apartment therapy changing the world, one room at a time

I'm 24 and recently a group of my friends and I have started a cooking club. Three of the eight of us don't have dining tables and frankly it is always so much nicer when we sit around the table.

It can be fun and informal and still be around a dining table. Another good side effect of it is that everyone really ends up having group conversations instead of two or three people groups.

I'm all for the dining room!

A dining room is only necessary if you have a formal life style. Our only dining area is in the space adjacent to the kitchen. The space extends in the open floor plan to space for floor to ceiling bookshelves, a horizontal file cabinet that looks more like a credenza and a long carpeted cat bench in front of one of the three large window areas. An island in the kitchen helps separate the spaces a little but does not block view or conversation.

Having a dinning room that's cut off from the rest of the space would be awkward. But then, like many people, I grew up in a newish home with an open floorplan, so having that space so separate would be strange and make me much less likely to use it. On the other hand, I prefer to use my dinning table even when my roommate is gone and I'm eating all alone. I tend to eat quickly or overeat if I sit at the coffee table in front of my computer or a DVD. I don't really enjoy the food and then I find myself wanting to snack on something fatty, rich or sweet later in the evening. If I'm eating alone in the dinning area at the real table, I might flip through a magazine, but there are fewer distractions and I actually savor my food.

I like the direction in new construction of an open floorplan-- it's nice for entertaining and discourages people from settling into their groups in a separate living/dining room. And the whole idea of a dining room is probably pretty dated-- it divides whoever is cooking the food from the rest of the party, ala servitude. A dining room can seem pretty appealing when you're picturing your massive thanksgiving dinner but it does seem too formal for day to day eating and entertaining.

I like dining rooms. I've never understood the trend to invite guests to dinner and then make them serve as your sous chef. I want to be in the dining room with a cocktail and music -- not peeling potatoes in someone's kitchen.

Besides, I have a family of four. Eating on the coffee table just doesn't cut it after a certain age.

My Sis turned her Dining Room into a Library/Home Office and moved the large dining room table out into the Formal Living Room where nobody sat - so now they have a larger "Dining Room" with a big fireplace.

I agree with you lisa when it comes to dinner parties. But the few parties a year doesnt warrant so much space to be allocated to that room. Im in an apartment where you have to walk through the dining room to get to the rest of the rooms. I end up eating standing in the kitchen or in the living room. I wish I could make that place into something more inviting, while still keeping a place to feed at least 7 people available. impossible task?? maybe

I take your point, chusmabilly. We use our dining table every day -- for family breakfast and dinner. Plus we have poker nights and parties every couple of weeks. But if you live alone or with a roommate, and don't entertain often, it might indeed be a waste of space.

I always had a formal dining room until two years ago, when we moved into an open-floorplan loft. We have a small bar table near the kicthen area, which is great for a quick snack, and when we have a more formal dinner (with or without guests) we sit around the coffee table on floor cushions. We also have a roof garden with tables and chairs that we use for entertaining if it's not too cold. I fully admit, there are certain times when I really miss having a real dining table (particularly when we have older guests and I worry incessantly that they're uncomfortable). But I would say that 99% of the time, the arrangement we have works perfectly. To be perfectly honest, and don't tell my mother, but during the week my husband and I often eat in front of the TV. So much so, in fact, that I'm considering buying - eek! - tray tables!

I have what I call a "front room" in my home and it's a big waste of space. When I was a kid, every house my family lived in had a formal living room & dining room AND a family room & eat-in kitchen (which was where we hung out and ate).

My own home has a kitchen and a dining area combo, but it's definitely not a formal dining room. I do have, however, what I call "the front room. It's a big waste of space. My front door opens into this room, from which there are two routes to the rest of the house. It's just an extra living room that I feel compelled to furnish well. The room gets use as an overflow area when I have parties (a few times a year), it features my christmas tree, and I have a sleeper love seat if my guest bedroom isn't enough.

On the one hand, it's an extra 150 sq feet that make the house e feel more spacious (great for resale), but on the other hand it's space that sits empy and, because it's the foyer of my home (in the old fashioned sense), it's hard to use it as a sewing room or office.

The next home I buy won't have a formal, extra room.

We have a 1923 cottage that had a quite-large dining room. We turned that room into our living room/tv room and turned our living room into what I call our "salon." It has a round table with four chairs that works well for games and dining. The room also has an armoire to serve as a coat closet and will soon both a small landing strip and a comfortable leather armchair with a small table.

It's proven to be the best use of space and actually makes our very traditional house seem much more modern. The only drawback is that we must walk through the now-living room to get to the salon from the kitchen, but it's worth it on a daily basis!

Our dining room table will expand to seat the Thanksgiving crowd, but in its smaller version it hosts supper or tea, is the work surface for a 2 person office, and is a sewing and craft table. It is the hardest working piece of furniture in the house.

I have been fortunate to have had a dining room in each of the four apartments I have lived in. Before I had the space to dedicate a whole bedroom as a study, my dining room acted as both library and dining room. Though I may not use it much for dining, today as in my first apartment, the dining room includes concealed storage housing my washer, dryer, and other stuff, while the table accommodates eating, studying, and laundry folding. Having a multipurpose space is always very helpful.

chusmabilly --

Why not find a drop-leaf table that can be folded and moved against the wall like a console table - and moved out into the room when you have dinner parties?

Then on the other side of the room, place a pair of upholstered dining-room armchairs around a 30-36" round pedestal table that could be used as a little eating area, and pushed into a corner when the larger table is in use? Those armchairs would end up being the end chairs at your big dining table when you host large dinners...

i think like any other room you just really need to evaluate the space.

i like having enough space in a kitchen such that my friends can keep me company and have conversations while i'm putting together dinner. but when everything is ready i like the idea of sending them into a dining room where we can all eat around a single table and all at the same eye-level and mange comfortably.

if you never use your dining table for anything else, perhaps the room is made up to be too formal for your lifestyle. a large table and many chairs certainly shouldn't prevent you from using it any more than any other room. it actually sounds like a serene nice spot to sit and read, just pick comfortable enough chairs!

right now everything but the bedroom and bathroom are in the exact same tiny little space for me and my counter island was specifically designed to act as a dining table for 10 if i needed. i love gathering people up to this table for meals.

A home without a good dining table is like a kiss without a mustache.