Turning Dining room into more informal primary dining area

[marathon55]

We recently renovated our kitchen and put in an island that extends slightly into where are kitchen table usually is.  We will have 4 chairs at the island but likely will not eat there each evening.  The attached formal dining room is something we are thinking of turning into a more informal room that we use daily as our primary dining area.  We don't see a need to have "3 eating areas" and making our living room a bit more spacious will result in eliminating a kitchen table.  

Has anyone done this?  I have seen lots of examples dining rooms with pool tables or playrooms but not much in the way of making it more informal etc.

[sb]

We eat in our dining room (unless we're eating in the living room, let's be honest). This is the first house I've had as an adult that had an eat-in kitchen, so we've always eaten in the dining room and just kept doing that. I've never felt the need to decorate it differently just because we use it. We don't have a super formal style in general.

The empty part of our kitchen isn't really decorated yet, but we plan to use it as more of a keeping room. We bought a vintage octagonal game table, since we play a lot of board games as a family and that's tough around a larger rectangular table. I plan to put 4 comfy chairs around it.

[dr.girlfriend]

I'm a little confused as to what you're asking. Are you just looking for ways to decorate your dining room so it's less formal in atmosphere, or are you actually thinking of having other things in the room (like a couch or seating area?) to make it a more multi-functional space? Once you have a dining room table and chairs in a dining-room-sized room I don't think there's usually room for much else. The most I can think of is maybe having bookshelves or game storage in there if you think you're going to use the table for games.

If you're just asking if there are people who only have one eating area, I'm sure that's true for a lot of us.  Most older houses don't have the space for both an eat-in kitchen and a separate dining room.  

[marathon55]

Sorry about the confusion. Before the remodel we had a dedicated kitchen table area...with a light over the table etc. However, when we remodeled we removed the light put in recessed lighting in that area and put an island that cuts into the former table area. The living room is adjacent to it so we are just making that larger rather than squeeze a table in there.

The dining room will (separate room that is off the kitchen) is now going to be our primary eating spot..just wondering if anyone has done this.. moved the dining room to just larger formal meals to the everyday eating location

[purplinsky]

I don't have a dedicated dining room. I have a peninsula in my kitchen that has four chairs that we use for breakfast and when only one or two of us are eating and then we have a large kitchen/dining table just beyond that we use for eating dinner and is also used for Thanksgiving and any other larger 'formal' dinners. No one has ever made comments that our dining space for formal meals is the same that we use regularly and most newer homes (built in the last decade or two) don't have a separate dining room space anyway. In my mind this comes down to a personal preference, is it important for you to have a 'formal' dining room that you only use for formal meals? If so, then keep the dining room and put a smaller table in the new space or something like that. If it's not important then just go with a single eating/table area. For something like this I'm a big fan of doing what works for you and you're family since you're the ones living there.

[dancingirl21]

I'm sure plenty of people just have a dining room and it's fine. Since you've already done the kitchen remodel, what was the plan? Always eat at the end of the new larger island? Or eat in the dining room? Those seem to be your two options.

My BIL/SIL have a small room that is fully open to the kitchen that is meant to be an eat-in kitchen area, but they use it as a playroom. They have a "formal" dining room through their butler's pantry and use that as their eating area for dinner. They do also have seating at their island that they use for breakfast/lunch, but if they are sitting down to eat as a family, they eat in the dining room.

[TR]

It wasn’t a change, but in H’s old house, where he lived when we met, the dining room was the only eating area. I never really thought anything about it. It had a wide opening to the living room and a door to the side porch that was the main way he went in and out of the house so maybe that made it feel more casual and less of a “special occasion space”.

[purplepenguin7]

I'm moving into a new house where the dining room area is the only suitable eating place as a family. Technically I think the kitchen was labeled as "eat-in" on the listing but there is no real area for 2 adults and a child to eat at. The house is an old house that added an extension so the "dining room" leads out of the kitchen and then into the living room. There doesn't seem to be any other place for to eat meals other the dining area so we figure that will be our only table. I don't know that I'd call it informal vs formal...it will just be our place for eating and that will be the end of it. I grew up eating on the floor at a coffee table and currently have an open concept mixed living room/dining room area which isn't much of either to be honest. I guess I don't have any real advice but I feel like this is a totally common thing. It didn't even strike as an issue when we were house hunting.

[Susie]

Our old house had a small eat-in kitchen, and any meal with >4 people required a move to the dining room.  One of our old neighbors across the street with the same floor plan did away with the eat-in area, took out part of the wall between the kitchen & DR, and made the DR the primary eating location.  They aren't able to check the "formal dining room" box on a listing if they sell in the future, which may or may not turn off some buyers, but it honestly kind of made sense, especially in a house where the dining room isn't huge.  What's the point of the redundancy?

[redheadk]

How formal is the room right now?

If you are looking at how to make the room feel more functional for daily use vs occasional use, I'd be sure to pick chairs that are comfortable, skip a rug/carpet under the table, and choose a table/chairs that can withstand frequent cleaning and don't need special products.

We have a formal dining room and and a breakfast room. I wouldn't say our formal dining room is formal at all but we definitely chose furniture more with looks in mind that function/comfort vs. our breakfast room furniture which I wanted to be able to withstand heavy use, art projects, frequent cleaning, etc. Our dining room chairs have upholstery, our breakfast room chairs are all wood.

