Monday, August 25, 2003
Copyright © Las Vegas Review-Journal

HOME TRENDS: Vanishing Act

The future of the kitchen table in question as families change

Some kitchen tables are getting larger, as in this upscale version in a house by Christopher Homes at The Enclave at Southern Highlands. Photo by Gary Thompson. Some homeowners are opting for a breakfast bar instead of a kitchen table, as in this model in the Kitchenland showroom. Photo by Clint Karlsen. In some cases, desks are being installed in breakfast rooms, the traditional site of the kitchen table. In this KB Home at San Destin in the Aliante master-planned community in North Las Vegas, a bistro set fills the role of kitchen table to allow room for a desk. Photo by Christine H. Wetzel.

The demise of the kitchen table has been definitively reported in some parts of the country, but its status in Las Vegas seems to depend on the size and style of the house -- and whom you ask.

Jerry Gibson, who does computer graphics for Kitchenland, a company that designs kitchens and baths, sees a rejection of the kitchen table.

"In this area, mostly we're doing a peninsula or an island where they can sit down and eat in the kitchen and cook or prepare food at the same time," Gibson said. "My personal guess is 80 percent of the kitchens are that way."

On the other hand . . .

"Instead of people eating on a dining room table and then having an informal nook area that's smaller, what we're finding is that the dining rooms are becoming smaller and the nook is turning into a large dining area," said Erika Geiser, vice president of marketing for Christopher Homes, a custom home builder.

And . . .

"We have seen that, yes, people are using their breakfast room as an eating area," said Mary Heathfield, a partner in Fine Decorators of Las Vegas, on site at Turnberry Place. "They're also using their dining rooms. Also a bar.

"Really, it's no set place. We see them dining and eating in multiple rooms."

Steve Bottfeld, managing director of Southern Nevada New Homes Guide (a joint venture between Bottfeld and the Las Vegas Review-Journal), said that changes in kitchens are currently driven by three things. The first, he said, is an increase in popularity of island kitchens. In smaller homes, that often precludes the existence of a kitchen table, with counter-style seating at the island taking its place.

The second shift, he said, is toward increased popularity of the great-room concept. As the great-room style opens up the house, there's usually room in the floor plan for just one table, instead of one in the dining room and one adjacent to the kitchen. That table may be in either the dining room or adjacent to the kitchen, but not in both places, he said.

And the third movement, he said, is toward "sanctuary," which is different than cocooning. "Sanctuary," he said, refers to a trend toward the entertainment area being the focus of the home, supplanting the traditional team of kitchen and master bedroom.

"The focus is shifting to a third avenue, so what do I take out?" Bottfeld said. "One serves as both the kitchen and dining room table."

Another thing affecting the role of the kitchen table is the fact that American families are busier than ever. June Allison-Casey, studio director for KB Home, estimates that 40 percent of the company's home buyers don't use their kitchen tables as their main place for dining, although "I think 60 percent of our buyers probably try to at least a couple of times a week."

"I've thought that it's been moving that way for the past few years," she said. In families with school-age children, both parents are usually working and kids are off to soccer and ballet, "which means you have a lot more going on," she said. "You're not sitting at home at the kitchen table. People are a lot more family-oriented, but they're trying to find different ways to spend time with each other."

"I have three different sets in my own family who live here in Las Vegas, and none of them use their kitchen table," Allison-Casey said. "It's decorated very nicely, but they don't use it. They eat in the family room."

Some KB buyers, she said, "purchase a kitchen desk so they can put a computer in there and make it into a teeny office, along with having an area where their family can eat," whether that eating area is at a breakfast bar or bistro set.

But used or not, the nooks generally are there.

"Even our smaller homes have nooks," said Katie Tickner, a marketing assistant for Pulte/Del Webb builders. "I can't even think of an example that doesn't have a small place for a kitchen table," even if that place is filled by a desk or credenza.

And Samantha Badgley, a co-owner of Sydni Jay Associates interior-design firm, also said she doesn't agree with those who would lay the kitchen table to rest.

"I feel that with more people having families, they are using kitchen tables more in our new homes which tend to have a nook area," Badgley said. "Sometimes it's a booth built in, sometimes it's tables and chairs. I find that more and more people are using their kitchen table. I think people have breakfast bars only because builders make it part of their kitchen design. I don't feel that they're used as frequently as the kitchen table."

And, in time-honored tradition, Badgley said those tables get used for more than eating.

"A lot of my clients spread their work that they may take home on their kitchen table," she said. "And they also do projects, craft projects and things like that, mainly because most of the time the kitchen tables are kind of an impervious material -- laminated, synthetic stone or stone or something like that, so glues and pastes don't affect them."

So the kitchen table's place is safe -- at least in some circles, and at least for now -- though its status will continue to evolve along with American life.

"We don't build it and they come," said Monica Caruso, director of public affairs for the Southern Nevada Home Builders Association. "We build product based on what customers tell us they want."