No dining room, just a table in the kitchen?

[Clementiness]

FTB in expensive SE. Many properties within our budget seem to have a smallish living room/front room and then a dining area in the kitchen, rather than a separate room. Is it weird to have all family meals, including Xmas in the kitchen? I always had a dining room so feels strange but maybe it’s just me?
Would you consider this type of layout?
Space in the kitchen is enough to sit 6 people comfortably, 8 stretching a bit (but almost never have 8 people as it’s usually DH, DC and I + a couple of guests max)

I think a table in the kitchen is nice, if you have the space there.

We don’t, so we have a separate dining room and I do think it feels quite old fashioned now.

It is definitely not a dumping ground though! We use it for every meal plus when the kids are crafting or doing homework.

I have a standard Victorian terraced house in London, that is not extended, so we have a kitchen at the back that is not extended a room with bow window at the front and another room at the middle, the two living rooms are both connected but not connected to the kitchen.
we have put a dining table in the middle room and we use it as dining room when we have guests and as play table/homework table the rest of the time. We don’t have an island in the kitchen but we do have a table that sits 6 and can be extended, although it would be quite tight.
Having a dining room is definitely a luxury and not required but I just find useful to have 2 tables in a house for different activities. When we have guests we get the kids to eat in the kitchen and adults in the dining room, we get an aperitif in the front/living room then we move to the dining room for dinner and back to living room for drinks/chatting.
if we have small kids we feed them before and then they go up in the bedrooms to play. I usually cook dishes that need to be kept warm in the oven, like lasagna, roast, or bbq as this is done outside anyway. So the cook is not alone in the kitchen while the rest chat. honestly I don’t like when I go to friends who have a kitchen/diner to have to stand around the island while the hosts are cooking and washing dishes etc, it makes me uncomfortable as I feel like to help out.. which they never want.
Then we use the dining table for puzzles, Lego’s etc.

the drawback is that you can not have too many guests, as a kitchen/diner is bigger and also you can have parties around the island with people standing which we can not do

We do have a separate dining room, the table in the kitchen seats 2-3, 4 at a pinch. I don't really like people talking when I'm cooking, so I'm happy to have the separation. The dining room is used as WFH space, Jigsaws, exercise bike, yoga classes, and then tidied up when we have visitors :) Works for us.

That's reality for most of us. Even up north where I live, the majority of people only have a table in the kitchen. Posts like this just make me amazed at how the other half live!

That's a ridiculous thing to say.

I've lived everywhere from the far north of Scotland so the SE of England and it's pretty standard in a 3 bedroomed house that hasn't been extended to have a tiny kitchen and a separate dining room. 2 bedroomed terraces would just have a kitchen and a living room and larger houses might have a kitchen with room for a table plus a dining room and if modernised a kitchen diner. It's really not a north south divide.

I would never have a seperate dining room anymore. I only want to have a table in my kitchen.

If I am cooking dinner I want to be able to chat with my friends, who are presumably sitting at the table. When getting dessert, I want to be able to chat to my friends, who are presumably sitting at the table. When I wash up, I want to be able to chat with my friends, who are at the kitchen table.

What is the point of hosting if I cannot socialise with my friends in the same room?