There was a discussion about dining rooms and it made me think.
If there’s just you and your husband, do you eat at the table? Or eat in front of the tv? Or standing in the kitchen . Maybe on bar stools?
We are eat at the table people. Even if it’s just us, I set the table and we eat there. My mom eats on TV trays even though the table is in the great room and watches tv. My bil always ate on bar stools in the kitchen. My kids put their food on their laps in front on the tv. Neither even really has a dining table. (This one drives me crazy as they will sit on the floor with a coffee table or balance food on their laps) kids don’t seem that concerned to buy a table. No bar stools either. Island don’t have room or a place for them.
We are also eat at the table people. We have multiple dining areas - kitchen island, dining room, sun porch, patio, or front porch. We change it up according to the weather and what’s for dinner. We’ll be eating in the dining room Thursday and Sunday of this week. Zoom wine tasting Thursday and Father’s Day Sunday. Been just us for 4 years now but that’s where we enjoy having our long talks. We never eat in front of the TV. Interestingly, our neighbors whose house is nearly within touching distance, commented about how long we linger over dinner after we moved in ; )
My brother and his family almost exclusively eat in front of the tv and never as a family.
My parents ate at the kitchen table but when they became empty nesters, had the TV on.
We eat at our formal dining room table every night. I love it. The room is always clean and empty. No junk makes it there. It’s very calming.
We do sometimes eat lunch pizza on weekends in front of the TV but H hates it. I eat my lunch by myself weekdays in the recliner before napping and heading back to work.
H and I are “eat at the table” people. We almost always eat in the kitchen and there is no TV in the kitchen. On a beautiful warm night we may eat at a table on our deck. Special occasions we use the dining room. For a major sporting event (a few times a year) we will get a pizza and eat in front of the TV.
We eat at our dining room table (actually the dining portion of one large room). I spend a lot of time at that seat, looking to the right northward at our back yard and pool and trees and flowers, and looking to the left southward to see what weather is coming off the point, and keeping an eye on the street. The only stuff that might pile up at that table is reading material, but only for short periods. <Edit - living room tv is viewable from this table.>
There is a kitchen bar level counter where husband occasionally eats, but I don’t like bar level seats. No other indoor dining venues. Sometimes I have lunch out on the deck at the coffee table, sometimes husband eats at the table by the pool when he brings home take out lunch, sometimes he take food to the recliner in front of the tv in the bedroom when watching sports or news, and sometimes we eat at the table on the deck under the gazebo.
Our single son in Seattle has a small dining table and usually eats there. He has one uncomfortable bar stool so generally skips eating at his kitchen counter.
We eat at the kitchen island (never have used the dining table much unless we have folks over) or we eat in front of the TV as a family. You can still be “as a family” with the TV on. We feel very grateful and fortunate that we were able to have some extra family time with the TV during COVID. So many great shows to watch all together. It’s when we do our best family bonding time. We talk about them and bring them back up later in conversations.
We are not quite empty nesters but there are occasionally times when our youngest is not home for dinner. We always eat at our kitchen table even when just the two of us. In nice weather, we eat out on the porch in nice weather. The only time we don’t eat at the table is if it’s something like the SuperBowl and we make a bunch of apps and eat in the family room.
I even eat at the table when I’m eating by myself.
This time of year we often eat outside at a table on the deck. When one of our kids is home, we’d eat in the kitchen. When more than one, in the dining room - which as noted in other thread, I really don’t love the whole dining room situation but our kitchen seating area doesn’t accommodate more than 3 or 4 comfortably.
But being honest, often as empty nesters we don’t even eat dinner together! I cook most every night but we are both separate “do-ers” with things we like to do in the evening and different eating patterns. H CANNOT stay on a schedule and if I said “dinner is at 7” he most likely won’t attend to a time. Which just frustrates and offends me. So it’s best to just say “here’s what’s for dinner, I’m eating at this time…” and occasionally our times will blend. More peace in the house that way. H is retired, I am not. He is happy to eat dinner after he is done with everything else - like 9pm. I’m in bed by 10 (we also don’t go to bed at the same time - another thread idea!!!) and don’t want to eat dinner and fall into bed!
