To live without a dining table??

[inmyshoos]

Can't fit in a dining table in our new house. We have a massive corner sofa and it barely fits in itself. Aibu to just sit there and eat? I really love a table, feels weird not having one. Have even considered weird coffee tables that convert to dining tables but they look weird as heck.

Will I desperately miss a table? Aibu to think we can live without one?

Our dining table is old and cost 50 quid second hand, our sofa was 3k.

[LaVitaPuoEsserePiuBella]

There are few things lovelier in life, particularly when your kids get to a certain age, than sitting around the table sharing a meal and talking. There's a saying: "The family that eats together, stays together" - I'm actually a LP but the meals together every evening at the table enable us to keep talking to one another. I love hearing about their day.
I believe that it also helps children develop important social skills as well as contributing to their language development.
I would rather have no sofa than no dining table, TBH.

[TheLadyGrayson]

Why would you buy a house with no room for a dining table? My mind is blown 🤯 This would be non-negotiable for me.. sell the £3k sofa and get a smaller one!

[kowari]

Children can eat and do homework and craft at a coffee table with cushions on the floor. It's perfectly normal in many cultures. Adults can either sit on the sofa or join the children.

[BonnieDundee]

As pp say a drop leaf table is your friend. I have never had a dining room but have always had a table of some sorts

[Megan2018]

We haven’t got one at the moment, the dining end of our kitchen/diner is currently full of DD toys and her giant playmat so no room.
But we have an enormous kitchen island with room for 4+ chairs, so we eat there with DD in her high chair.
We will eventually get a table again but the one I want is £££ and whilst we aren’t entertaining due to Covid there’s no point.
We will get one for next Christmas I expect.

When I lived on my own in my teeny tiny house I had no table, managed fine for 13 years. So it can be done.

[AntiHop]

Dh and I didn't have a table until we had dd. We always ate on the sofa. Can't imagine doing that now. Dd also sits at it a lot to do activities.

[Europilgrim]

@kowari That only really works with little children! We have 3 teens / preteens so it's not practical. Plus we don't have the space for a coffee table!

[bringbackCabanas]

I grew up in a house without a dining table. All our meals were eaten on our knees in front of the TV. Now I've got DCs we eat at the table (it's in the kitchen), and it's just so much nicer as a family. I'm sure when they get to their teenage years they'll want to eat in the lounge or in their rooms, but I'm really glad we've got this habit right now.

[TheLadyGrayson]

I don’t think I’ve ever come across a house without some form of table/breakfast bar in it, no.

[Sonofapizzaman]

@TheLadyGrayson I’m sorry but what a stupid thing to say! Of course you know there are people who aren’t fortune enough to buy or rent a home big enough for a dining table. Of course you do.

[Alternista]

What a load of wank this thread is.

I call absolutely bullshit at the posters who would prioritise a dining table over a sofa in a family home. Absolute bullshit. There’s no way you’ve ever been in a position where you’ve had to choose.

Somehow I managed to grow up in a small council flat with four adults and no dining table and yet be educated to masters level, have a professional career AND - guess what- I can hold a knife and fork too.

Those of you who really can’t imagine how the other half live- Fuck off.

[TheLadyGrayson]

@Sonofapizzaman

Obviously, I just presumed that OP didn’t come into that category, with a 3 grand sofa.

[SlightDrizzle]

@KarenMarlow3

The trouble is with British housing. Modern houses are often built with not enough space for a proper dining room.
We sometimes watch an American programme called 'Buying and Selling,' and we've been amazed at the amount of space in some American homes. Some of them have basements that have more space in them than we have in our house.
In the UK, you have to pay a fortune to get a similar amount of space.

I’ve never in my life had a dining room, but I’ve never lived without a table, even in a tiny London flat. You either have a kitchen you can wedge a small or folding table into, or you don’t buy a sofa so large that you can’t fit a small table into the living room as well.

[PandemicAtTheDisco]

Where do your children do their homework?

I think having a proper work area makes all the difference in how well they do at school.

[Sonofapizzaman]

I see, so your first comment was disingenuous nonsense.

Good to know there’s a link between the cost of a sofa and the amount you’re able to spend on a house though!

[kowari]

[quote Europilgrim]@kowari That only really works with little children! We have 3 teens / preteens so it's not practical. Plus we don't have the space for a coffee table![/quote]
Teens and adults can sit on the floor too, except maybe elderly and some people with disabilities. Or otherwise the sofa. You may not have space, but many people may have space for a coffee table even if they don't have space for a dining table as a coffee table can go in front of a sofa.

[audweb]

The idea that my child cannot function when faced with a dining table or eat properly as we don’t have room for one at home is just so unbelievably snobbish and rude. I need space to work at home, to hang up my washing, to fit my freezer in the house. We sit together and have meals and talk, it’s not like we don’t prioritise that just because I was homeless once and ended up in a small council flat. Frankly , all the judgement that my child doesn’t know how to eat or behave well while eating - or not be able to do her homework (desk in her room, who would have thought!) - is just amazing.

Just astonishing the level of judgement people make over a dining table. If you met my child in a restaurant you would never know we sit on a sofa to have tea frankly, and why would you?

[zigaziga]

Sounds like your sofa is too big for your house.

[Givemeabreak88]

I’m so surprised by these comments! We have a dining room but it’s become more of a dumping ground for random things that have no place so I hardly ever use it! Didn’t realise people were so judgmental about this.

[Europilgrim]

@givemeabreak88 I don't think anyone's talking about dining rooms!

[Givemeabreak88]

We don’t use the dining table as it’s in the dining room, I only have a table in there don’t have one in my living room so we don’t use one.

[SlightDrizzle]

What about breakfast, for those who don’t have a table? Do you eat breakfast standing up in the kitchen, or on the sofa?

[BritWifeinUSA]

We have this coffee table but we have a proper dining table too. This coffee table is for the “can’t be bothered” days. You could get something like this?

www.ashleyfurniture.com/p/gately_coffee_table_with_lift_top/T845-21.html