Once the most important room

The housing crisis and binge-watching are devaluing homes.

Home planning expert Bobby Fijan tells The Atlantic, “More often than not, apartments are built for Netflix and chill,” referring to Netflix’s popular slogan. In this article on apartment size reduction, Fijan says “we are reorganizing our limited space for bedrooms.” Dining rooms, once the nuclear room of any home, are disappearing. Netflix and the housing crisis are both partially responsible for this issue.

Netflix has led to increased eating on armchairs and small side tables, as we often need a screen to watch our favorite shows. Sofas are becoming more comfortable and useful for marathon episodes and as extra tables. Often simultaneously.

We destroyed a centuries-old custom: after-dinner conversation. Many young families eat while watching TV or movies and save dinner conversation for visits to older relatives. Changes in customs affect house architecture.

The dining room is the closest American home has to an appendix, a dispensable feature that carried more weight in earlier architectural evolution. Many of them collect dust, waiting for Easter or Thanksgiving, the next “dinner holiday”.

The classic, walled-off dining room is becoming rarer in new single-family homes. Few will miss it. Americans eat in kitchens or living rooms to maximize space, a small price to pay.

Many new apartments lack space for a table and chairs. Hosting a meal is nearly impossible because eating is limited to couches and bedrooms. We’re not just responding to consumer preferences. We like it or not, the housing crisis and its arbitrary regulations are killing restaurants, designing loneliness into American floor plans. If dining space keeps dying, the U.S. may lose it.

The “great room”—a living room and kitchen with an open dining area—is the dining room’s predator. Not that Americans don’t want dining rooms. “They want something else, and that takes up space,” says Stephen Smith, executive director of the nonprofit Center for Building in North America, which promotes building-code reform. That’s a great room for a single-family home. That’s what developers build.

The National Association of Home Builders found in 2015 and 2016 that 86% of households want a kitchen-dining room combination, but only 75% of new homes have one. Perhaps the classic dining room isn’t dying fast enough for most people.

The transition from the classic dining room to the great room reflects 125 years of gender norms and family formation. The dining room was created in the early 20th century when the upper middle class hired migrant laborers as servants. Many American homes from that era had separate kitchens, laundry rooms, and servants’ quarters for “the help.” In secondary unit-banning zoning codes, servants’ quarters are still allowed.

Women did housework when servants were too expensive. Separate dining rooms and kitchens reinforced gender segregation while allowing generations of new homeowners to emulate elite design. Women still do most of the cooking and cleaning, but as dining rooms and kitchens merge with living rooms, more family members spend time in them and do more work.

Once the most important room

The housing crisis and binge-watching are devaluing homes.

By nr39r

Related Post

Non-bestselling Halloween horror reads

Disney has the best way to end park lines

Ceciarmy tells ‘El Hormiguero’ how much she hid her face.

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

You Missed

Once the most important room

Non-bestselling Halloween horror reads

Disney has the best way to end park lines

Ceciarmy tells ‘El Hormiguero’ how much she hid her face.