WWYD - Dining room or kitchen?

DH and I are in an apartment right now. it's actually huge compared to the apartments most of my friends have, but it's still small in some ways.

It's one of those apartments in a 2 family in Queens with railroad rooms.

Walk inth the front porch, then living room, then dining room, then the hallway begins and thre is a galley kitchen and in the back my 2 bedrooms (those of you who grew up in Queens or have grandparents here know exactly what I'm talking about.

Right now we don't own a dining room set. My dining room has a folding table with crap on it, and all of my unused wedding and shower gifts piled in one corner (no chind closet so china, glassware, etc is all there in boxws).

I have a small 4 person kitchen table actually pressed up agaisnt my fridge in the kitchen. Technically it's in the hallway. it's SUPER awkward. If there are 4 people at the table, everyone has to sit down in order and one person is ha;lf in the dining room, one person is in front of the bathroom door and one person is blocking all access to the kitchen. It sucks.

I have a few options. My mom has my grandma's antique dining set which I was going to have fixed up possibly. I could also buy a dining set.

My concern with getting a formal dining room set and not having a kitchen table is losing a cooking surface, and I'd be afraid to use something to delicate for heavy jobs like rolling our dough, etc.

Anyway, I'm just thinking, I don't NEED a formal dining room. Maybe I can buy like a semi-fancy kitchen set of informal dining roomset for the dining room and that will become my kitchen table when i have a house or apartment with an eat in kitchen?

And then if I did that, would I carry the theme of my kitchen into the dining room?

it's a pretty large room so I can do what I want.

Right now I'd just like somewhere to eat without feeling like a sardine and somewhere to put al of my beautiful china.

I guess I'm just looking for some ideas if you have been in a similar situation or if you've seen some pieces that could work in this kind of situation.

I know some of you are really excellent decorators and planners.

Thanks!

Re: WWYD - Dining room or kitchen?

I would get a dining room set for your dining room in the apartment, but I wouldn't get a truly formal (or expensive set), because you probably will want to get new/different when you buy a house.

I would get a small table (maybe a round table that seats 4, but can be extended witha leaf to seat more people), and you can get a hutch or a cabinet and/or a sideboard type of thing for china and other items.

This is what I did when I lived in the city -- we had a dining area, so I had a round (42 inch) table, a hutch and a sideboard, and a corner cabinet piece. When I moved to my house on LI, I put the round table and sideboard in my eat in kitchen, and put the cabinet and corner piece in my finished basement (to hold extra platters, serving pieces, linens, etc. that I don't need/use every day). I bought a new, formal dining room set for my dining room, but I used or repurposed all of my old stuff.

That way, you will have a useful dining room and good storage for your things in your apartment, and eliminate the awkward seating area.

If you are worried about losing the kitchen surface for cooking and baking, could you put something like a rolling island or even a narrower table pushed up against the wall to give you that extra workspace? It would still take up less room than a dining table and chairs, right? Or maybe you can free up counter space in your kitchen by buying a baker's rack or something to store somethings in or on, and leave more space for cooking on counters?

Re: WWYD - Dining room or kitchen?

I live in an apartment in queens in a 2 family house. It's not railroad style and it's actually really large, but no storage space!

Here's what we did. Got a dining room table, nothing fancy or expensive, but nice. It has two leaves..we keep one in all the time to confortable sit 6 people..with the other leaf (stored under my bed!) we could fit 8/10. I did not get a china closet, I got a small baker's rack/wine rack combo corner piece to display pretty wine/coktail glasses that we use. I also got a server peice with underneath storage for my platters/large bowls and display a few items on top as decor.

I store my china in our basement closet. We've never used it and don't really plan to except to display once we have a house.

The dining set is nice enough for a semi-formal dining room, but could be used in a nice kitchen when we buy a house.

hope this helps!

Re: WWYD - Dining room or kitchen?

Thanks! Do you have any pics?

I have the same issue regarding storage. there is NONE here. I turned a coat closet into a linen closet, so I have no coat closet now.

I don't think my taste would change or that I would necessarily want a new set whn I move into a house. I plan to buy a forever set, or re-do my grandmother's which would also be a forever set.

Right now I am just leaning toward something like you described, an in between set I can later use inthe kitchen.

I think for that space I could get a small folding table I could open just for baking and special events.

Does anyone ONLY have a dining room table, no kitchen?

Re: WWYD - Dining room or kitchen?

Message edited 8/22/2012 10:36:06 AM.

Re: WWYD - Dining room or kitchen?

i agree with the other responses

and, if youre worried about losing a cooking surface or prep area, maybe you can buy one of those island things with wheels, or another sideboard type piece for the kitchen?

Re: WWYD - Dining room or kitchen?