The Formal Dining Room Seems To Be Gaining Popularity

Lifestyle trends are constantly changing. In the not-too-distant past, every home had a formal dining room. It was where we shared special family dinners, hosted the holidays, and threw fabulous dinner parties for friends.

With the trend today toward open-concept living, formal dining rooms are becoming less common. Instead, we now have breakfast bars with tall stools and benches around built-in dining nooks. With bigger open kitchens and islands, there is not much room for the giant dining room tables that lived in our parent's and grandparents' homes.

A Quick History of the Dining Room

The Victorian age saw the rise of the middle class and the convergence of the industrial revolution. As the middle class began to have some disposable income, regular families began to have formal dining rooms featuring grand tables to show off their newly purchased fine china and silver and gather with the family for meals.

By the 1920s, the formal dining room began to fall out of favor thanks to the newest kitchen technology – the electric stove! People wanted to show off their latest gadgets, and the rise of the first eat-in kitchens began. The formal dining room continued to fade through the 1950s with the mass adoption of the television and the invention of the TV dinner. Families spent evenings eating in front of the TV. The TV dinner trend continued through the 1960s. By the 1970s, the eat-in kitchen and smaller ranch homes continued to eliminate the formal dining room.

According to the NAHB - the National Association of Home Builders, 43% of millennials prefer the open-concept layout and host more casual dinner parties.

Is The Dining Room Returning?

In the last 50 years, the average home has increased by about 1000 square feet. That added space may have sparked a renewed interest in the dining room. The trend among interior designers for the formal dining room saw a 156% spike in interest in dining rooms between 2018 and 2019. When the pandemic hit in 2020, and we all had to hunker down at home, with adults and kids working from home, dining rooms had a renaissance.

Families lucky enough to have a formal dining room had a whole room to turn into a home office or remote classroom. In fact, potential homeowners are looking for homes with dedicated table space.

So will the formal dining room revert to its original purpose, or will it replace the kitchen island or become the new family hub? Interestingly, the answer to both questions might be yes! Designers are reconsidering ways to approach the formal dining room as a space that can be dressed up or down as needed. Today it’s being used as a home office, and each November, it becomes a gathering spot for Thanksgiving.

The coronavirus pandemic is a defining moment in the history of interior design. The pandemic forced us to reconsider how we use our homes and how they function. It is even causing homeowners and designers to consider whether the open-concept floorplan that has been a trend for years is still viable. The dining room is front and center in this trend.

The pandemic taught us the importance of having privacy. Many homeowners are opting to remodel their homes to include more separation. As the lockdowns set in, homeowners scrambled for some privacy. Basements, breakfast nooks, and the backyard were all enlisted to serve as private spaces. The formal dining room, with its table as an ideal workspace and four walls, offered a defined space that proved to be prime real estate, especially if it had a door.

As the pandemic has waned, homeowners are re-examining their formal dining rooms and considering new ways to tailor the room to meet changing needs, whether as a mini great room, a private office, or a traditional dining space.

Today, the formal dining room has transitioned into a hybrid space that offers the best of both worlds. While we all conformed to our new lifestyles because we had to, it gave us a crash course in how to best make our homes support our lifestyle. Even as we redefined how we work and live, we got back in touch with the importance of family meals. The importance of cooking, setting the table, and engaging with the family has retaken its standing in our lifestyles. The dining room no longer needs to be a “formal” space. Creating a space for the family to come together, catch up, and share a meal with family and friends has taken on new significance.

The dining room is the hidden gem in many homes, and in the coming years, both designers and homeowners will again turn to the dining room. These spaces will become more versatile and serve multiple roles, not just reserved for meals but as spaces to unplug and be together!

If you want to convert your formal dining room into a home office or retrofit your home, and you live in the Greater Madison area, give the experts at Degnan Design-Build-Remodel a call at (608) 846-5963. We can help you to take your home to the next level of comfort and function! We are always happy to answer all of your questions.