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All the new homes are now being built with flex rooms instead of dining rooms, at least around here. I couldn't find a brand new home though without one. We have a computer and computer desk in ours.
I don't have a dining room, but I have a designated dining space for a table & chairs. The appliances & sink are separated from the dining space by a large peninsula.
I wouldn't use a formal/separate dining room. I'd prefer a larger kitchen.
But those of us who cook at home 95% of the time enjoy our big kitchens. We also like our big kitchen because during parties (of which we host a few) it's the place most people congregate and socialize.
I'm with you! Our dining room is popular. And well used. I love Four Square homes.
My 1920s house has an eat in Kitchen. When it's just the 4 of us - or one more.
We don't use it much, but I wouldn't get rid of it. It is nice to have when we host holidays, and I do like having a room (plus the adjoining living room) that aren't constantly cluttered with crap.
We also like our big kitchen because during parties (of which we host a few) it's the place most people congregate and socialize.
Maybe I'm just used to having to cook with a screaming toddler at my feet, but there's nothing I like less than other people in the kitchen when I'm trying to do my business. Plus once I'm done cooking the kitchen usually looks like a tornado hit it, and I wouldn't want people to see the mess. Of course, all of this is theoretical, because we never have friends over for dinner.
We certainly spend more time in our dining room, all things considered, than our living room. That may be because we don't have a television. It may also be because our dining room is more well lit than our living room, and has a nice Victorian sitting window.
My dining room has seen about 14,600 sit-down meals. Not anymore, but it's the pass-through from the much used side door to the rest of the house. I don't need the room for any other use so it remains the "rarely-used-for-dining" room. I like it.
I like having a dining room. I remodeled mine last summer, soon after buying this house. Its an older Victorian (Queen Anne specifically), with a middle-sized dining room adjoining the kitchen, and also connected to the living room with a wider doorway opening between dining and living rooms, making a more open floor-plan.
But, what I also like is having a door between the kitchen and dining/living rooms, so you can close it off while cooking.
The dining room was gutted down to the framing, new insulation and then new drywall and all new woodwork and pine wainscoting going one-third of the way up the walls. When I bought the house, the dining room had that cheap, dark plywood paneling on the walls, covering old crumbling plaster and a dropped acoustical-tile ceiling, which was removed, thereby gaining about 14 inches in height. It had a dramatic difference, along with everything else I did.
I like being able to sit in a quiet room while I have meals, so the dining room is still important to me.
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