement. I think it was only used once since I've been in this house. The very first house we bought had a formal dining area and that's why the hutch and table was purchased. The houses since that first house did not have a formal dining room and the dining set had pretty much been in storage in basements since then.

I took a sledge hammer to the top of my hutch. The bottom half of it is still in my basement housing my formal china that I'm holding for my daughter...I don't want it...but I'm stuck with it for awhile. My formal dining room table is now located in the garage waiting for some organization like Goodwill to pick it up.

 

[HFWR]

My house has a dining room, though mostly I eat at the computer or on the sofa. During my recent remodeling, I widened the doorway between the kitchen and DR, to make it more like one big room. I like it better that way. I prefer an open floor plan to the boxy room thing.

 

[MichaelB]

No dining room? That would affect our whole way of life. The (EIK) kitchen table is the place for daily eating but is also the social center of the home. It is cozy, informal, simple, with direct access to food and drink. It is the watering hole for family and friends to just sit around and enjoy each other’s company with (or without) nutrition. When family and friends visit they automatically relocate to the kitchen table.

The dining room is the place for celebration, large and more formal gathering of family and friends. Here the meal is important, the mood is always festive, the memories are all fond, and everyone is always on their best behavior.

Families that don’t cook and eat together have less need for a dining room. Likewise singles and couples with no children at home. The DR takes up space and demands additional furniture.

In florida we found lots of places only with great rooms and no separate dining room (or family room), but mostly newer construction. When the social center is the entertainment center (home theater) and meals are part of the gathering, a great room works better and the dining room is wasted space. Just the opposite in the midwest and northeast, however.

I agree with the fashion statement comment. If the savings rate pushes higher in the US and eating out declines, dining rooms will become suddenly become important again.

 

[Texas Proud]

Our breakfast room will only hold 4 people... we do not have a bar area... so we NEED a dining room..

We can fit 8 in our dining room... if we have more then we use the breakfast table... more than that the outside table can seat another 6... tight, but it can hold that many.. for a total of 18... more than that... we rotate

(or... but have not yet done this is rent the neighborhood meeting place that is right across the street... )

 

[IndependentlyPoor]

A picture is worth a thousand words

I fear that I wasn't clear in my earlier post. The choice I was thinking about was not having a dining room or not, but having a separate dining room vs. an open plan. Here is an example: the condo we came very close to buying.

It has a dining room, but it is open to the kitchen and living room so that the cook can participate in the party while preparing dinner. The island hides any mess in the kitchen.
A drawback of this floorplan is that the guest bedroom opens directly onto the dining room, but we were going to use that room as a study anyway...

Edit
Rats, some lines were missing from floorplan. Replaced it.

 

[audreyh1]

For you folks with no formal dining room, where do your guests eat when they come over?

If formal dining rooms are going the way of the Edsel, I guess my set of Lennox china will be out in the near future, too...bring on the Chinette paper plates?

Well first of all, I'll probably mostly invite people over to eat when we can enjoy eating outdoors. Around here, that's where people entertain.

But even otherwise, the table we plan to get for our living area will seat six, so it's not like we have them eating off the floor!

China? What's that? Don't own any china.

Well, actually I do own a porcelain Royal Daulton tea set that I brought back from England - but somehow I don't expect to be serving English afternoon tea around here.

Wait a minute! Maybe I could start a new tradition.......

Audrey

 

[Sue J]

Our house has a kitchen with a breakfast room and that's one of the best parts of the house. We also have a formal dining room but it's only 10x10. The drop leaf dining room table is kept as small as possible and is kept up against a wall. If we had a table in the center of the dining room it would be something we'd have to walk around every time we went in or out of the kitchen.

We used to use the dining room a few times a year for extended family gatherings. My parents have stopped driving beyond their immediate neighborhood so they don't come here anymore. The last few years my sister has hosted the holidays or we meet at a restaurant.

Those of you with open plans for the kitchen and living rooms....do you like it that way? Does kitchen noise (water running, disposal, appliances, cupboards closing) bother people in the living room? We have a kitchen TV that I use when preparing food or eating by myself and I know I'm not watching the same thing as the folks in the living room.

So far, I like the separation from the living room. I don't think I'd want an open plan.

 

[brewer12345]

Our 1951 vintage home had both a kitchen and an adjoining dining room that were too small. So when we remodeled the kitchen we demolished the wall between them and made a single room. Bags better and more usable space. I would not shed any tears to kiss the dining room good bye.

