The Dining room is the place where the family/guests sits together and enjoy their Breakfast-Lunch-Dinner. It is a place which naturally brings all family members together at particular or definite time, and is generally accessible from the living room and kitchen. The Dining room should be designed such that it facilitates a relaxed mood for enjoyable meals.
Dining Room Activity Involves
- Setting Up the Table,
- Serving Food, Eating,
- Cleaning Up After Meals,
- Storing Cutlery and Crockery, etc.
In addition, the dining room area is also used for other activities like a Children’s play area or place for Study and Homework, Reading, Writing, Board Games, Entertainment, Sewing, Watching TV, Ironing clothes, and sometimes only a connection or communication space with living room and rest of the room of house. But like kitchen, it is the well designed and maintained dining room which has a potential of converting your “house” into “home”.
As we all know, dining room is primarily used for having meals; the activity in dining involves setting tables, serving food, Eating, Cleaning utensils after meals, and storing of crockery and cutlery. Hence naturally the number of dining furniture units used in your dining room area will include:
Dining Table – the size of dining table varies according to room size and also for number of persons to be seated.
Dining Chairs – depend upon number of persons to use at a time in family and even with guests.
Serving Table – between dinning and kitchen area for serving the meals.
Storage Cabinet – for storing cutlery, crockery ware and other items depending upon your life style and culture.
Enjoying a meal with family/friends is a significant part of our lives which will fill one life with joy and happiness. Therefore, have a look at the criteria given below for dining room design to make sure that your mealtimes get the well-designed space.
Criteria For Dining Room Furniture
01. Number of Persons to be Seated for Breakfast-Lunch-Dinner
The dining room is used by the family primarily for having meals. It is essential to know the number of occupants living in your house. E.g. If you have a family of 4 people, then you would require a minimum four-seater dining table. Also, at the same time if the frequency of guest is more in your house, then we would advise you to have six seater dining room area, if all other things suits you.
02. Seating Arrangement
Dining chairs arrangement totally depends on the shape of your dining table. It can be either arranged in a square, rectangle, oval or circular form. The arrangement of dining chairs should be such that it does not obstruct the pass-through circulation area.
03. Space used on Dining Table
Place settings are the major part of any dining room. Multiple utensils and extra glassware at each seat require more space for each person.
Space required for a single person on a dining table should allow 30 inches (750 mm) for every person sitting on a dining chair. If your dining table shape is square or rectangle – 18 inches (450 mm) spacing is required at the all corners.
04. Size / Type / Shape of Dining Furniture (table-chair)
Dining table and chairs are available in many sizes & shapes as per the space requirements. Some typical dimensions of dining table and chairs are readily available in the market like, two-seater, four-seaters, six-seaters, eight-seaters. You can also plan for custom-made odd seaters like three-seaters, five-seaters, etc. as suggested by the interior designers.
05. Space Allowance for Dining Furniture (table-chair)
If you have dining chairs with arms, the space between the table and the floor will determine whether the arms can easily inserted under the table or not. Also, consider the clearance for crossing your legs underneath the table.
After the person gets seated, the minimum and maximum depth space required should be in between 18-24 inches (450-600 mm) as per the standard human anthropometrics.
06. Space Around the Dining Furniture (table-chair) for Passage and Accessing
Try to leave at least 38 inches (1000 mm) clearance space between the wall/furniture and the dining table edge. This provides enough room for someone to walk behind the chairs while others are seated or to open a door of a nearby cabinet. If you have room, opt up to 48 inches (1200 mm) for more comfortable space around your dining table, it will create a more sophisticatedly proportioned room!
07. Storage Space for Crockery, etc
The dining room must have some space to store the crockery units and display your beautiful crockery. If your dining room is rather small or space is tight, you can try the creative ways to add the storage by using walls. You can find the beautiful cabinets that can be secured to your wall with glass doors to display your dishes, bowls, glasses, and other knick-knacks!
08. Provision of Wash Basin Near Dining Furniture
The reason for having a wash basin in the dining room becomes a important ‘thing’ because in Indian and African culture, mostly the food is eaten with the hands. Now the idea of having guests go into the kitchen to wash their hands before and after the meal is an abomination!
Hope these basic guidelines will help you to give a first thought before planning your dining room area. Share your creative design ideas with your experiences.
Also Read:
Select The Perfect Kitchen Countertops For Your Home!
Tips to Design Your Kitchen Work Surfaces or Centers!
Image Courtesy: Image 1, Image 2, Image 3, Image 4, Image 5, Image 6, Image 7, Image 8, Image 9, Image 10, Image 11
