To live without a dining table??

We don't have have and it's bliss!

IMO “bliss” is such an overused word on mumsnet. What is blissful about sitting hunched over your dinner while on the sofa, and being worried about spilling food on it?

I need to sit upright at a table so that I don’t get indigestion, so it isn’t “snobbish horror”, but comfort. I can’t see that sitting on a sofa cutting up a steak on your knee or eating a roast dinner with lots of gravy is more comfortable than sitting at a table. Or do people only eat foods that are easy to eat while on a sofa? Do they never have friends round for dinner?

I can’t imagine eating Christmas dinner on a sofa. It sounds a bit joyless TBH.

I realise from when we replaced our sofas a few years ago that they are much bigger and deeper than they used to be, and IMO it is quite unnecessary.

In the OP’s case I would just buy some adjustable tables that can be used while eating on the sofa.

DH's hernia induced heart burn problems got very bad during the two years we had to eat while sitting on the sofa.

He had scans and extra pills and everything.

A week after getting the table back his pain improved massively. Unless you sit on the edge, bolt upright, (and who wants to do that!?) then a sofa doesn't put you in a good position for your stomach to receive a main meal.

I got rid of my dining table, never used it. We have a breakfast bar with chairs rather than stools that we use instead.

I have a small flat, and I’ve had to squeeze a small table and office chair in for working from home as well. My child has a desk in her room to do homework.

The judgement on this thread is amazing. You know sometimes people end up living in flats and small houses where space is at a premium, alongside money and living without a dining table is not the end of the world, and nor does it lead to children being unable to function or eat properly?

Our kitchen table is very much the centre of the family home. All meals, arts and crafts, homework... you name it, it happens at the kitchen table. I would sell the sofa and get a little one that enables you to keep a table. Also sofas are fine for lounging around occasionally, but they are no good for posture. I think. you will end up with back ache.

Due to knocking the house about we had to spend 2 years without a dinning table (having previously had one for the last 20 years) and it was bloody horrible. Horrible. It was while DD was 4 and 5 and i felt really shit about her having to eat off a tray every meal :(

Got it back out of storage a year ago HOORAY and my goodness - every single time we use it (eating/homework/craft work/wrapping presents/writing/work paperwork/taking things apart/spreading out building plans/ dumping the shopping / --drying random items on the backs of the chairs) i'm thankful for having it back again.

I have a 5 year old and a 2 year old - eating on the sofa would definitely be very grim... Older kids, about about 8 or so not so much but currently would be grim. Bad enough sweeping the floor in the kitchen!

I could have lived without a dining table in my 20s: was at work all day, out most evenings anyway, and friends met in pubs, restaurant or bars after work, I couldn't have care less. My table manners were fine

It's not snobbery to say that I haven't got the same lifestyle anymore, and not having a table would be an absolute pain in the ass. My kids eat at the table, friends or family coming over eat at the table too. I wouldn't want not to have one.

I can't imagine having to go to a restaurant as the only place for the family to sit for a meal together. On which planet is that considered weird?

As much as I think a dining table is important I can't imagine choosing one over a sofa. I have lived in places with no room for a permanent dining table. We did however have fold down tables but we mostly ate on the one small sofa we owned. That was pre children though

Serin so true.

I like our dining table and with children it is useful for homework, games and craft but the MN judgement on this thread is very funny

A bench table? Check out futon company

Theres obviously a real divide. I've never not had a table. Even my tiny mouse infested student flat shithole had a tiny gate leg & 2 folding chairs. It was on the kitchen wall and you couldnt open the fridge with it down but it did the job. When I lived in a tiny flat in my 20s we had a tiny kitchen and no living room, so I had a table in my bedroom!

I thought most people ate on the sofa

Whenever you see people at home, on TV, they usually eat on the sofa

I think massive sofas are a newish phenomenon really. My Grannie had only hard wooden fireside chairs in her little Irish cottage and I'm sure they were better for their posture than the floppy things we lol around on now. She lived to 107 and was independently mobile all her life.
I personally would prefer a table to your sofa but you have to do what's right for you. IKEA have great ideas for small spaces, also caravan design might provide some inspiration.

We don’t have one, got rid of it a year ago to make room for a pet. I don’t really miss it, we have a large coffee table which the kids (teens) eat off. The only time I miss it is Christmas.

If only adults in teh household then there is no need for a table. The flat I am in now is the first one that I have a dining table and I cannot even remember the last time we used it for eating. We always eat on the sofa.

Our dining table has been moved out of the main room now to fit the rather large Christmas tree.

So most dinners are sofa ones.

But DD7 sits at the coffee table with a little chair.

Roast tomorrow so we'll bring the table back in for that. (It's a folding one)

Family film night sat around a table?

Can have family film night snuggled up on mum & dads bed.

Kids often lounge around on the floor to watch TV and you can get things like bean bags to stack in a corner.

I was about to say I couldn’t possibly imagine not having a kitchen/dining table, but then I remembered when I was young and flatsharing and didn’t have one for years! Coped perfectly well.

That said, I think you will miss it if you’ve had one in the past. You don’t say if you have children, but obviously it’s useful for crafts/homework. It also depends if you ever have people around for a meal, or if you normally go out to socialise. So if it’s just the two of you and you don’t entertain at home, it’ll be fine. Otherwise, you’re likely to find it a pain.

This takes up very little space
www.argos.co.uk/product/6215136

Could you not squeeze it or something similar against a wall somewhere?

I would really struggle without a table, but then ours is, literally and figuratively, at the heart of our home. Maybe it’s our children’s ages or the layout of our house but it’s used for everything.

If you don’t find you use yours then feel free to do away with it though. It’s your house!

I do think previous suggestions of having a fold away table or a garden table that can be carried in for formal meals/crafts/etc is a good idea. I appreciate that both of these require some element of space that you may not have.

It’s just different lifestyles. Some people really struggle to imagine a life unlike their own.