Islands? Be gone! Breakfast Room? Yawn, yawn. How last millennium! Open Concept Kitchen? Not Good enough. We want more. We want a DINE IN Kitchen. So, we’ve moved in. (Well, not us. We are still living like fugitives with nothing more than a couple beds and the clothes on our backs) but the rest of the world has begun contemplating something so radical… so OUT there… that I don’t know if even I’m ready for it. I mean, really. Do we actually want the dining table IN the kitchen? Visually, it’s stunning. No doubt about that, but what about traffic patterns? That is where I start to question the practicality of it. If the space is too small, won’t we be bumping into each other? Or, if you are the cook/baker/reheater in the family, won’t you be bumping into the table occupants and their outstretched chairs while you work up a sweat?
On the flip side, I imagine Christmas time with cookie dough being rolled out, everyone gathered around, and a much faster clean up due to the proximity to the sink! Will this make meal time more intimate? Will it draw us together?
Will our guests enjoy sitting at the table while we prep a dinner party?
My days spent in Morocco bring me back to a very purposeful separation of kitchen and living, with a door to shut out any unsightly going-ons. Guests would NEVER be invited in to the kitchen. That would be insulting to them (according to traditional cultural norms), but here in the US and Europe, this DINE IN KITCHEN thing is definitely giving some of us food for thought.
What do you think about it? Love it, hate it, or are you somewhere in the grey space in between?
Here are a few of my personal favorite Dine In Kitchens that might convince you one way or another…
one, two, three, four, five, six, seven, eight, nine, ten, eleven
Nope, not a fan of it. I much prefer a separate dining space. Look at that kitchen with the gorgeous green cabinets. It’s huge but the coining chair is still backing up right against the oven door. & you must keep the kitchen spotless at all times to have guests dine in. Even in an open plan house, with the kitchen open to the dining area, it’s not so close that you are looking at the counters & dishes in the sink whilst you dine.
Nope, not a fan of it. I much prefer a separate dining space. Look at that kitchen with the gorgeous green cabinets. It’s huge but the coining chair is still backing up right against the oven door. & you must keep the kitchen spotless at all times to have guests dine in. Even in an open plan house, with the kitchen open to the dining area, it’s not so close that you are looking at the counters & dishes in the sink whilst you dine.
Nope, not a fan of it. I much prefer a separate dining space. Look at that kitchen with the gorgeous green cabinets. It’s huge but the coining chair is still backing up right against the oven door. & you must keep the kitchen spotless at all times to have guests dine in. Even in an open plan house, with the kitchen open to the dining area, it’s not so close that you are looking at the counters & dishes in the sink whilst you dine.
[…] a time when everyone is ripping out walls, opening up their kitchens, and choosing to dine-in, I still think there is something to say for a good galley kitchen. Obviously some are awful. […]
[…] a time when everyone is ripping out walls, opening up their kitchens, and choosing to dine-in, I still think there is something to say for a good galley kitchen. Obviously some are awful. […]
[…] a time when everyone is ripping out walls, opening up their kitchens, and choosing to dine-in, I still think there is something to say for a good galley kitchen. Obviously some are awful. […]
I love it to bits!
I love it to bits!
I love it to bits!