Young Red Haired Girl With Earrings Shows Off At The Table In The Dining Room

In modern American and Canadian homes, the dining room is typically adjacent to the living room, being increasingly used only for formal dining with guests or on special occasions. For informal daily meals, most medium size houses and larger will have a space adjacent to the kitchen where table and chairs can be placed, larger spaces are often known as a dinette while a smaller one is called a breakfast nook. Smaller houses and condos may have a breakfast bar instead, often of a different height than the regular kitchen counter (either raised for stools or lowered for chairs). If a home lacks a dinette, breakfast nook, or breakfast bar, then the kitchen or family room will be used for day-to-day eating.
This was traditionally the case in England, where the dining room would for many families be used only on Sundays, other meals being eaten in the kitchen.
In Australia, while the use of the dining room is still prevalent, family meals are also often eaten at a breakfast counter or in front of the television in the lounge.