When I eat while watching tv my plate is on my lap. H may use the coffee table.
Same for weekend breakfast/brunch. I almost always make a nice breakfast. Ideally like to get up and exercise, walk the dog, do some tasks first and eat around 10. H may do his tasks/errands and finally eat “breakfast” between 11 and 12.
So it’s hit or miss. It probably doesn’t sound like good coupling, but honestly it works for us.
I second @Sweetgum in saying that sometimes eating while watching a show is good family time for us. We don’t watch much tv or tv together either so it’s not like we eat in front of the tv and then lounge for hours in front of the tv. One of our favorite winter/spring traditions for H and I was once a week watching Survivor while eating dinner. No different than popcorn at a movie + we were also able to talk aloud about the show!!!
I enjoy family dinners at A table. But I also enjoy freedom and relaxed meal times.
We’ve switched to a dining table default for dinner (though sometimes do kitchen table, breakfast bar or outdoor picnic table - it was especially great to have a variety of choices during Covid lockdown!) In our house, getting food to the dining room is just as handy as getting it to the kitchen table.
Typically my husband and I (both retired) each breakfast and lunch on our own. I favor the breakfast bar. He usually sits on the couch near the TV.
We only eat at the dining room table once in a great while. More often than not, we eat while watching TV. We are also in the habit of going out to dinner 2x per week.
Lunch is always in front of the computer while working.
We’ve discussed the pros and cons of dining rooms several times. DH and I argue about this one as he is unable to see how useless a dining room table is for us. We haven’t had a dedicated dining room since two houses ago. Currently, we have a huge kitchen island that can seat eight and more outdoor dining space than we could ever use. We just don’t have that many friends. I gave in and got a trestle table for the living room but, as I keep pointing out, it’s just a decoration that gets used at the holidays only because he wants to set a fancy table, not because we need the seating. Even at the cabin he insisted, so I got a narrow flip-top console table that lives under a window and can be moved into the kitchen area and set up for the six people we’re never going to have here at one time.
Yes but only for lunch for both of us. My husband eats his breakfast there, I just drink my cup of cafe au lait near the couch. My husband eats dinner at the table alone while I’m out gardening.
Yes, at the kitchen table, and almost always together, unless he is working late, like last night. Very rarely, if he is situated in his recliner and we are just doing a frozen pizza on a Sunday night or something, I will just bring him a plate to have in front of the tv. And I usually still eat at the table and play a game on the iPad if I’m not interested in his show.
I have to say though, I’m still waiting for the person who admits to eating while standing in the kitchen…. LOL!!!
I think part of our non-eating at a table together is because for the 30-35 years my H was working he had unconventional hours and often wasn’t home for dinner. And while his schedule of less work days but longer days was great for our child care needs, he was gone for a lot of dinner time and evenings. So his habits were to eat when he wanted. Or very late. I always ate with the kids at the kitchen table. And I’m not someone who is going to insist on eating together at the table because it’s not a deal breaker for me.
H does for non dinner meals at home. Breakfast definitely. Snacks usually. Lunches it depends. But he does do it all the time. I hate standing! I’d rather run 3 hours than stand 30 min.
We eat most meals at our island. Some at the breakfast room table usually when we have company. We only use the dining room for Christmas and other holiday meals.
We eat at the dining room table a couple of times a week, but this time of year we mostly like to sit outside on the deck and eat. I will take my lunch and my book to the deck on the days I WFH and take a 30 minute break to eat and read.
I’ll admit to doing that sometimes when I’m eating alone - mostly when I make a quick sandwich for lunch. It’s a bad habit I picked up when I was single.
. Maybe on bar stools?
