Are dining rooms a dying breed?

 Welcome to my dining room!  Which is now my kitchen blog office.

This is Cottage Instinct's dining room on the build, which is now a home schooling office. This is looking mighty professional, Cindy! Don't you love the two sided desk in front of this window?

 It's the Little Things' Karla morphed her dining room into a playroom/bedroom. Oh my gosh... they did such a great job you'd never have known it's original purpose!

What's going on here anyway?!? Builders, are you listening?

I have never used a dining room for a dining room in any house I've ever lived in. One house I had a piano in that spot. In two others,  I just stuck my kitchen table there instead and enlarged the kitchen work area. I just always found my homes too small to include an extra table and chairs.

Before renos in my current home, I indeed moved a kitchen table in the dining area, but after renos, it was no longer necessary. After I found I was only dusting it on occasion, I built the office instead and was able to finally move the laptop off the kitchen island. :)

 The new open floor plan allowed my one of a kind double sided island to take care of all the eating requirements, which freed up alot of square feet for other needs for our smaller home.

(details on kitchen island HERE)

(full kitchen renovation HERE)

Now, if my home was larger, and I actually entertained more, I think I'd LOVE to have a real dining room.

 

Dining rooms can be a wonderful place to escape from the sight of the kitchen mess when entertaining. Miss Mustard Seed has one of my very favs on the net. Who wouldn't love this?!?

I suppose it simply has to do with our own personal lifestyles and current homes. If a kitchen is too small to seat many, or we entertain alot, a dining room would still be a highly desirable feature in one's home.

I think what's happening though is, the art of fine dining is diminishing due to our busy schedules. The ones with growing families are requiring the space for other things with higher priority. Is a house ever big enough?  Generally not. And that's why some of us are  grabbing what we can as an effort to use up every precious square inch in our homes. We simply need the space for something we do more of.

I have a confession to make. Every time I sit in a formal dining room, I do stupid things, like clank plates too loud or knock something over. I'm not comfortable in a formal environment so that's very possibly why I shy away from the thought of having one again. Guess the farmer's daughter/tomboy never left the building. :)

We can only afford homes just so big. So what's the answer? Should houses just be built with large country kitchens in lieu of the traditional dining room? Or would you have one anyway if space allowed?

Do you use your dining room for a dining room?

Or would a large country kitchen be enough for you?

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