Need a place to be adults...would rather it be dining room.

I have a great room and a formal dining room. I don't miss the living room.

I'm definitely "old school," but I think both rooms still can be useful, even in this day and age-just how large they would need to be would obviously be based on the homeowner's needs. I like a formal living room because I like the idea of a buffer zone between the more relaxed family space and "visitor" space, because I think one needs a space to be able to sit down and maybe conduct some either informal or formal business with those people who are just acquaintances, or actual complete strangers. i also like to entertain, and like my kitchen space separate on more formal occasions-not that guests wouldn't be welcome in the kitchen, if they wanted to just hang around, or help. On those not formal occasions, then I wouldn't mind having the kitchen and family/great room open to each other, with just a bar/island or small table for every day family meals. It's all a matter of what one's lifestyle requires, as well as personal preferences, of course.

I would pass on both. My lifestyle doesn't require either. Today, a lot of entertaining is done outside the home. We mostly meet friends and family for a meal out and usually do in home entertaining during holidays. Many times, we hang out in the kitchen or on the deck! weather permitting.

I have to have both, we always have friends and guests over, also family dining room is an essential for us.

Formal living room or formal dining room? It depends on the person. I personally throw more dinner parities and enjoy a formal dining space.
-Angeline, GKB

Would def love a formal living room. My kids are always welcomed to pull out their toys in the living room, so it would be nice to have a separate area where things could stay tidy :)

No thanks to both, especially the formal dining. My fellow Southern women, and certainly their mothers, who read this will largely disagree, but formal rooms are a waste of valuable space when I am building or remodeling. If I had a historic house, of course I would embrace those rooms as part of the period of the house, but I've found the formal dining room table to mostly be an available place to pile stuff and somewhere I have to clean that I don't use, and that is something I'm totally against.

We have an old house with originally both a living and dining room. We also had a large kitchen - family TV - gathering room.

A few years ago we turned the TV room into a dining area - making a large country kitchen. We made the dining room into the TV-entertainment room. The living room remains.. a path to the kitchen. No matter what we do, people are drawn to the kitchen... next house... one big room for everything with designated areas for living, eating, cooking,etc.

We just moved into our new home 3 yrs ago, and we were looking for a house plan with a dining room and a separate small breakfast area. I have a small living room too - a room off the front entry, with no TV.
I like having both a diningroom and a livingroom. Mine aren't stuffy formal rooms, but I like having these rooms at the front of the house, always ready for company, and rooms which are nice to have, and definitely used, during the holidays. My diningroom area rug has a black background, so it is kid friendly.

I'm for a formal dining room! It's great for brunch or dinner parties, which I do throw occasionally. So much fun to decorate the table with a cool centerpiece and to use fancier fabrics on chairs or pillows (I have a banquette in mine). The kitchen island is nice for a more casual get together with just drinks or appetizers, but how wonderful to feel like I finally deserve to sit at the "adult" table ;)

Unless they are dressed in black tie and tails they are just rooms. One in which to eat meals and one in which to hang out and entertain. I don't eat supper or live in my kitchen.

We are planning to build a home next year. If the funds and space permit I plan to design a space that is a combination formal dining room/library/game room. At one end I want to put my dining table and display space for dishes and other special art and mementos. In the middle I wish to put comfortable seating in front of a fireplace flanked by library shelving that has closed storage underneath for board games. On the opposite side of the fireplace I wish to put an expandable game table for playing board games and for overflow seating during holiday dinners. During Thanksgiving this year we had 15 people. The adults were in the dining room and kids were in the kitchen. It would be nice to be able to fit everyone in the same room during holiday dinners. Somewhere in the room I'd love to add a hidden door to a butler's pantry. We love to read, play games and do puzzles together so I think the room will be used a lot. We also love to entertain so I think when it's too cold to entertain outside It would be a nice entertaining space.

I think a formal sitting room is a wasted space for most people. My parents never used their's and ours is cover with kids' toys even though they have a play room. We are running out of space for books though so a library would be useful. Unfortunately there isn't the wall space in our formal living room for bookshelves so we can't make it our library.

Formal dining room and formal living room for sure. A must. I use both daily. It is wonderful to sit down as a family a few times a week in a formal dining room and have dinner at the table where nobody is jumping up and running anywhere. We have sit down dinner parties often. We use our living room daily as well.

