Formal Dining - Yes or No in Your Next Home?

penny, most of our customers still want a Dining Room. The biggest complaint is with the builders that only have one bedroom downstairs. More people are having parents move in and need a second downstairs room with a bath.

We've used our formal dining room as a library and quiet ready space for the last 10 years. Just large comfortable chairs and book cases. That's been more important to my family than having a formal place to eat.

Formal dining rooms are still popular in Silicon Valley for homes near the high-end.  However, newer homes are embracing the concept of a large kitchen/great room with adjoining dining area that eliminates the formal dining room. A lot of people moving into older homes convert the dining room space into an office or something else.

Currently, I have an eat-in kitchen and a separate (unused) dining room.  My first house had a large kitchen with an adjacent dining room that opened to the kitchen with a beautiful doorway and pass through opening about 4 feet long.  I preferred that set-up.  I like having a wall separating the kitchen and dining room, but want it somewhat open.  Great question.

It's a bonus room, like a spare bedroom or a den/library, but when you need it, it's great that you have it.

If my next home has a formal dining room, I am going to put it to some other use. I have a gorgeous dining room table that I have owned for ten years and cost me thousands and thousands of dollars. I think I have eaten at that table no more than once per year. Not worth it, but I would still stage a dining room for a quicker sale!

It is lifestyle.  We don't have one and don't miss it... Ok, actually, we have one, but it is an office...  We have an eat-in kitchen, and it has never not served our purpose. 

Now, a media we would use all of the time... again, it is lifestyle.

I'm building a new home for my family and we opted to have a large great room that includes a dining area, but no formal dining room.  It is a relativly small house and I wanted to use all of it everyday, not just at holidays.

www.SoldHomeStaging.com

I'm building a new home for my family and we opted to have a large great room that includes a dining area, but no formal dining room.  It is a relativly small house and I wanted to use all of it everyday, not just at holidays.

www.SoldHomeStaging.com

Who needs a formal dining room when you have a couch and television?  

Well...

I've encountered many more requests for great room with dining area and mostly dis-interest in formal dining rooms here in Pacific Northwest.  Personally, my entertaining hasn't needed formal dining and in fact the best houses have had very large space off the kitchen.

Penny~ Hi

Here in Asheville, the hub of sustainable innovation, many of our clients are telling us they want a flexible floorplan that could include BOTH!Hmmmmmmmmmmmmmm...

Penny - I hate to hear this but you would know more than anyone!  We use ours often although we have a sizeable eating area.  Drats!

Interesting...  I would not want a formal dining room.  I enjoy the open area that great rooms give. 

When my husband and I built our home 3 years ago, we included a dining room.  My husband would have preferred a large eat-in kitchen.  But I said, "We've got to have a dining room for resale".  That was a good call.  We entertain all the time.  All my friends want to come here because it's the only dining room large enough to accomodate all 16 of us--that's right 16.  Even a small dining room is better than none.

Hello Penny.

To some people it is extremely important and to others it is not.  It really depends on the lifestyle of people & family size.  Even though some do not use the dining room often, it is a nice to have when entertaining & for family holiday celebrations.  A separate dining room in my opinion is important to have. 

I opted out on a formal dining room and have had no regrets. I like one large open space.

Hi Penny, I bring this topic up when I'm showing customers through our model homes.  It shows that as a custom builder we can accomadate their needs either way -- dining room or office/game room.

Hi Penny, I bring this topic up when I'm showing customers through our model homes.  It shows that as a custom builder we can accomadate their needs either way -- dining room or office/game room.