Author: Brian September 17, 2014

Go round most Display Homes and you will see a Formal Dining Room . . . . . but why do you need it?

Photo from www.home-designing.com

If you look round the options for eating a meal will be:

• The ‘Island Bench’
• The ‘Breakfast Table’
• The ‘Formal Dining Room’
• The ‘Al Fresco’ Dining Area/Barbecue Area

The questions you should be asking yourself are

• “How many meals do you eat on your knee in front of the television?”
• “How often will you really use each of these eating options?”

Original Reasons For Formal Dining Rooms

Historically Dining Rooms, which were only found in ‘Posh Homes’, were kept separate:

• To keep cooking smells and steam away from the dinner table.
• So guests wouldn’t see the clutter of the kitchen.
• Most of the cooking was done by servants

Reasons For Not Having A Formal Dining Room

• Modern extraction systems effectively remove smells and steam.
• With dishwashers to hide the dirty pots and even ‘Butlers Pantries’ to hide the preparation work there is much less clutter.
• As most of us can’t afford servants, why exclude one of the ‘cooks’ from the dinner table conversations?
• The popularity of ‘Reality’ Cooking Shows tells us that cooking can be part of the ‘Entertainment’.
• A  dining room will be at least 12 sqm, so the extra area will add between $12,000 (Basic) and $24,000 (WOW factor) to the cost of your new home. A lot of money for something you may only use a couple of times a year!

 

For more thoughts see ‘The Entertainer‘