Dining areas, when you think about it, consume a large amount of living space in a home. A strong argument can be made that precious square footage is gobbled up with too many places to eat. Do you honestly need a dining room, a breakfast room, a breakfast bar, or island seating? Maybe some of you do, but I would bet that some of you would not come to that conclusion if you put into context how you use these areas on a routine basis. To create an overall good house design, it may be a good idea the reconsider how these spaces are use and perhaps put that space to better use by creating a more prefect house plan design. After all, you don’t want to many dining areas eating up valuable square footage!
Dining Room
A dining room, formal dining room specifically, isn’t necessarily a required space in your home design. If you are not sold on that assumption ask yourself these questions. How often will you use the space for that purpose? If you frequently host dinner parties or have big family meals regularly, then a formal dining room in addition to a daily eating space, a.k.a. breakfast room, might be the best use of square footage for your home design. Can I afford to give up this square footage for space that is not used often? If your home is small in size, you may want to reconsider the best use of space for the limited square footage. If you only use this space on occasions such as thanksgiving, you may be cheating yourself out of usable space in your home. What you’ve really done is turn a percentage of your floor space into a showroom for your dining set.
I’m not advocating the elimination of the formal dining room per se. After all, it is a room that some homeowners use enough to justify having one. What I am saying is that you should devote only the slimmest of square footage to design a dining room or other eating areas based on your eating habits. You have to think and design with resale in mind, even if you never plan to sell your home. Ditching the formal dining room is more common than you might think.
Breakfast Room or Nook
A breakfast room may also be considered a necessary space in addition to a dining room. However, let’s examine how it should be approached. Should you design another room for your daily eating or should you design a nook. A nook is nothing more than a recess or a corner seclusion big enough to host a small dinette set. Another way to describe it is an extension of the kitchen. If square footage is a precious commodity, a nook, is the smart solution. Your eating space then becomes an extension of the kitchen, rather than a completely separate room. In this case, you can still have formal and informal dining areas without greatly expanding the area of your floor plan. An example of this is illustrated with the above photo.
However, you can always use your formal dining space as your daily eating area. This room is almost always designed as an adjoining space to the kitchen. Many families have found that living in a home with a formal dining room can be wasted living space. That is true when you consider the amount of times the room is used on an annual basis.
Island or Breakfast Bar
By adding an island or breakfast bar, you can realistically eliminate a breakfast room or nook. You can use the extra sq ft for something else in your home design. The photo above is from our Cashton house plan and features a eat-in kitchen with a hearth room. If you can get past the ideal of having to have a kitchen dinette set, you can explore other design options for a better use of space, especially in smaller homes with limited square feet. One option is to design an island table. Make the island big enough so that you can add seating for at least four. You can design the island at a standard six (6) inches above the base cabinet height for the dining area or you can lower the eating section to accommodate standard table chairs. This design solution is also referred to as an eat-in-kitchen.
The raised option of six (6) inches above base cabinets is a eating bar. Eating bars are generally designed on linear or angled islands that comprise of the kitchen sink and dish washer. Typically they seat more than four, which is common for an average dining table. However, there is a slight downside to this option. Bar stools or bar chairs are require for adequate seating height. For families with small children, this can be a hazard for these little people. High chairs can suffice for a couple of years making the situation a moot point. However, from the terrible two’s until they are near or pass the preschool age, it may be better to provide them their own kiddie table within the dining areas of your home.
Consider Your Habits for your dining areas
Ok, I know some of you are traditionalist and believe that you must have a kitchen table. But, you’ve seen the homes that include a dining room, a breakfast room, island seating, and a eating bar, right? I call it design gluttony. It’s not for me to tell you how to use the space in your home, but I would be remiss if I didn’t provide options on how to maximize your limited heated space for a more useful purpose. However, the intent of this article is to get you to rearrange your thinking about dining areas in a house. To preserve valuable square footage in your home plan design, consider your dining habits and other living needs, then design accordingly.
Last Updated on July 23, 2024