Anyone have a separate dining room & do you use it?

[PerfectlyChaotic]

Just that really! Recently moved & deciding on best use of rooms. Plenty of space for table in the kitchen - love the idea of big dining table in the front room, but really, would we actually ever use it or could the space be put to better use?!

We have a separate dining room, with a dining table in it, and I use it pretty much every day - I sit there in the morning with my coffee and the paper. I like having somewhere that doesn't have a TV in it, for that first part of the day, whilst I am waking up and want peace and quiet.

We don't eat dinner round the table every day, but we enjoy eating together round the table as a family sometimes. And we do have people over for dinner sometimes - we use the dining room then.

I also use the table if I am sewing - for cutting out and to put the sewing machine on - and for things like board games and jigsaws.

Obviously you could do these things in the kitchen, but I like having somewhere that doesn't have cooking smells, or the normal kitchen mess to look at, if that makes sense.

Yes and yes.

Yep every day. We had a lounge diner before which I hated, but now use our extension as a dining room. If I only had one reception room tho then playroom would win over separate dining room!

We have a room that should be a separate dining room, it's used as a playroom / den (primary & early secondary age dc's). Three years on from moving to this house, I'm beginning to regret the decision slightly. It's ended up being living room #2, with dh and I in the front room and dc's in the back room watching different stuff on telly - I spend my life trying to swim against the tide with it but dh and dc's like the arrangement so it's all a bit futile.

Yes. We don't have room in the kitchen for a table, but do have a separate living room and dining room.
It doubles up as home office, kids homework room, and for eating. Admittedly, not often everyone sitting round it at the same time, but most of the family eat most of their meals there!!

Yes, we have a separate dining room and we use it every day. It's nice to be able to sit down as a family in a room without any tv or distractions. I wouldn't buy a house that didn't have space for a dining room.

Yes and yes. We always eat in the dining room; it means the DC have to speak to us rather than staring at a tv

It also gets used as a bit of an office/second sitting room by all of us (also have a desk and sofa in the corners) so probably gets used more than the sitting room does...

I use my dining table every day. Just had our kitchen done, which fits a small table also, and thought about creating one big room. But I prefer having the 2 rooms with different tables. Kitchen table is where all the food prep is done with kids but it's great to have the different space to them eat in.

All hugely helpful, thanks. That was the plan but, never having had the space before, we undecided about whether it would be a waste of a lovely room. Though a large table is surely always useful for homework, games, sewing etc . Can't help but dream of gorgeous Christmas dinners too...

We have (theoretically) a separate dining room and a big dining kitchen. We always eat in the kitchen (fits a 10 seater table) and I'd never find a use for another dining table.

The dining room is currently full of unpacked boxes of books, but once we get some shelves, it's going to become a place for DH and the children to play videogames (and to store the million consoles we seem to have).

Yes and use it every day. We have an island and stools in the kitchen where we eat breakfast and lunch at the weekends but eat dinner every evening in the dining room. Plus kids use the table for homework, art projects etc.

We have what was marketed as a separate dining room but we use it as a playroom/permanent mess. Our kitchen/diner is big enough for a 10-seater dining table, not that we usually have it set up that large.

our kitchen has a decent sized table, can sit 6, so day to day we eat/drink tea/read newspaper at that tabele.

next door we have a dining room with alarge tabel in it. It can expand to sit 12. We use that all the time, but not very often for eating. I am sitting at it right now on my laptop! Craft, sewing, computer (I work form homw so use it as my desk). I tutor at it, kids do homework at it and so on.
The dining room also has the piano and the PS3 in it, and french windows to the garden, so the room is used all the time.
When we have visitors we eat at it too, so fairly often.

I would never want tot put a dining table in the living room, especially if it wasn't off the kitchen. But I might put a work table/computer table in there if I didn't have a dining room.

I have one, but only use it at Christmas or if friends come as the kitchen is big enough for a dining table, and whilst it will only seat 4 it is OK for day to day.

I do like having a separate dining room for special occasions to shut the meal off from pots and pans, but on a daily basis eating with pots and pans is OK.

Which is how we would use it. We also have the computer desk in there. Brilliant, now to find the perfect table & chairs, which is proving harder than I thought it would be...

We have a dining room that's sort of attached to the kitchen and use it all the time.

Yes we do. We have a small table for four in the kitchen too.

Not anymore, we have the room but use it for other things. We now have a smaller table that we keep in the corner for rare breakfasts at home. We rarely entertain anymore but when we do we pull the table out and do the room. I live having another room with a door in which non eating activities can take place. We have a lot of hobbies and sometimes socialise separately, I. E. If I have a friend over for a chat, and the extra room is very handy.

We have separate lounge / kitchen /dining rooms. None of them are open plan to each other but the kitchen is large enough for a dining table so we used the 'dining room' as a playroom and, now the kids are older, are currently fitting it out as a second lounge for our 4 kids to have their own space and tv (they won't have telly's in bedrooms for as long as I can possibly swing it!) I'm looking forward to all the Xbox junk being out of my way!

We use our dining room as a dining room every day, don't know what we'd do without it! The table is also used for activities, homework etc etc etc

We have a dining room I love it, use it every day

Ours is used every day and there is no t.v. in there. When our daughter was growing up we used to use dinner time as an opportunity to talk about our day. No t.v. in there.

Yes and yes every day. We only have the dining table and display cabinet in there.
We eat every meal in there, and use the table for family board games, doing Lego etc.
It was a non-negotiable.

I'm in the States. We have a separate dining room as well as an eating area in the kitchen/family room. We use the dining room when we have company and for Thanksgiving and Christmas dinner. Otherwise, I often use it as my home office.

We have a dining room, it's my favourite room in the house but we don't use it more than about 6 times a year as we have a kitchen table which seats 8-10 and an island which seats 6 so I'm reluctantly about to rearrange it as a TV room for the kids so that I don't have to watch any more Jessie or Scooby Doo