How big of a deal is an eat-in kitchen?

[Anonymous]

Fell in love with a house that has everything....except an eat-in kitchen. It has a nice wide galley kitchen with pretty windows and ample space, so I like the kitchen itself, but it opens to the formal dining room (and not an open floor plan with an island...its a more traditional. colonial layout).

The living room is across the main hallway. It's big. I'm halfway wondering if I could put the formal dining table in the living room and squeeze the living room furniture in a tighter formation so they share that space.

Then, in the dining room, I'd instead put a kitchen table and small couch to make it a more informal hangout space and have our informal meals there.

But if I can't do that, will I regret this floorplan? I just worry the kitchen will be tucked away from where everyone is hanging out, if it stays like it's planned.

[Anonymous]

It really is personal preference. We have a similar set up and just use the dining room as our all-purpose eating room. It has a nice but not elegant table. And a casual but nice light fixture.

[Anonymous]

It's fine. You don't need a separate formal dining room.

[Anonymous]

I grew up with no living room. Our dining room was the eat in kitchen (it was attached to the kitchen and had a pass through. Plus it had the door to the garage. It was a non formal eating space. The living room became the dining room. Worked out fine because we also had a large family room we used. We never missed the living room. I have a living room space in my own house that is never used. We are converting it to the dining room soon.

[Anonymous]

We don't have a formal dining room - our dining room is essentially the other half of our kitchen. The table is big enough to seat 10, which is as big as we need it.

[Anonymous]

If you want an eat in kitchen, then that is not your dream home

[Anonymous]

We don't have an eat-in kitchen, but it's large enough to offer plenty of prep and storage space.

Our adjacent dining room is where we eat most of our meals. However, we also have a year-round sunroom and an outside patio -- both with tables and chairs.

Admittedly, I thought I would miss a formal dining room (I had one growing up). Now, I'm glad I don't. That room would either sit unused most of the time or accumulate junk on the table. Our current setup is flexible for casual eating or hosting.

To each her/his own.

[Anonymous]

Hate galley kitchens, but don’t necessarily need an eat in kitchen.

My first home had a U shaped kitchen, without space for table and it was perfect.

[Anonymous]

How old are your kids? I like the idea of a small sitting space in the kitchen to entice someone to hang out while I cook. When my kids were little, they ate while I did other things. Having to be in the kitchen, a room away, isn't what I'd want.

If your kids are older, maybe.

We have a small eat in space, and a formal dining room right there. Our dining room is casual, and we eat dinner there each night. But breakfast/lunch is often in the kitchen.

[Anonymous]

Not having an eat in kitchen would be a deal breaker for me. A large kitchen and family room layout was one of the must haves for us bc it is the space we spend the most time.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Fell in love with a house that has everything....except an eat-in kitchen. It has a nice wide galley kitchen with pretty windows and ample space, so I like the kitchen itself, but it opens to the formal dining room (and not an open floor plan with an island...its a more traditional. colonial layout).

The living room is across the main hallway. It's big. I'm halfway wondering if I could put the formal dining table in the living room and squeeze the living room furniture in a tighter formation so they share that space.

Then, in the dining room, I'd instead put a kitchen table and small couch to make it a more informal hangout space and have our informal meals there.

But if I can't do that, will I regret this floorplan? I just worry the kitchen will be tucked away from where everyone is hanging out, if it stays like it's planned.

I had a place like that. We made the dining room more casual, like you are suggesting, so that the flow between the kitchen and the dining room would be natural. It actually worked very well, because it kept people from getting in the way in the kitchen, but it was so easy to talk to everyone because everyone could see each other easily.

[Anonymous]

We have a colonial with no eat-in kitchen and no open floor plan, and it was fine.

I'm not sure a dining room with wipe-clean educational placemats counts as formal, but it's where we have eaten all our meals since we moved in, years before we even had kids, saving the occasional pizza in front of the TV.

Buy a cheap rug for the dining room, though, because until your kids are done spilling regularly, a nice carpet is a hearbreak waiting to happen.

[Anonymous]

I'm not sure I would want that configuration for our family's lifestyle. It really depends on your family and how you feel about the space.

[Anonymous]

I love our eat in kitchen because it lets us use the dining room when we need or want to, instead of having to lug things in there every night.

Do you normally entertain a lot? We used to have a house without an eat in kitchen and it always drove me nuts that we couldnt set the table for thanksgiving or xmas dinner until after lunch that day because we still needed to eat lunch. (We also had little kids at the time, so they couldn't handle eating lunch in the family room.)

Some people love eat in kitchens, others hate them. If you know your preference, don't settle for a house that doesn't meet it.

[Anonymous]

My big think is a dining room closed off with a door from the kitchens. I hate the servants starring at me while eating