Burning Question: Are Formal Dining Rooms Out?
Anyone who knows us knows that we’re all about open living and multi-functional spaces, which is why one of the first things we did when we moved in was convert our formal dining room into a third bedroom and move our dining area out into our living room (which conveniently opens to the kitchen).
But although the whole dining room switcheroo worked for us, we wondered at the time if it would potentially turn off a large group of people who rank a formal dining room up there with hardwood flooring and a fireplace (as in it’s one of their must-haves). Lately it seems like a lot more people are embracing open living, in fact, it’s one of the fastest growing home trends these days.
So our question is this: do you prefer a separate formal dining room or a dining area within a larger space?
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Comments
Our house doesn’t have a dining room, just a small breakfast nook in the kitchen, and it is on the top of my list of must have’s for our next house. I am very particular about layout though. The dining room must be easily accessible to both the kitchen and living room. I’ve never understood those newer homes where the dining room is off by itself at the front of the house.
If I had a spacious eating area in the kitchen, I would have no need for a formal dining room. I don’t host fancy, upscale parties, and it would just be a waste of space, to me.
A dining room was a must-have for us. Our first piece of furniture we bought together after we got engaged was an old antique dining room table at a garage sale for $50. We refinished it and recovered the seats and it’s our favorite piece of furniture, so when it came to house-hunting, we knew we had to have a specific place for our beloved antique table!
Like previous people stated though, our house is older- our kitchen only has a bar area that seats two, so we use our dining space regularly.
We’re huge fans of open living also so having a separate formal dining room was never on our “must have” list when looking for homes. Our home has an open dining area off the living room (kinda like yours except our kitchen is also open to everything with only a bar/island separating the spaces) and we love it!
In my dream home, I would want a large formal dining room that could be closed off from the rest of the house (but with some nice french doors so it would still feel open). My reason for this is that A) I have a huge family and being able to have everyone sit at the same table at Thanksgiving would be really awesome and B) we have lots of pets so being able to eat with guests in peace - i.e. shutting the animals out during dinner - sounds like Heaven. Currently we have a tiny “open dining area” and it makes me nuts because it just becomes a dumping area for mail and whatever else gets thrown on the table. Because of that, it still doesn’t get used. But again, it’s all about personal preference.
this is such a great question! we are thinking about building a (small) home and have been looking at floorplans. at first i really wanted a formal dining room (admittedly, it was partially just so that i could have a formal dining room to decorate!). but in a small home, it wasn’t justifiable for us to use that much space for a room that would only get used for holidays and parties.
i say as long as there is adequate room for a good-sized table and chairs (and not just a corner of the kitchen), a formal dining room isn’t completely needed. but yes - my dream home would have one. :)
I much prefer open concept. We have a 1940s Cape Cod style home with a separate formal dining room and a kitchen too small for at able, though they’re connected by a door way. The open concept would make the room seem bigger (though we’re not willing to undertake that renovation). I don’t think a formal dining room PLUS an eat in kitchen (or open concept living room like you guys have) would appeal to me as a home buyer. I don’t want a room that we’d only use for big holidays, and I’d much prefer an open space that we could “dress up” for big events in which we could seat everyone.
Unlike Staz, I don’t think we’d have the self-restraint to keep the doors to a formal dining room closed and the room uncluttered!
As a young apartment-dweller, I don’t have a dining room anyway. But every time I have people over, no matter how large the group or how small my kitchen, *everyone* gravitates toward hanging out in the kitchen instead of the living room! When I finally buy a house, I will only consider an open plan. That way, there will be no division between the kitchen and the hanging out area.
We don’t have an eat-in kitchen or a formal dining space, but we have a gigantic living room. So, half of it has our dining table and china hutch, and we’ll market that as a living-dining combination when we resell. We’re pretty casual people, so I don’t think a formal dining room is really a priority. Having a sizable kitchen table along with a formal dining room seems kind of silly to me.
I’m not a must have for dining rooms, which is why our formal dining room furniture isn’t really all that “formal.” We only bought the furniture b/c our house has a formal dining area.
I love the open concept for kitchen/dining. I would much rather have the less stuffy, contemporary approach to living and entertaining.
