A detailed floor plan would help us as would information on how many you will feed in the dining room.

I am the worlds worst drawer. Sorry. Hope this helps

I can have anywhere from 10 for a normal up to 25-30 for holidays. That's why I wanted the bigger room because I can add folding tables etc for the holidays and we can all be in the same room as opposed to scattered throughout the house

1. Dining rooms are often located just inside doors. Look at most builder plans that have formal dining rooms in them and you'll see this a lot.

2. I would think you'd want to close up the doorway a bit if you're making this a true pantry. I wouldn't want all that cabinetry (and presumably, mess) visible from a formal dining area. I would at least consider french pocket doors.

3. Possibly. It depends on when you're planning on selling (if you're doing this reno, I can only imagine not soon), what your market/area requires in a home, and a whole host of additional info we can't know.

Will the rest of your house still flow? The big question is that generally you don't want pantries/bulter's pantries to become major thoroughfares in your home. Your drawing doesn't tell us how people might get from your living room and kitchen to the dining room, which is a pretty key detail here.

That's not a detailed floor plan. You will need one no matter what you decide but especially to decide if it's doable.

Do you use the dining room for all your meals, or do you have a breakfast area or island seating for routine use by your immediate family? My immediate reaction to looking at your sketch is there will be a lot of extra walking to serve and clear dinner, unless you are planning to serve buffet style exclusively.

Ask a local realtor. My guess is it would hurt your home's value, because it's not what most people are looking for. Most people want a formal dining room that seats maybe 8-12, not 30. And while most people like a family room, they may also want a living room.

Could you swap the two rooms but gain the storage without built-ins? Buy sideboards, etc, which are very cheap in thrift shops. That would make it easy to swap back if you put the house on the market.

Have you maximized the storage in your kitchen? That is where I would start.

I could’ve written this post myself! I love your idea and personally would love to find this in a home for purchase.

I know my drawing is lacking. I can’t draw AT ALL.

We only use the dining room for holidays or when friends and/or family come over. But that’s like every other weekend. The current dining room gets cramped when you go above 8 people. We were planning on only using base cabinets with a countertop because I do NOT want a full room with just cabinetry.

I have your basic builder colonial house so when you walk in the dining (living) room would be on the left, office on the right, staircase in front and a hallway to the kitchen.

We redid our kitchen 2 years ago and there’s no maximizing it anymore. It’s a decent size but honestly my entire house lacks storage, closets etc.

I should also clarify, I’m not planning on using specifically as a “pantry” per se’. I need a spot to put things I don’t use everyday but within reach when needed. Right now things are on the stairs to the basement, laundry room shelf, closet. I have room in my kitchen for food items, dishes, glasses etc.

How many people would you usually seat for a "normal" weekend sort of party? How often do you need to seat 30? Asking because this is a huge change, and I think a huge hit to resale value. If you have 30 people at your table once a month or more, maybe worth it. For 2-3 times a year, really not. Random disorganized thoughts:

*How wide is your dining room? If you have 11 feet, you could put cabinets along one wall and still have a 42" wide table with 33" clearance behind seating. Not optimal, but not bad.

*If you really want to do this, put attractive storage/serving furniture in the new larger dining room. At 14' wide, can have cabinets along as much of the 20' wall as you wish, a 48" wide table (2 people can sit at the short end), and still have 4' of clearance behind seats, which is very comfortable. Make the former dining room a cozy living room. You will maximize resale if you have some sort of living room and some sort of family room. Said as someone who bought a house thinking she didn't need a family room, and has many regrets.

*Our combined living/dining room is 14 x 21, so about the same size as your living room. 14 feet lets us use a 96" long table and seat 10-12 people. For holidays, we remove the living area furniture and run two tables the length of the room, to seat around 36 people. If you are only hosting really large groups a few times a year, consider doing a similar thing, swapping the living & dining rooms on the big occasions.

I would say on an average weekend if we have guests we’re at 12-15 people.
The really large groups of 30+ are usually just for the holidays.

You can use rooms as you want for function. My bet here? Your problem originates in the kitchen.

Show the kitchen and its adjacent family room : )

It's quite possible you have a buggy way out ahead of your horse................especially with regard to flooring which is what in the kitchen?

Show more of your home. Post the original floor plan or get hubby to help you draw and measure.

There's not enough info here to really address the problem, or possible solutions

What are the dimensions of the current dining room?

I love the idea. you have a problem that you want to solve and have figured a way to do it. i agree with the idea of mking the serving room using furniture rather than builr in cabinets. you already know you use the dining room way more often than you use the living room. so prioritizing the dining room makes total sense.

Have you thought about building a bench seat with storage in the bench flanked by additional storage? It would push the seating to the back wall- would still present as an area one can use as a dining area - also where does the window in the DR connect to - if it buts a deck consider making that into a french or sliding door

The dining room currently is 14x11

Rather than devalue the property for resale, I could consider combining the living room and dining room, where you have 430 square feet of space. Take your measured floor plan to a party rental place and get them to calculate how to place round tables for 8 in those two spaces at holidays. Round is more friendly/conversational than rectangular. You can rent the tables and chairs for your holiday gatherings. Consider replacing your own rectangular table with a round one.

If you’re doing a drastic change to your house to store holiday and rarely used items, find space in your garage. This idea will devalue your home unless you use easily removable cabinets to convert back to,a traditional dining room in the future.

If this is your forever house, do what you want to make yourself happy. Having storage near the kitchen is much easier than the garage, for sure. I would consider closing the dining room opening to make it it “part” of the kitchen. You don’t want it to be the first thing guests see.

