Dining and snug, which way round?

[meringue33]

We are knocking through our kitchen and dining, and slightly extending, so we will have room for the kitchen, dining area and snug (with L shaped sofa).

My question is, should we put the dining area or the snug on the back wall, next to the big windows (or possible bi-folding door) overlooking the garden?

I am torn. On the one hand it would be lovely to sit at the table looking out; on the other I also like the idea of lounging on the sofa with a cuppa watching the kids play.

Would be grateful for any insights or experiences!

[meringue33]

Bump!

[AnythingNotEverything]

I would have the snug looking out into the garden. You only use a dining table 3 times a day, often while talking to someone, whereas a sofa is much more flexible. We have a sofa that looks up the garden and it's lovely.

[Sinkingfeeling]

We're doing something very similar to you and planning to have our sofa by the French doors, looking up the garden. We might swap the sofa and dining table around for special family occasions though. :)

[BackforGood]

I agree with others. When at the table, you tend to be eating and chatting with others at the table. You are more likely to be 'just sitting' in the 'snug' and so that's where I'd put the 'view'

[Marmitelover55]

I would put the dining area nearest to the kitchen, whichever way round that would be.

[WowOoo]

I agree with Marmitelover. Will it be easy to rearrange if you need to?

We sit around the table for dinners and social gatherings. We could seat 3 on the sofa, but 8 on the table. Those who want to bugger off and watch TV go around the corner!

[Marmitelover55]

We have a kitchen/diner/snug and ours wouldn't be that easy to rearrange as we have 2 pendant lights above the dining table. These would be in the way if I swapped it with the snug. Might be worth thinking about the lighting if you want to be able to swap.

[EnriqueTheRingBearingLizard]

Another yes to dining nearest the kitchen area. Ideally you don't really want to be carrying food across the sitting area to the table.

[Penguinotterfoxbadger]

Will the snug be used as a TV watching area? If so, you might end up with the curtains pulled against the glare a lot, and waste the view. When you read books /newspapers do you prefer to be at the table or in a sofa?

Personally I love the idea of sitting at the table reading a paper in the sun, or equally snuggling in a dim corner in front of the telly.

[icklekid]

We already have kitchen diner and extending to add sofa area which will definitely be by the big doors. Relaxing and watching ds in the garden for years to come is the plan

[meringue33]

Good points, thanks! Lighting probably will be a big deal so I suppose we do need to get it right as won't be switching. Distance from the kitchen isn't an issue as it will sort of be an L-shaped space with both ends easy to access.

If we were going to put a telly in the snug it would make sense to have the snug on the interior wall away from the window, but we're not planning to do this, at least right away, as we want to reduce screen time which is already an issue!

I think paper and cuppa would be nice on the sofa watching the kids outside. The only other thing I've thought of is that it would be nice to have the dining table next to the French windows if we were having a BBQ etc in the summer as could pile salads etc on the table and access them easily from outside. But we're talking a handful of good days when we can do that!

Need to figure out where to put the piano too, but thats a whole other thread!

[JennyWescott]

for me, its a no brainer, especially with summer coming up, have the L shaped sofa there so that you can see your children enjoying the garden. Very rarely will things bring more enjoyment then seeing your children having fun.

[dotty2]

We have the same set up and have recently swapped ours to have the snug at the garden end. I much prefer having the table nearer the kitchen bit, but we do need some new lighting fitted for over the table now. We have ended up with guinea pigs living in the snug so in fact hardly ever sit in it, but it was nice there before they moved in!

[Lelivre]

Hi I have a similar set up/layout and can swap mine around, and both arrangements are nice.

I was going to make a decision to set up some low pendant lighting over the dining table but decided I didn't want to be tied to that so looking at other ways to improve what is there. Also the large windows mean lighting isn't an issue in the day any time of year, and at night I prefer lights quite low for dinner so will look at other solutions.

[meringue33]

Thanks all :-)

[mysteryfairy]

We've got one vast room which is all three - not sure if this is what you mean?

Like everyone posting our "snug" bit is at the garden end. Youngest DC is 13 so don't see much playing out but love having the view of the garden. We have a big kitchen island on castors to separate dining area from sitting bit. I got that made by a local joiner to my exact dimensions etc so that works really well for the room.

I truly love the room and living arrangement. We don't actually use the other reception rooms in our house!

[Marmitelover55]

Actually our snug is in the darker internal bit but that's because the armchair and settee are by the fireplace in what was the old dining room (with 2 walls gone). I also wanted dining and kitchen next to each other. It works very well for us and I can still see garden from snug

[museumum]

I'd always have the table nearer the food prep for extra surfaces and activities like baking with the kids - tables being lower than work tops are better for stirring and rolling out etc.

[TeddyBee]

We have a table by the view and it's really irritating to have to move to keep an eye on the kids in the garden. I can sit at a kitchen island to watch them, but if I'm sat comfortably I can't see the kids at all.

[UsedToBeAPaxmanFan]

We have an L shaped kitchen/diner/family area, but our kitchen is in the internal bit, then we have the rest of the room running along the back of the house. We tend to switch the dining table and sofa around every few months, but whichever end they are they look into the garden iykwim.

I like it best when the dining table is at the end away from the kitchen, because if we have people round they can't see the chaos I'm creating in the kitchen! I also like it when I'm cooling and people come and sit on the sofa to chat to me. But as our dc are now teens they tend not to do that!

If I couldn't have both the living area and the dining area near the windows/garden, then I'd have the living end. I love lying on the sofa looking into the garden.

[SpecificOcean]

We have exactly what you describe L shaped kitchen /diner/snug.
The snug is the short bit of the L and can be closed off has it has double doors leading from dining area. Makes so much sense to have dining near the kitchen and we have an armchair in the dining area too.
Also dining area being there is still very light but no glare from direct sunlight which can be annoying when eating (this happened in old house)
In the snug we have large L shaped sofa looking out onto the garden. It does get quite a bit of sun but we have two other sitting rooms with TV's in so never used as tv room.

[Yarp]

Regarding the lighting, we decided against pendants because they would limit where the table could go. We have a combination of recessed down lighters (dimmable), and clip-on lights on our exposed steels. Planning the lighting is really important, but a bit tricky because you have to do it before you're really able to visualise the finished room

[meadowquark]

If you take almost any period house, you will have snug (living room) facing front and kitchen/dining facing back of the house. I am used to this and it makes sense. I am moving to another house next week which will have open L shape dowstairs and the dining bit will be next to the kitchen and facing garden. I don't mind. In fact if the dining could fit in one small sofa bed, it would become perfect. As we will have no separate sitting room, I am planning to separate the snug with half-way partition wall.

[meringue33]

Thanks all. Sounds like a clear consensus emerging!

Castors! Genius :-)