My husband and I just bought a 1928 storybook cottage with a nice big formal dining room. Considering our old house didn’t really have a dining space at all, I absolutely love it.
I prefer houses with different rooms and defined spaces. A lot of our friends have newer houses with an open floor plan and while they are really nice for entertaining, I think I’d tire of being in the same one big room all the time. I like all the different areas in my house.
I love “formal” dining rooms - a room dedicated to nothing but eating and enjoying company, now that’s my kinda room
I actually think formal dining rooms are making a comeback. I think the economic uncertainty has something to do with it – people want to eat out less – and the whole green movement has given people a new appreciation for antiques and an ‘older’ way of living. I think not just dining rooms but what they represent – big family dinners on Sunday, staying home, talking to each other, tradition – is something that will continue to grow. When times are tough, people retreat, they cocoon, they spend less and value what they already have more. Just my opinion.
I personally prefer the formality of a dining room, and separate rooms in general. I find with open living spaces there is no element of surprise – you can look in the front window and see everything from the living area all the way to the kitchen. There’s no drama to it. I like how dining rooms make a meal feel special. They enhance the food and create an ambience different from your everyday.
I second wanderluster, they’re on their way back.
Its a luxury for me. It was always a pleasure to grab a book and some cereal and sequester myself in the formal dining room under a huge chandelier dimmed appropriately for evil mornings from childhood through college.
New York living and 90s to me equate with the whole open plan dining thing, fun for then glad it is over. Plus it just feels uncomfortably open like sitting with your back to a door.
In my first house I am so glad to have the separate space, the rest of the place may be casual or modern convenience but my dining room is an altar to the high god of formal and traditional. I still sigh in contentment if I can escape there myself but its especially great for formal entertaining, holiday gatherings, as a huge flat surface that can house temporary projects that are too big for desks yet out of the way, for informal entertaining as a space to layout drinks and more and just unpack everyone from the kitchen.
So yes. a near must and though I wouldn’t want to give up my wood floors or fireplace the only thing you will ever really have to wrench from my cold dead hands are solid hardwood doors, none of these sub 4″ thick modern things either, .
A formal dining room was most definitely not on my list of must-haves, but since one came with the house I just went with it. I have a semi-open first floor plan with a large open kitchen and a dining room behind double french doors. Works great for holidays and large gatherings (most everyone wants to be in the kitchen, but the dining room is used for overflow when it’s time to eat). I also like to host small dinner parties so it gets fairly regular use. Now to me a formal living room is much more of a waste than a dining room. I immediately made my formal living room into an office/reading area where it gets heavy, daily use from all members of the household. Best decision ever. I had a formal living room in my previous house and it was a pass-through room.
I prefer an open floorplan with a dining space, either in or adjacent to the kitchen. I have always (even as a kiddo) found separate dining rooms for the most part to be stuffy, confining and closed off. The only exception would be a very large dining room with lots of windows and easy access to other rooms. I LOVE the arrangement in the picture!
I prefer an open space dining room as it doesn’t separate your guests and allows everyone to mingle. Plus, stylewise, it’s just aesthetically pleasing. :)
I think it all depends on the type of people you are. I like a formal dining room…away from the mess of the kitchen. In general I prefer defined spaces that flow well, over “open living”, and I’m prett sure open living has reached it’s peak trend-wise, and is already on the way out. I hate to be mean, but the picture on this post is really ugly, it looks like you should be doing a mood board for it.
I want a space for a dining table and chairs, but I do not feel a strong need for there to be a separate room for that. I really enjoy open floor plans and would be just fine working a dining area into that type of space.
Open floor plan! That way, the cook(s) aren’t alienated from their guests when entertaining. I love the idea of a kitchen with an island looking over a living/dining area. That way guests can linger over the countertop while talking to the hosts and not be in the way or feel like they’re in the cooks’ space. They can also sit easily gravitate in and out of the living room area, and you still get many of the benefits of the eat-in kitchen — just swap your everyday settings with more formal ones when guests come over, and voila! More or less what you’ve got goin’ on in your photo here.