[boiler717]

I’m still confused but we (family of 3) eat dinner in our dining room almost every night. We have a small table in the kitchen where we eat breakfast and lunch (it kinda functions like an island would), but dinner is in the dining room unless it’s something super messy and I’m worried about my son getting it all over the upholstered dining chairs.

[af1212]

This must be #regional.

Every single house I have ever been in where I live has a dining room and that is where the family regularly eats.

I have a galley kitchen so definitely no space for eating unless you are one of my kids who has been asked to leave the dining room for rudeness. Then you pull a chair in and sit there to eat but you are not happy about it.

I’m not sure what you’re asking exactly but here is what is in my dining room -

Table
6 Chairs
Piano
Small armoire where we keep craft crap and kids school supplies
A small corner display cabinet where we keep junk to display (my wedding cake topper, a little tea set that was my grandmothers, etc)

[dcn]

We have an island that we use for breakfast and lunch and we use the dining room for dinner usually. We aren’t formal people so the room doesn’t feel formal.

[aprilsails]

I’m on my second house now with no formal dining room. We custom built this house and modified the floor plan specifically to remove the formal dining room. We eat breakfast at the island and all kids snacks, school work and crafting etc. We eat lunch and dinner at the dining table.

We bought a table that has a huge leaf and we store that and 6 extra dining chairs in the basement. On a normal day there is 6 chairs at the table, which makes it easier to move around and leaves lots of circulation space. When we’re hosting we bring up the extra chairs and expand the table to its mega size.

We chose a less formal light fixture. It is not a fancy chandelier. We also have a hutch in there with all of our crystal and China displayed, however we also have Star Wars models and stuff the kids have made in it, so no one would think it is overly formal.

[nicolewi]

I think this is just all in the decorating--light fixture, furniture choices, etc.

My sister-in-law has a huge house but the floor plan is kind of unusual. They eat in what is sort-of the "formal dining room" every night as the kitchen just has a counter with stools. It's off to the side as a separate room. But when they have big parties, they have a long table in their great room that they use for the main part of the family. They make the "formal dining room" the kids' table area. That said, she has left the decorating in that room formal this whole time. Maybe so if they have a small group over they use the dining room?? She already had a big china cabinet and dining set that they didn't want to replace. Anyway, I think they just use that room and it works and they never tried to make it more casual. But I get where you are coming from, and I would just re-decorate a bit to make it work for you for "everyday".

[stemmie]

I bought this house from my parents who built it as empty nesters. I think the kitchen was only every used to make coffee, cocktails and dinner reservations before I moved in.

My kitchen is ridiculously tiny (the walk-in closet in my room is larger) and closed in because my father felt "looking at kitchen appliances is akin to looking at toilets". Consequently, what would have been the eat-in kitchen area is a morning room/informal eating area. When we moved in, I made the space an area for DS to do homework and use the computer when he was younger. Now it's my office and has my exercise bike.

I have formal dining room furniture but have tried to tone it down with Parsons chairs covered in canvas, less formal window treatments and less fussy lighting. We eat almost all meals there unless we're having a snack-dinner while watching TV.

[simpsongal]

Go for it! I read an article (I think the Post recently?) that said the dining room is back (!), but in a more multi-use form. It should be a space for eating, crafts, working, etc. Gone are the days of the pristine space we use twice/year.

We had to eat in ours while our kitchen was a mess and it was sort of nice. I hope to use ours more, though I'm not sure if I'm the 'dine at the island' and 'get rid of the eat in kitchen' type. I do like having a small, round kitchen table for games and casual socializing/breakfast. The dining table is definitely better for feeding a crowd, including casual friend dinners.

[cosmowife]

NOT having a formal dining room was actually one of my checklist items when we were looking for our house. Our house has one big main room that is living and dining. We use our dining room for basically everything except actually eating - games, homework, computer work, drinking coffee, hanging out, sorting paperwork, etc. I love it. The only reason we don’t really eat there is because my @ @ @ 8 yr old is a total slob and would totally use the beautiful upholstered dining chairs as a napkin.

[kitty]

I agree with PP it is all in how you furnish and decorate it. Will you be using existing DR furniture? Or your old kitchen table?

[memenee]

We live in a 1920’s colonial so we definitely have defined rooms and a formal dining room. We did away with it a year ago during our kitchen reno. We used the “eat in” part of our kitchen to expand our cabinets and countertops and usable space and took down the wall between the kitchen and DR and put in a peninsula. The DR is now “part” of the kitchen, very casual (big farmhouse table) and gets used everyday for puzzles, homework, eating etc. best thing we’ve done to our house! GL!

[mrsukyankee]

When I was growing up, we didn't have an eat in kitchen. We had a table where we would grab breakfast or a quick lunch in the summer, but most meals were shared in the dining room. It was not at all formal, though it could get formal, if need be. We had storage that allowed for projects, fine dining objects, etc. We had very nice but comfortable chairs. Lots of plants and some very good lighting. Casual versus formal is really all about the decoration for me.

[lolalolalola]

I’m a little confused- we don’t have a table in our kitchen, our dining room is adjacent and we eat our meals there. We don’t do anything special to make it more or less formal. It’s just how we live :-)

My kids eat at our island all the time but DH and I only eat at the dining table.

Maybe it’s because we are in a newer home with an open floor plan