Dine in with style

The kitchen may be the heart of a home, yet it is often the dining area that boosts its conviviality to the next level.

Adining area doesn’t have to be a separate room. One end of the kitchen will suffice, although there are numerous benefits to having a dining room. Siting your dining table separate to the main kitchen allows for clear division between the cooking and dining spaces. This is especially handy when hosting dinner, so the primary cooking area isn’t interrupted by guests, or family.

Many homes, particularly smaller residences, and where there are young children, have “eat-in” kitchens, often incorporating a small dining table, or using a bench top, or island for casual meals and less formal dining. The benches, islands and tables may also be used for other purposes, such as a food preparation area, or for children doing their homework.

Some kitchens feature countertops of different heights, with the higher one typically used for bar-style dining.

An eat-in kitchen has its advantages. Taking food from cooktop to countertop can be accomplished in a single motion. It also makes it easier to clean up after a meal, since there is little distance from the countertop to the kitchen sink.

Having a separate kitchen and dining room has its pros and cons. On one hand, it helps the home cook focus on their tasks, and the clear delineation between the two spaces allows parents to keep children out of the kitchen and avoid accidents.

Eating in a dedicated dining room keeps the impending kitchen clean-up out of sight, yet some people find working alone in the kitchen too lonely, especially when something is happening in the next room.

There’s no right or wrong, and there is a third increasingly popular option which is open plan kitchen/dining.

Often this can be achieved by removing the interior walls separating common areas, such as the living room, dining room and kitchen.
An open floor plan offers many benefits, including better natural lighting and improved traffic flow, and it lets you have an eat-in kitchen and a dining room.