We are "empty nesters" and moved to a lovely 2,700 sq/ft condo that has a formal living room, formal dining room and closed-off kitchen with a small eating space. I absolutely hate it! The space is too formal and doesn't function well for us as the rooms are all separated making it impossible to carry on a conversation during family gatherings or while entertaining friends. I'd love to blow out the wall between the kitchen and dining area but it would require a major investment in a full kitchen remodel. We decided we'll live with it for now and look for our dream condo/home when we retire. At least we've learned what functionality we need in a floorplan to accommodate our lifestyle.

agree with carolbrandywine. It's nice to have formal dining and a place where you can sit down with your kids and teach them proper utensils. But on a daily grind it's also good to have a place to have informal lunches, a bowl of cereal, etc.

I said no to either, but have a caveat. I always need a place for my grand piano, so if there's no room in the great room I often can find space in a formal living or dining room.

In our new house we are converting the formal living room to a second family room. That way our family can spread out if we want.

Both, but formal dining room is a must.

A place to "break bread" with all the bells and whistles would be nice. Jewish tradition involves many festive meals---even on a weekly basis on Sabbath---so the space and special ambiance is nice to have. Ironically, apartments in Israel tend to be small, and formal dining rooms are rare except in larger villas. Larger dining opps are possible on balconies or gardens which most apartments have, along with temperate weather most of the year.

Dining room is a must if you have dinner parties and entertain with family with sit down dinners.

hello wo shi china

Herro!

I like both if you know you'll use both. It's such a waste of space if you know your lifestyle doesn't permit.

But as others have said if I could only choose one I would go with the dining room.

We have both rooms in our house and as such we use them both frequently. Plus I like the way they make our house look all grown up and clean and organized when not in use.

Call me old school too but I feel grand and special when I eat in our dining room. The formal living room is a nice spot for adults/parents to unwind late at night with a tea or a glass of wine before turning into bed.

But don't listen to any of us it's gotta work for your family. Do what you'll be comfortable with.

I think I prefer a separate living room but I have to have a space where I can fit a large dining table. I don't need a breakfast table, the bar counter seating at the kitchen and a formal dining room. One table with the counter seating is more than enough. I have an open plan house. Living room, dining room, kitchen and a sunroom in the back off the kitchen. Dining room is the only eating table in the house so parties sit there to eat. A couple of stools at the kitchen counter are used by my husband and me for informal meals but we use the dining room table often. I like having two separate living rooms. The front room is for TV watching and the back sunroom is for conversation and reading as it opens to the patio and, living in a temperate climate we use most of the year for entertaining. Parties tend to gravitate towards the back of the house by the kitchen and sunroom.

Has anyone talked about te importance of square footage & traffic flow in making this decision? A home under 2000 ft.² would have a problem trying to have a generous sized, open family room/kitchen/dinette, a generous sized master suite, plus an office/bedroom, plus a guest room, plus 3 baths, plus laundry, plus closets, plus a lovely entry ........and then try to fit in a living and dining room into the 2000 sq.ft. limit? No way!!

With well planned use of space and smooth traffic flow, along with architectural details, one could Delineate, for instance, a dinette that could be dressed up or down, depending on size and location in the open space. Tht family room could be furnished with beautiful ,yet comfortable materials, along with tasteful architectural details that could equal the beauty of a formal living room. Maybe you could have it all in 1800 ft.²!! Who knows??

I need both. I love having space to entertain that does not include a T.V. Yes, it has an off button. But if the men are in that room and the game (any game) is on, so goes the T.V.

No offense the the previous poster, but you do not need a formal dining room to teach kids how to use proper utensils. "Table manners" can be taught at any time, any place, even fast food restaurants.
I like having a more formal sitting room and dining room, but must admit they do not get as much use as our great room/kitchen/ breakfast nook. Maybe the next house will just be a big kitchen and the bedroom!

We have both, but best part it is semi open plan, so dining, living one big room and kitchen, breakfast nook, family another. What we did is put TV in living room. Using family room next to kitchen as relaxing space to read and talk. We also use dining room as art studio when not entertaining. Completely agree with comments about size of house being the keys. We have over 3,000sf that's alow to have nice size rooms. In our old 2,000sf home having separate living /family space would be not as nice as one great room.

I finally have both in the house we bought last year! I love having a dining room large enough to seat 8 people or more. The same with the living room--we can seat many people!