 

[FIREd]

For you folks with no formal dining room, where do your guests eat when they come over

?

If formal dining rooms are going the way of the Edsel, I guess my set of Lennox china will be out in the near future, too...bring on the Chinette paper plates?

We might be old fashioned or perhaps more formal than average, but we still use our finest china, crystal, silverware and linens even for small, intimate gatherings like this one:

The table is set on the library table rather than the larger dining room table, which is typical for Sunday lunches with MIL.

 

[HFWR]

China? What's that? Don't own any china.

I have some. Says "China" right on the bottom...

 

[KB]

I got a full set of china when I married in 1975. I've never used it. I still love the pattern, but haven't gotten around to pulling it out and using it. I should do that. And use my silver too.

 

[Westernskies]

Are china cabinets out of style also?

Have you ridden on an airplane lately? Or shopped at a Wal-Mart?

Anything remotely formal is apparently out of style... Sometimes it's hard to fathom how sloppy US society has become- I suspect many of these folks eat Thanksgiving Dinner off paper plates in their underwear in front of the TV, fighting over the Wii....

Grandma's good china got sold in the garage sale to pay for tattoos.

 

[Texas Proud]

Those of you with open plans for the kitchen and living rooms....do you like it that way? Does kitchen noise (water running, disposal, appliances, cupboards closing) bother people in the living room? We have a kitchen TV that I use when preparing food or eating by myself and I know I'm not watching the same thing as the folks in the living room.

So far, I like the separation from the living room. I don't think I'd want an open plan.

I will answer that.. YES.. the noise bothers me... and ours is not an open plan... we have a kitchen and breakfast room... and then an opening into the 'great room' where I have my TV... while my wife is doing stuff in the kitchen... clanking pans, turning on water... etc. etc... it makes it hard to listen to the TV.... so I have to turn it up....

And as I said... it is NOT open, so the 'cook' etc. can not enjoy the company in the living room without getting into the opening...

 

[HFWR]

Those of you with open plans for the kitchen and living rooms....do you like it that way? Does kitchen noise (water running, disposal, appliances, cupboards closing) bother people in the living room? We have a kitchen TV that I use when preparing food or eating by myself and I know I'm not watching the same thing as the folks in the living room.

Unless I'm in two places at once, nope, doesn't bother me...

Thankfully, my new dishwasher is much quieter than the old one. Can't say that for the washer or dryer, though. Just have to crank the tv volume. Of course, my house is still rather boxy, only less so after widening the doorway between the kitchen and DR.

 

[LOL!]

Those of you with open plans for the kitchen and living rooms....do you like it that way? Does kitchen noise (water running, disposal, appliances, cupboards closing) bother people in the living room? We have a kitchen TV that I use when preparing food or eating by myself and I know I'm not watching the same thing as the folks in the living room.

Not a bother, but we have an Asko dishwasher that you can be standing against and not know it is on and running since it is so quiet. My in-laws have such a noisy dishwasher that one cannot even think when standing outside the front door to the house.

The beauty of the open floor plan is that one can be in the family room and ask, "When's dinner gonna be ready?" or "Can you bring me another beer please?" without raising your voice.

 

[RunningBum]

I don't see why you can't put a nice china cabinet or hutch on a wall in an open or informal dining area.

I agree with LOL on the open plan, and the need for the quiet dishwasher. If you have a bunch of people, I could see the desire to keep the rooms more separate. For a smaller gathering, it's nice to be able to chat between the rooms.

 

[audreyh1]

We also made darn sure we got one of the quietest dishwashers out there. On top of that, it has a 4 hour delayed wash feature.

Audrey

 

[rescueme]

We built our house 16 years ago with a dining room - a must for DW. We use it every Thanksgiving, and only on Thanksgiving.

Same age house, with same design and same reason.

Only difference is that we use it only for Christmas Day dinner...

 

[Moemg]

Our open plan includes a den at the end of the living room and that is where the TV is so no problem with noise except from the grandchildren .

 

[Orchidflower]

I love open concepts myself. My only thought was it means someone will have to definitely pick up the dirty dishes after dinner from the table unless you want to stare at them all evening..not. But, you probably do that, anyway.

However, I think I will probably have to get a dining room since I have two dining sets.