I think it offers an alternative for the buyer who doesn’t like to entertain formally, but it’s DEFINITELY NMS. I wouldn’t say “out” but just another trend. And it’s great for those who like that kind of entertaining solely. I personally couldn’t take it AT ALL. :P I love houses with both - a seperate open dining area for more casual gathering, and a large formal dining room for dinner parties and holidays. I LOVE my formal dining room! :)
We have a 50’s ranch- and you walk right into a room from the front door. The previous owners used it as a living room, but I changed it to a dining room.
Yes, we could definitely live without it, but I love having the hutch in there to display our wedding china and the idea of a place to entertain where all 10 family members can sit and chat for hours after a meal. Those dirty dishes- out of sight/out of mind in the kitchen!!!
We recently moved into a 1940’s colonial with a very traditional floorplan after living in an open-concept condo. I HATED the kitchen/dining/living combo in our condo — even though the room was huge, with soaring cathedral ceilings — because I love to cook/host dinner parties and always felt compelled to clean up immediately when I was cooking in front of guests.
Now, our house has a kitchen w/breakfast nook (seats 4) that’s open to our sunroom. There’s also a swing door off the kitchen (opposite direction of sunroom) into a formal dining room. The best of both worlds! I love the formal DR and really wanted one when we were on the hunt for a house. It connotes family dinners and big Thanksgiving meals to me.
hey john - great topic. may i suggest adding a voting icon so that we can see which is more popular without reading all the previous posts??
my vote is the combo living/dining so everyone can see the tv and the atmosphere is casual. :) and i don’t see the point of buying a table/charis for the kitchen and then doing it again for a dining room.
I also love open layout.
In our 1940 house, there is dining room, which opens both to kitchen and living room. Is this called formal dining room???
We have 10×13 kitchen, no space for eat-in area except the bar area between dining room and kitchen. I actually like this setup, don’t need eat-in area (maybe it’s handy if we had small kids tho).
Only wish our dining room is a bit bigger, so we can extend our dining room to full size. Currently 6 people can sit around the table.
Formal dining, not-so-much. I do have a nook off my kitchen though that defines a dining space but still allows access to conversation with the cook. So while it isn’t connected to the living room (which is down the hall) it still allows people to gather, sit/stand, cook, talk and enjoy one another’s company.
I think it’s really important to have a place to sit down and eat as family and friends. Whether it’s an island bar, formal table, or just a breakfast nook. My parents have a formal pass-through dining room as well as seating in the kitchen and I love that. We can have a full house and plenty of room to spread out all the food!!
I have both a formal dining room that has a hallway into my kitchen and a large eating area in my kitchen. We generally only use the dining room for formal occasions and holiday get togethers where there are more than 6 people to be seated. My dining room table seats 12 while my kitchen table can only seat 6-8.
I think the dining room is making it’s comeback. All of the showhomes we have been visiting are featuring dining rooms/spaces. When we build next year, a dining room is at the top of my list. The home I grew up in, had a formal dining space, in addition to the eat-in kitchen nook and I loved it! There is something so special about enjoying a meal in there!
Currently, we have an open concept condo w/ vaulted ceilings open to the above loft and the one thing I struggle with, is accomodating family or large groups. We’re also at the age now, where everyone is an adult, so it’s not appropriate to segregate people to the “kid’s” table when they don’t fit at the main table. WHAT TO DO??!!
I love the idea of having a huge table, around which, we can fit both families. Plus, I am sooooo looking forward to decorating a formal dining room.
A formal dining room is an absolute must have in our next house (which we are currently looking for). It is so frustrating to see a house that looks fabulous on the outside and the main floor is all one big room. I hate it. I like a little separation of spaces. I also like the more formal nature of a meal served in a proper dining room.
We love to entertain and having that separate space allows guests to spread out in the home. It also allows for bigger gatherings of family and friends since you have 2 spaces for seating - the kitchen area (which is where the kids usually end up) and the formal dining room (for the parents/adults).
