Do you have a dining room? Is it a deal breaker if you don’t?

[DualvansMommy]

For your situation with this particular house, not having a dining room would not bother me. As long my 2 criteria can be met;

1) having a large table of 6 that can pull out to sit 8 for larger gatherings fit in that space with enough room to walk around.

2) since you live in CA, with a pool, i’d want my outdoor space to have room for another large outdoor table to do the entertaining. If I had that type of set up in my home, then I’ll be happy not to have DR or do away my existing DR since we do have eat in table in our kitchen. It depends how often you entertain, what your outdoor space for entertaining and your lifestyle.


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[mom2binsd]

I think if you can put a bigger table it would be fine. I will agree with others, there doesnt seem to be much counter space, is an island a possibility, it looks like there is room, but real-estate pics are often deceiving.

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[essnce629]

For your situation with this particular house, not having a dining room would not bother me. As long my 2 criteria can be met;

1) having a large table of 6 that can pull out to sit 8 for larger gatherings fit in that space with enough room to walk around.

2) since you live in CA, with a pool, i’d want my outdoor space to have room for another large outdoor table to do the entertaining. If I had that type of set up in my home, then I’ll be happy not to have DR or do away my existing DR since we do have eat in table in our kitchen. It depends how often you entertain, what your outdoor space for entertaining and your lifestyle.

I agree with both of these. My dining room table normally has 5 chairs at it, but fully extended I think we can fit 8-10 when we have all 4 leaves in (we have 3 in currently since I like having extra space).

And yes, with a pool I like having a separate outdoor table and dining space (although we actually don't have a permanent outdoor table right now and use a Costco folding table when needed)!

I do agree with others who say there seems to be a lack of counter space. We have a tiny galley kitchen with little counter space, but I actually think I have more counter space than that kitchen (since my sink is all the way up against the edge of the wall so I have a full wall of counter space on one side, but in your pic the sink is in the middle cutting the counter space in half).

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[Snow mom]

I definitely don’t need a formal dining room but that set up (as pictured) wouldn’t work for our family. I like for our space to seat 6-10 so we can have friends over for dinner and even with the small table pictured I feel like you’d have to squeeze by it to reach the kitchen space in the back of the room. Or is there another way into the kitchen somewhere? Our kitchen does have an area where we could put a four top table (the previous owner had a table in the kitchen) but we never did because we only need one eating area. Our dining room has a large doorway to the kitchen, no doors, and is definitely an informal eating space. The way realtors take photos distorts the space and I’m just afraid that house really doesn’t have room for a larger table without feeling really cramped. Best bet looks like turning the table and having bench seating along the kitchen wall. The space in the living room doesn’t look big enough to add a table unless you’d have another living room elsewhere in the house?

[hbridge]

We don't have a separate dining room. I thought I would miss it, 20 years later and we never have. We host every holiday and have had to get creative a few times, especially for Thanksgiving, but have hosted 16 for a sit down dinner in our small dining "area" (plywood covered with a beautiful table cloth does wonders). My parents could never NOT have a separate dining room, but NEVER use it. Think of your priorities and what you want in your perfect house.

[gatorsmom]

In our last few houses with a formal dining room we always used it but almost never as a dining room. In our current house which we built, we have a pretty formal dining room. I have used it with the chairs pulled back as a place for guests to set their potluck dishes or gifts for birthday parties or Sacrament receptions (First Communions, baptisms, etc). It’s my cake and coffee station for other parties where our kitchen table and counters are being used for the meal or other things. Right now the dining room is holding our family puzzle and some homework. It’s handy but we never eat at it. We have another table that seats 10 in our kitchen. I planned it this way when I built the house. It works well this way for us.

As other posters said, think of how you entertain. Do you regularly host any family holidays where a dining room would be handy? Do you have an outdoor area where you and others are more likely to sit? How would you use it? Because of our cold winters I knew I’d need a large indoor table or 2.

[ezcc]

I don't really love open floor plans, so no sure how I would feel in that space. We have a dining room and it is my favorite room in our house! We eat all meals there, also do art, games etc. It's super casual with a long farm table that can seat 10. It has French doors that open on to our porch. I really like eating meals (especially with guests) out of view of the kitchen. In a tight housing market I would probably sacrifice a dining room though and prioritize outdoor space and location.

[kristenk]

I'm fine not having a formal dining room. Our house officially has one but we turned it into more of an office-y/art-y kind of space because we never used it. With that said, I really don't like the layout of this kitchen and I'm not sure why! I keep looking at the pictures to try to figure out what it is, but I can't. I just get a "that wouldn't work for me" kind of vibe.

[georgiegirl]

I'm fine not having a formal dining room. Our house officially has one but we turned it into more of an office-y/art-y kind of space because we never used it. With that said, I really don't like the layout of this kitchen and I'm not sure why! I keep looking at the pictures to try to figure out what it is, but I can't. I just get a "that wouldn't work for me" kind of vibe.

There’s no counter space, and there’s a lot of empty/open space. It would not be my idea kitchen or set up.

We don’t a formal dining room, just a dining area off our kitchen (plus our island has seating for 4). But we can comfortable fit 8-9 people at our table, and up to 12 with the extensions). When we were house hunting, we didn’t want a formal dining room.


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[fauve01]

we have a dining room adjacent to our living room, along with an eat in kitchen. both eating areas are on either side of the kitchen. For years, the dining room was the toy area, where the train table and cubbies lived. So no i don't need a dining room.

IN those photos, to me it looks like they removed the wall and forgot to put in the giant island that to me that space is screaming for. That's definitely what I'd do in there.