apartment therapy changing the world, one room at a time

I've said it before and I'll say it again: I don't get the appeal of eating in the kitchen.

Heatherdazy, I agree. Maybe it's the stress of living in small New York City apartments or the memories of growing up with nice formal dining rooms, but EIKs are an unwelcome compromise for me. Some of these set-ups are quite nice but as a general rule, I don't get the open concept enthusiasm.

I love the open concept. There are so many times when I'm cooking with people over and I just want to bring the party into the kitchen so everyone can cook, lounge, drink wine, taste the food while I'm making it. Even when I'm cooking at night, I love it when my husband can pull up a chair into our galley kitchen so we can talk while I cook.

I love the splash of wallpaper, I love the marble backsplash, and the one with the window seat looks like a place where my friends and I could cook soup and bake cookies for hours on end.

I actually don't get the appeal of having a separate dining room. It just makes sense to eat in the same room as where the food is prepared.

Eat in kitchens have their flaws - I have one and I personally don't like staring at dirty pots and pans while I'm trying to eat. It stresses me. Maybe I'm the only person who eats before cleaning all the way up - it just seems their is always at least one thing that needs to soak.

I'm so happy to see the that dreaded hateful kitchen island fad is finally dying out! Many of the kitchens above have a large table in the middle, which works much better than an island on every level--more practical, more attractive.

I have an eat in kitchen--with a large table in the center--and a formal dining room. We spend most of our time in the kitchen and do pretty much all of our eating there. The dining room is covered with books and Star Wars LEGO.

Eat-in kitchens or open floor plans are great if you have children--it's much easier to keep an eye on them when you are prepping. Adults and children can more easily transition between the kitchen and other activities (like homework). Also, for casual dinner parties, everyone congregates around the food prep area, anyway.

Julia Child's kitchen had a large dining table in it, too.

This is a very timely post for me. I am signing the lease today on an apartment with an eat in kitchen but it's too small for my dining table so that's going in the living room. I've been enjoying searching online for a smaller work/dining table for the kitchen. I love all the possibilities of decorating a new place!

We have a table for two in the kitchen and we usually eat there. However, recently we've tried actually sitting at our dining room table, and it's really nice. I see ChrisGal's point about staring at the dirty dishes. I guess when I'm in the kitchen, I'm just thinking about cleaning up. When I'm in the dining room, I forget about that and focus on the conversation.

I'm absolutely in love with #7. I want more photos!

Duh. Nevermind. Helps if I look at the links.

love those open kitchens. #9 looks great!

I like having a dining room that seats quite a few and also a smaller kitchen table. When alone, we eat in the kitchen - it's cozy, comfortable, and since I tend to clean up as I cook and any remaining dirty dishes can be hidden in the sink, it's not cluttered.

With young children it's incredibly convenient to eat in the same room where I cook. It's also nice to be able to keep the day-to-day kid-eating mess out of the dining room. And when we have large groups of guests (particularly with children), we can set two tables and increase our space.

The "swoop" effect of the hanging pots on pic #2 - Ahmurzing!! so subtle and soothing.

I love the first one - such clean lines but still so warm. Though both the first and the last picture have quite well-defined space between the actual kitchen and the table. I wouldn't call them 'eat-in' - more like, I dunno... 'open dining room'? Is that a thing? :p