I still think your entertaining life calls for a dining room.

As long as you're not moving soon and/or can easily repurpose it back to a dining room, might as well modify it to maximize use. This site has some great examples: https://www.tollbrothers.com/blog/how-to-make-the-most-of-a-flex-room/

In this day and age, creatively repurposing living spaces is where interior design is heading. Can you imagine the first person that came up with an open kitchen? I bet most people went nuts with worry.

You are smart to evaluate and prioritize your needs. That's how all brilliant design ideas start.

I always wondered how people function in those small dining rooms off the kitchen. They are never large enough to accommodate entertaining properly. Your idea of a butler's pantry can visually be part of your new kitchen and segue nicely into the new dining room.

You mentioned using the same cabinets as the kitchen. Consider decorative cabinets on both sides of the window facing the dining room. Incorporate the matching kitchen cabinets on the side walls or change the tone of the cabinets to a darker stain (not white) since the space is open to the new dining room.

https://www.decorpad.com/photo.htm?photoId=143322

That’s basically what it would look like except I didn’t want anything on top. I like the openness. Thank you for the photos

Rose what did you decide to do with your spaces? Sounds like you’ve the same floorplan as me.
My old “formal living room” became my dining room about 9 years ago. The old formal dining room beside the kitchen became the playroom for my grandchildren. It also has an upright desk and a small loveseat in there. My plan had been to make it a “sitting room” when the grands are older but we’d never use it for that.
So, I’ve been contemplating for about 3 years to add open shelving along the long wall and lower cabinets with open shelving on either side of the doorway to the dining room. I’d like to put a small island or a tall wooden table that could be used for serving and extra silverware. So basically a butlers pantry we’d pass through to the dining room and would have plenty of storage for my multiple sets of dishes, napkins, placemats and so forth.
Most of the new builds around here have dining room on either side of the main entryway.
I always feel you do what works best for you. 🥰
My rough drawing.

My drawing.

Rose what did you decide to do with your spaces? Sounds like you’ve the same floorplan as me.
My old “formal living room” became my dining room about 9 years ago. The old formal dining room beside the kitchen became the playroom for my grandchildren. It also has an upright desk and a small loveseat in there. My plan had been to make it a “sitting room” when the grands are older but we’d never use it for that.
So, I’ve been contemplating for about 3 years to add open shelving along the long wall and lower cabinets with open shelving on either side of the doorway to the dining room. I’d like to put a small island or a tall wooden table that could be used for serving and extra silverware. So basically a butlers pantry we’d pass through to the dining room and would have plenty of storage for my multiple sets of dishes, napkins, placemats and so forth.
Most of the new builds around here have dining room on either side of the main entryway.
I always feel you do what works best for you. 🥰

I turned the living room into the dining room and the dining room into extra storage space. I put cabinets and countertops, no uppers and I didn’t move electrical or anything. That way if we ever sell, I’m not restricting whoever buys it. Plus I just wanted more storage for kitchen overflow. It’s worked out wonderfully. I had 23 people for Christmas. And for Easter I’ll have 32 and I’ll be able to fit everyone in one room. I’ll have to move the dining room table out of the room and go with folding tables but that’s fine with me. Having the extra countertops has been a blessing. I can put everything out buffet style and don’t have to cram everyone in the kitchen for that amount of people.

Here are some pictures of how it turned out. Please ignore the mess. I’m trying to get things ready for the holiday.

Here are a couple more photos

Looks great must be a true luxury

Oh I love it! 😍.
Exactly what I want to do with mine! I just need space for all the diff sets of dishes, I do use them; platters, stemware etc. plus the napkins and placemats. And like you, I can set the food buffet style and have room at the table. Haha.
The current pantry/laundry room is okay but I would love to make that a mudroom, it just inside the back door from the garage as you enter my kitchen.
PS. Love your floors and that chandelier!

Thank you so much. It took me 5 years to rip the band-aide off and just do it. I wasted a lot of energy and brain cells worrying if it’s the right choice for some mythical buyer 10 years from now that may or may not like the set up. But then I decided to do what works for us. If I ever sell, then whoever buys it can decide what works for them. It has made life so much easier. I’m not going to the garage or basement or closet or laundry room looking for the one pan/dish I need because I didn’t remember where we put it the last time it was used. Now I just have to go to a cabinet 5 feet away.

Bamamom

Thanks for the compliments on the floors. For full disclosure. I absolutely love the look of them BUT it’s a complete nightmare keeping up with them. Especially if you have a dog like I do. I have to sweep and swiffer every day if I want them “clean”. Lots of maintenance

I know where you’re coming from about the floors. Same here with our floors and no pets. Hahaha.

I really want to do this butler pantry set up when our old dining room is no longer a playroom.

Bamamom
I highly suggest you do it if you know it’s what you want and will work for you. I ended up with 34 people for Easter. I got 4 eight foot folding tables and EVERYONE fit in one room with space to spare. For appetizers and desserts everything went on the countertops in the old dining room and it flowed perfectly as opposed to going in circles around my kitchen island. Plus it freed up counter space in my kitchen so I could switch trays in and out of the oven and wash dishes. Best decision I’ve ever made

Btw, brand new homes are now being built without formal dining rooms. What you did was innovative and right on the money. 🙂🙂🙂

Thank you for the compliment 😊. I’m glad I followed my instincts. It has worked out really well. There’s zero clutter in my kitchen and everything has a place. I search for nothing. It’s all right there and convenient

Glad you did what YOU wanted. Sometimes we focus too much on some mythical “future buyer” instead of enjoying our space for ourselves. This is a fantastic idea. Bravo. 👏🏻