Formal Dining Rooms

Do you need one?  Will you use it? 
How many times per year?

 
Reasons to Have One

Do you have a big family?  Entertain a lot?

Have a lot of beautiful china and crystal to display? 

Do you have existing furniture that you want to keep and want to have a place for in your next home? 
(Many people have beautiful furniture they inherited.)

These are all good reasons to have a Formal Dining Room.  On the other hand - -

How much you will use a large Dining room should probably determine the size and placement of this room in your house and whether this exists as a separate room at all.

Most larger homes have a separate Formal Living Room and a separate Breakfast Nook or Casual Eating Area.

If you do have existing furniture, display cases, buffets or "Breakfront" cabinets, art work for the walls, etc - then make certain that you measure the spaces in the home you are considering.  Many new floor plans include special inset niches that increase the design and overall appeal of the room.

 
Reasons You Don't Need One
 

If on the other hand, you do not have any of the circumstances above you may want to look for a floor plan that combines spaces and makes them more useful for daily living.

A tremendous house floor plan I toured recently has a Kitchen, Kitchen Bar & Casual Eating Area, then a combined Dining and Living room that all flow together with the Large Dining Room table positioned to one end of the Living/Family Room area.  The table can be folded smaller when not in use and enlarged to seat as many as 10 or 12 when you have company.  This type of flexible floor plan suits a large number of modern family requirements without the "Formal Dining Room" seeming like unused square footage in a busy house. 

And - Do you really need to pay for the heating and cooling of the square footage for a room used only twice a year?

Decorating

Do you want a chair railing, wainscoting or decorative wall paper? This room has a chair rail and an insert for the buffet cabinet.

This room may not be used very often, but it can be a great display area for the items you cherish.

Floor Plan Placement

My biggest pet peeve with house floor plans are ones where when you are sitting at a formal dining room table you (and your guests) can still see the mess you made in the kitchen. I'd rather carry the dishes a few steps further to keep my guests from seeing what it took to cook the meal, and let myself forget about the dishes that will have to be done later.

I even found a floor plan for my current home where you cannot see the kitchen counter from the Breakfast Nook because of the high bar area surrounding the counter with the kitchen sink in it, and the Formal Dining room is round the corner of the Kitchen wall.

Formal Dining Rooms can add a lot of character to a home, but they also add to the cost in both square footage and upkeep.