For Timothy and Jeanette Finlay, a formal dining room was a driving force behind their decision to buy their home in Barrington.
The Finlays wanted a formal dining room, separate from the living room and kitchen, so they could have a nice room to entertain guests.
Jeanette Finlay said the dining room is also an ideal place for her to sew, where she can lay out fabric and quilts, and it’s an area for her two teenage sons to work on school projects.
“It’s nice to have a separate room that we can keep nice and bring people to if they come for a visit,” she said. The Finlays opted for a home near downtown Barrington rather than on the outskirts of town, where they could have more land, in part because of the dining room. Also, their house is closer to the train station for her husband, who works downtown, Jeanette Finlay said.
Formal dining rooms have maintained, and for some homeowners, even increased in importance in recent years. In a 2001 survey done by the National Association of Home Builders titled “The Next Decade for Housing,” 79 percent of respondents said dining rooms were considered “desirable” or “essential” for a home.
A family that sits down together for dinner most evenings often desires a dining room. For many, dining rooms hold nostalgic memories of special family gatherings.
“When I was a kid, we used to have my birthday parties in the dining room. We’d all dress up and put the birthday cake in the middle of the big table. It was very nice,” said interior designer Kathy Dickinson, owner of Kathy Dickinson Designs Corp. in Oak Brook.
Builder Marsha Elliott agreed.
“I think there’s some nostalgia to it. I think people remember it from their childhood. People remember growing up with it. We all sort of want it,” said Elliott, president of Terrestris Development in Oak Brook.
Lyn Kur, owner of Kur Realty in Plainfield, said dining rooms are especially important to families.
“I definitely have had a problem [selling homes] when they don’t have a formal dining room. Homes definitely move quicker with a dining room for resale,” said Kur, who caters mostly to families in the Plainfield area.
“People are holding tight to family values and staying home and entertaining,” Kur said.
Most families want a dining room for family gatherings, whereas singles are more likely to buy a townhouse with a living room/dining-room combination, Kur said.
Lola Brown, managing broker at The Buyers Agent of Chicagoland, said she is getting lots of requests from buyers for dining rooms.
Brown said suburban buyers want dining rooms more than those buying homes in the city.
Millie Rosenbloom, president and chief executive officer of Habitat Brokerage Division in Chicago, said condominiums and townhouses are less likely than single-family homes to have dining rooms.
“It depends on the product type. Condos need more square footage in other areas. They’re more apt to give up dining room space for a kitchen/great room. Combo areas are more important,” Rosenbloom said. “People tend to bond together more in a kitchen/great room combo area. It’s a little more casual.”
It also depends on the price of the home, she said.
“Anything over $1 million should have a formal dining room. Anything under [that amount] you’ll see a lot of living room/dining room combos. It’s not as important as other rooms these days,” Rosenbloom said.
Although they have remained an integral part of homes, dining rooms have undergone some transformations over the years.
For one thing, dining rooms no longer must consist of a separate room walled off from the rest of the house.
“One of the big things is no walls are needed. It can be an open space. Maybe it will have one window wall and one other wall, but to close it in is not necessary,” Dickinson said.
“It could overflow into a 4-foot hallway and large foyer so that now the room is in a wonderful space. It eliminates that tight feeling and creates a great visual body bubble, something that people are comfortable with,” Dickinson said.
The window wall could also have a French door opening up to a courtyard garden, she said.
“It’s a pretty look, and you can open the doors and have a garden to extend the visual,” Dickinson said.
Cory Singer, spokesman for Warrenville-based Neumann Homes, said the builder includes formal dining rooms in almost all of its floor plans.
“Most dining rooms are independent from other rooms but offer views through the kitchen into a family room or through a living room to a fireplace. The goal is to create a special blend habitat for dining without being separated from the beauty other rooms provide,” Singer said.
Dining rooms are also more likely to serve multiple functions these days as people try to make the most of their space.
“With the price of square footage, ownership has gotten so expensive it’s got to be a multipurpose room, maybe a library, a second guest room or an office. When you’re doing dinner, set it up for dinner with foldup chairs,” said interior designer Ann Gray, owner of Ann Gray Inc. in Chicago.
“I will never have a formal dining room just sitting there. Real estate’s gotten too expensive to just use it once in a while for a dining room,” Gray said. “Make double use of it. Don’t let it just sit there and collect dust.”
There are a lot of furnishings to accommodate a variety of functions for the dining room. There are armoires that can hold a home office and computer and be closed up when not in use.
Laura Barnett, president of Laura Barnett Designs in Chicago, said she’s been designing more and more combination rooms like study/dining rooms.
“We did one dining room with bookcases on all the walls so it could be used as a study or library. Otherwise it sits empty. Square footage is very expensive. You have to use what you have,” Barnett said.
In lieu of a china cabinet, Dickinson recommends a built-in curio niche with glass walls and shelves to display glassware and china, and library shelves to display family pictures, nice books and plants and flower arrangements.
Such built-in storage amenities also eliminate the need to buy expensive dining room furniture, Dickinson said.
Elliott said it’s more important to create an ambience in a dining room than wall it off from the rest of the house. And other architectural amenities like niches and built-in shelving have eliminated the need for all those walls to put all the dining room furniture against, she said.
“You don’t need four walls. You want beautiful windows and lighting. It’s more important to create ambience and atmosphere,” Elliott said.
And instead of having just one chandelier, Dickinson recommends two chandeliers for more softer and balanced lighting.
To showcase fine china and glassware and items on wall shelves, Dickinson recommends recessed can lighting.
When furnishing a dining room, Dickinson said you should make sure the chairs are comfortable, not stiff-backed.
“I think the really important thing of a dining room is to make it really comfortable. Think of comfort,” Dickinson said.
Don Jeanes, owner of Jeanes Construction in Palos Heights, said he tries to build dining rooms in his homes to have a “wow” factor. Jeanes is building $650,000-plus homes in the Westgate Valley Estates development in Palos Heights.His dining rooms feature columned walls, two- or three-step crown moldings and tray ceilings. Many also feature an “open” concept that gets away from that walled-in feeling, he said.
“Dining rooms are still in. People want a formal dining room. What I see disappearing is the formal living room. People like having a study or office area on the first floor,” Jeanes said.
Elliott agreed.
“I think that in the 25 years I’ve been in the business I’ve seen the living room vanish. But dining rooms are as much a mainstay as kitchens and bathrooms,” said Elliott, who builds a wide range of homes from starter to move-up.
Elliott said her dining rooms feature niches, multiple tray ceilings, chair railings and cove moldings.
“People still want that place to gather with family, regardless of where they are, be it starter home to empty nesters,” Elliott said.
