As much as I love having a formal dining room, I find we do not use it often enough and the space is, in my mind, wasted. I would much rather expand my kitchen and have a very large eating area in the kitchen where all the hustle and bustle is!

I have a formal DR, and while it is a nice space, if cost were no issue, I'd remodel and annex it into our kitchen. It really just depends on the house -- so many modern homes have kitchens large enough that the eating/table space is a separate area WITHIN the kitchen, even if you want to feel "separate" from the cooking space itself. (hmmm, I think that makes sense!)

I like a separate space, casual though not formal.

This is a nice festive dining room!

the poll is worded oddly.... one doesnt have to ditch the dining room to have an eating space included in the kitchen. most people have both, to an extent. also the word 'formal' is misleading... one can have a separate casual dining room.

looking at the set up in the top photo.... lovely! now i want a picture of it with the family gathered on thanksgiving and every surface in the kitchen is covered with pots and pans.

Our dining room is more of a dining "area" with only two real walls, but separate from the kitchen and living room. I love the feel of sitting down to dinner, even if only once or twice a week with family and friends. It's open to the entry, so it always looks "nice". The cozy feel of separate room keeps us lingering for an hour or two after dinner chatting. To me, it's worth the square footage.

I use my formal dining table a lot just as much as the family dining table.

We have a formal dining, but my preference is to have a large dining area off the kitchen. In other words, expand that "breakfast nook" to be large enough for formal dining furniture & save the square footage of a formal room for another purpose. (Our friends built a $1.5m home & that's exactly what they did. It's beautiful, gets more use, etc.)

We have seen over the years that most of our clients decide a formal dining room is not something they need. When designing their home, they trade the room for more space to include an office, extra bedroom or a larger kitchen on the main level.

Starr Homes, these are fantastic designs! Thank you so much for sharing them!

I have a newer open concept house, and one of the things I needed was a large dining area. Few houses, with or without dining rooms, have rooms large enough to accommodate a table for 12. We found it in this house, but I don't know if it counts as a dining room. It isn't a room, it is an area, but it isn't in the kitchen either. I love it and hope to fill that table as my boys get older and multiply.

It is one place (room) where people connect without the use of the phone. tablet or an electronic attached to them....

I live in an old home. Fortunately for me I have a decent size "eat in" kitchen and a formal dining room. We use both pretty regularly. The dining room is undergoing a facelift of sorts and the separation affords us the opportunity to do something a little more elegant in that space. The kitchen was done a few years back and we contemplated knocking down a wall that separates the two. I am so glad we didn't. This option forced us to really look at "open concept" living vs. a more traditional layout - we have no regrets! When entertaining, the kitchen usually ends up looking like a bomb went off in it and I like the separation between the disaster and guests simply enjoying themselves, the meal, and conversation. All the while not focusing on the pile of pots and pans and dishwasher that needs loading. Nothing irritates me more than being invited to a friends house for dinner and one of the hosts is constantly trying to keep up with the mess a combined space imposes.

Oh, designklutz - YES to the absence of technology and immersing into family and friends!

alanjamesmcgoldrick, this is an excellent observation! It is refreshing to have a buffer of the remnants of a party and go on enjoying the gathering without feeling obligated to tidy up! Thank you for sharing!

Maybe the word formal is misleading and you meant separate, as I don't think there are only two choices: formal/separate or casual/within kitchen - there is casual but not within kitchen. We have an enclosed kitchen (with dining) but an open concept living and dining room and have a large table next to a fireplace - so it's casual. We gave away our formal dining set and purchased a harvest table, non matching chairs and an armoire. Packed away the fine china, but we still use our sterling silver and good wine glasses, so you can still have a lovely table without the formality.

Maureen, I love this approach to a refined table without the formality. Where did you find your harvest table?

We live in Canada and there is a store that has been around for over 40 years called Woodcraft and they build solid/quality pieces. I painted chairs cream and reupholstered (Kobe outlet is nearby). They sort of look like the ones in your photo. Funny story, my husband and I were away and our son had a party...breaking the centre base of our table. They hammered in a large construction type nail to "secure" it and balanced the foot by a book! I had to go out that day and purchase a table..it was first table I saw and knew this was the look we were heading towards with our changing lifestyle. I did ask my son if we were going to learn about the table when it broke at dinner; he said he wanted to get me at the right time (I had just found some empty beer bottles and realized there had been a party). http://www.woodcraft.ca/about/history

Like Maureen, I have a separate dining room but it is not "formal" and we eat diner in there ever night. It is more vintage / cottage style. The dining room is the same style as the kitchen. If I knocked the wall down between the two, it would all blend well, but this way the confusion of dinner prep is not visible while we eat.

Maureen, there's a story behind everything, right? LOL! I'm going to check out Woodcraft. I wonder if they ship? Thank you!!

jhmarie - I am loving the separate dining room, but with a casual vibe. Not to mention the hiding of the meal prep space! Thanks for sharing!