Bedroom layouts are pretty simple: room for a bed, a dresser, a closet, and maybe a sitting area. But when it comes to dining room layouts, there are so many variations on how, what, when, and where people eat that make layouts vary significantly.
Likewise, floorplans aren’t one-size-fits-all, although we might be accustomed to a certain traditional standard. The beauty of building a custom home is you can create the floorplan that works for you and your family.
Here are five examples of dining room layouts that might work for you.
1. Best for Hosting Dinner Parties with Your Best Friends
If you love to cook and host dinner parties, like a holiday dinner with placemats, the right floor plan for you will probably be a designated dining room that shares a wall with the kitchen.
Having a designated dining area allows you to host friends more easily, as the group will be contained to just one room of your home. Creating a designated space for this allows you to set aside the room needed for hosting.
If you’re hosting guests frequently, an open floor plan could mean more work for you to ensure it’s clean and has a pleasant atmosphere. Having one designated dining space helps you focus your efforts and streamline your preparations.
Additionally, having a dining area share a wall with the kitchen allows you to quickly bring food from the kitchen, ensuring it stays warm and, again, simplifying your preparation efforts by limiting the number of steps you need to take. You may even consider a pass-through window between the dining room and kitchen for chatting with guests while you cook or for serving.
2. Best for throwing informal parties and celebrations
On the other hand, if you intend to throw large parties with several people in attendance, whether it’s for New Year’s Eve celebrations, holiday events, or even birthday parties, an open floor plan is probably the best option for you.
Open floor plans allow a much bigger space for everyone to mingle and a more relaxed atmosphere. Without the walls separating the dining area from the rest of the home, everyone can enjoy the same conversations without fear of exclusion.
An open floor plan also allows opportunities for food/drink stations without everyone needing to crowd around the same 10-person table.
If you plan to host parties in your home, consider the atmosphere you want to cultivate and the type of experience you want to foster before determining what floor plan works best for you and your family.
3. Best for having family dinner together every night
An open floor plan isn’t only great for hosting parties, but it is also a great way to create a common space in the home. Many people like how open floor plans allow for better traffic flow and layout flexibility. Open floor plans are also fantastic for families with young children, as it’s much easier to keep an eye on them from wherever you are in the common areas of your home.
If you like having family dinner together every night, having a dedicated space for a dining room table within your open floor plan can be a perfect solution.
Many open floor plans include the dining space with the living room area. This can be easily separated with different lighting fixtures or even a change in floor treatments while still maintaining the wall-less, open flow you want.
Of course, this completely depends on your family’s preference and makeup, because you may prefer to have a dedicated room in your home with walls and a door to separate you and your children from distractions. Consider what will be best for your family’s needs.
4. Best for enjoying short-but-sweet meals with a busy family
Maybe the idea of a daily family dinner is great but just not feasible for your family. Maybe you’re being pulled in eight different directions between school, work, soccer practice, piano lessons… If that’s the case, a dedicated dining room might just turn into a storage space or a landing zone for backpacks, purses, and gym bags.
For busy families, what’s typically referred to as a “breakfast nook” is a good solution. A breakfast nook is just a space in the kitchen for a table and chairs — or even a bar and chairs.
Kitchen nooks allow for a multi-functional space. It’s a place for the kids to do homework while you cook dinner and still keep an eye on them. It can double as extra counter space when you really need it, like when you’re baking Christmas cookies for your child’s classroom or cooking casseroles for grandma’s Thanksgiving dinner. And it’s a place you can all gather to eat together in between your busy schedules.
5. Best for eating take-out in front of the television
If your family’s style is far less formal, and most nights you are perfectly content eating take-out and laughing together over a television show or movie, you probably don’t need a dining area at all.
What?! No dining area?! How scandalous!
Not at all. Remember that this is your home and your life and that your home should fit who you are. There are no rules for how, what, when, and where you eat. And there are no rules for what living spaces you have to have in your home or how they have to look.
If you already have a formal dining room you never use, embrace this reality and turn that into a more functional space that you will actually use or need. Some examples of what your unused dining room could turn into include:
Home office/homework station
Den/family room
Guest bedroom
Playroom
Game room
Library
Garden room
Take advantage of your extra space — and maybe invest in some spill-proof couch covers.
Remember the 80% Rule
Building a dream home doesn’t mean you have an unlimited budget, and part of choosing how to spend your budget wisely is deciding on what you absolutely need in your home. As a general rule of thumb, if there’s a significant amount of space in your home that will be used only 20% of the time you shouldn’t factor that into your decision making.
This practice applies to your dining room as well. If you want a formal dining room but only intend to use it to host dinner parties one time per year, your budget could probably be better spent elsewhere. Don’t build something “just in case.” Make it a deal breaker only if it’s something you’ll use 80% of the time.
Build What’s Right for You
It’s important to carefully consider your ultimate goal with a dining room. Are you including it just because it’s traditionally included in a floor plan or is it something that fits with your living style? Building a custom home is your opportunity to create a layout and floor plan that fits you, not the other way around.
Ready to get started? Reach out to our designers today for help creating a floor plan that suits your family’s needs.