We are definitely in favor of an open floor plan. Our kitchen remodel (currently ongoing) included taking down the wall between the kitchen and dining room to extend the kitchen and open up the room. For our lifestyle it will work great. My Aunt, however, owns the same model house as us and would never consider giving up her formal dining room. To each his own…
Right now we eat at our coffee table in front of the tv in the family room. It’s a super cozy room with a fireplace and sliding doors to our backyard. We’re an open floor plan family but I would love to have a booth type nook for many to cozy up in when we chow. Someday. Right now the coffee table works for what’s going on in our lives.
I love our separate dining room!
When you’re having a big dinner, you’re not staring at the dishes in the sink and the mess on the counter while you’re eating.
You can have a TV-free dinner (not so difficult now, will be difficult when the youngsters come along).
You can experiment with different wall colors and different furniture styles- if there are walls in the way, flow from one space to another isn’t such a big deal).
It allows you to go crazy with detailing. Our dining room has a fantastic coffered ceiling, that’s painted in 3 different shades, and a fantastic chandelier. That’s not the kind of detailing you can put into a large, open room- it’s either overwhelming (by the time you get all the detaling in) or underwhelming and skimpy looking if you scale it down.
That being said- I do enjoy the fact that I can see the TV from the kitchen sink…handy for when I’m cooking or doing dishes! So, some open plan is a good thing!
The 1970s house I owned had a distinctly separate living room in the front of the house. At the back, the dining room was open to the kitchen but differentiated by carpeting vs the tile floor. there was a wall on the dining room side, but the horseshoe of the kitchen then opened via a pass through bar to the large family room.
i found it to be perfect for having parties. the dining area with table and chairs right at hand for the kitchen, a large counter bar and family room leading out to a landscaped yard and patio.
ideally, i would like to find a house with a similar arrangement. though, i really don’t need a family room or living room both. one or the other would be nice, with a semiformal dining room associated with the kitchen.
I definitely prefer an open floorplan, and so we took a wall down between our living room and kitchen just so that we too, could have that. However, if Sadie would give me her house, this would be my only exception…..http://lejournal.sadieolive.com/lejournal/our_house/.
I like the idea of both! We have an open floor plan with our family room and then we have our formal living room in the front of the house!
I think you all covered the pros & cons of open dining vs. a separate formal space pretty well here. Whether its making a comeback or just never went away, its clear that dining rooms will be a well-loved staple in many homes. Even while some of us rebel and create wide open spaces. Once again we’ve learned it’s all about how each one of us lives and what works for you personally.
Thanks for all the thoughts, everyone. GPB, I also liked your suggestion about the voting button. I’ll get to work on that…although I still hope people will take the time to explain their vote. You all always have such good points to make I’d hate not to hear them fleshed out.
‘Til the next burning question,
John
I LOVE FORMAL DINING ROOMS! I also like eat-in kitchens. I guess I just like a space where I can entertain or eat a nice dinner with my husband and not be distracted by the TV or mess in the kitchen.
My husband and I are looking for our first house and although I do not rule out houses without a formal dining room I do high prefer them. I know for sure that once we have a family, and are looking at buying or building our second house- that a formal dining room will be an essential element.
We live in an 1895 Victorian and have a small formal dining room. We only use it when the inlaws are in town. I am ashamed to admit that we usually sit in front of the TV to eat or eat in the breakfast nook in the kitchen.
We have talked about knocking down the wall between the living room and dining room and making it one large room. The only problem is that there is a fireplace in that wall.
I think it depends on if you entertain, and HOW you entertain. Some people prefer to converse with their guests as they finish up in the kitchen, others like guests to experiance a more “finished” product and have everything done and waiting for their friends.
I personally like open-concepts, but with a twist: I like the kitchen to be big enough to house a larger table so that you can throw those large parties. I don’t like it when the living room is open to the kitchen/dining area. Why? The smells. I don’t want my couch and the air throughout my house to smell like baked chicken and stir-fry.
I think another question to ask is who has a dining room at all. I also have a 60’s ranch (that I LOVE) but it has a smaller kitchen. There is no way I could seat more than 3 in my kitchen for a meal. (plus who wants to eat with all of the mess!) so I use my dining room all of the time–but it was built as a dining room living room combo. But I know so many people who don’t use theirs or use that room for something entirely different. I love mine!