I took over the dining room four years ago after my mom passed away. As mom grew old, we always had the big dinners here and I cooked. Now I've passed that task to my DIL, her turn! We do have a small area in the kitchen where we eat. The table is small but has a leaf and we have another couple over to eat with us. It seems that nowadays people don't entertain much in their homes. We usually go out to eat with friends or they come over and we BBQ and entertain outside by the pool. Where I live in CA we can pretty much be outdoors year round.