The Kitchen Table (aka Breaking The News)

[Spot's Meow]

I was just now watching a commercial for life insurance, in which they showed images of families sitting around kitchen tables talking about important and happy things, with a voice saying "The kitchen table is where news is shared, plans are made and decisions are decided. Physicians Mutual will be there when it comes to discuss insurance."

Now I don't care much about the insurance part, but the idea of the kitchen table being the place in the home where important topics are discussed got me thinking. If I were to break important news to my parents, where would it be? At their kitchen table.

This is distinguished from the dining room table, where more formal meals are held. That place would seem too cold and detached for important news. Though I know that in smaller homes, or my own apartment, the kitchen table and dining room table are one and the same, so in that case it wouldn't seem so strange.

The living room would feel too comfortable. That's a place for entertainment, games, fun conversation. I wouldn't want to disrupt that space with important matters.

So the kitchen table really does seem like the perfect place. The kitchen feels like a place where important things happen, good or bad. It represents a middle ground between the casual living room and the formal dining room. In fact, in my parents' house, it is literally between those two rooms. This is where I would break bad or good news.

I know this may be entirely different in other countries and cultures, where the homes are constructed differently and may have different meaning. I have always found the use of space in a home to be very fascinating.

I'm interested to hear where other people would break the news. Would it be in the kitchen as well? Or does it feel like there's a more appropriate place in your home?

 

[Captain Ice]

In my family's homes, it would be either the kitchen table or the family room. Those are the two places we tend to gather, so that is where it would have to be.

In my home, it would have to be in the living room, though. My kitchen is too small to have a kitchen table, and I have turned my dining room into a combination of an extension to my kitchen and my office, so no table in there either.

 

[Naira]

It depends on the news but the kitchen table is on the top of my list along with the living room.

 

[FPAlpha]

It's like with parties which inevitably always end up in the kitchen.. i've never seen it happen differently.

Personally i've got no preferred place to bring up important news but the kitchen table tends to be the one because eating lunch on weekends or when i was still a kid and my dad was at home at lunch hour it was the perfect time to discuss things in a relaxed environment.

 

[iguana_tonante]

Homes around here are usually much smaller and with fewer rooms, so the distinction between dining/living/sitting/family rooms is often lost in translation.

But in any case, the kitchen table will definitively be the place where most family matters are discussed, and the place I'll choose to deliver news to my family, possibly over some food. You can't have a proper Italian family fight without some food being thrown around.

 

[Mr. Laser Beam]

The only thing I use my kitchen table for, is temporary storage of large boxes of cereal I've bought from Costco. I eat all my meals downstairs in front of the TV.

 

[Spot's Meow]

The only thing I use my kitchen table for, is temporary storage of large boxes of cereal I've bought from Costco. I eat all my meals downstairs in front of the TV.

I find it fascinating that your kitchen is upstairs, I've never seen that before. Or maybe you meant that your TV is in the basement? Homes around here don't have basements, so I actually haven't seen that before either!

 

[Mr. Laser Beam]

I find it fascinating that your kitchen is upstairs, I've never seen that before. Or maybe you meant that your TV is in the basement? Homes around here don't have basements, so I actually haven't seen that before either!

"Upstairs", in my house, is basically the attic. That is the only part of my house that still screams "1950!!!!!" so I rarely go up there. The middle level - ground, as it were - is where my kitchen is.

But yes, my TV is indeed in the basement. It's cooler down there and it's right next to my pool table. #mancave

 

[RobertVA]

The only thing I use my kitchen table for, is temporary storage of large boxes of cereal I've bought from Costco. I eat all my meals downstairs in front of the TV.

I find it fascinating that your kitchen is upstairs, I've never seen that before. Or maybe you meant that your TV is in the basement? Homes around here don't have basements, so I actually haven't seen that before either!

Some architects come up with weird ideas. One of my cousins had a house with a only a garage, family room, half bath (sink and toilet) and a couple of bedrooms on the first floor. A couple of other bedrooms, another half bath, a full bath (sink tub and combination tub/shower), an open dining/formal living room area and kitchen were on the second floor. The portion of the kitchen where the sink and refrigerator was hung in the air at least 2 1/2 feet past the back wall of the first floor.. The front/main entrance was on a landing half way up the stairs with a tiny uncovered porch and steps in a sidewalk leading up a tiny hill in the front yard.

One of my grandmothers owned a house with kitchens on both floors, but to reach the only bathroom you had to go through the large upstairs kitchen. That house was old enough the rooms might have been re purposed.

 

[iguana_tonante]

The only thing I use my kitchen table for, is temporary storage of large boxes of cereal I've bought from Costco. I eat all my meals downstairs in front of the TV.

You don't use it for cooking either? Maybe it's because my kitchen counter is pretty small, but I always end up chopping vegetables and stuff like that at my table because the countertop is already full of crap.

 

[RoJoHen]

My kitchen table is in the foyer...because my house is old and weird. But yes, my roommate and I do discuss most of our business in the kitchen, even though we're not at the table.

 

[Chensams]

Kitchen table. We have a pretty large kitchen areas so the whole family can sit there.

 

[Tora Ziyal]

Living room. That happens to be where my dining table is, but serious conversations tend to be on the sofa and chairs, because the "dining room" chairs aren't very comfortable for longer than a meal.

 

[Mr. Laser Beam]

The only thing I use my kitchen table for, is temporary storage of large boxes of cereal I've bought from Costco. I eat all my meals downstairs in front of the TV.

You don't use it for cooking either?

No, I generally don't like to cook. On the (extremely rare) occasion I do, I just use the kitchen counter.

 

[bbailey861]

Yes, the kitchen table is where news would be broken. It has been the site of many a laugh and many a tear.

 

[iguana_tonante]

No, I generally don't like to cook. On the (extremely rare) occasion I do, I just use the kitchen counter.

Eating precooked meals and take away food for any significant period of time would probably kill me.

It just occurred to me, we were at my parents' kitchen table when we told them the little iguana was on the way. And there was much rejoicing.

 

[thestrangequark]

My family is more the type where news is broken by the cops, the FBI, the admitting physician, or we all just pick it up on our own when someone starts running around in front of the house in nothing but a snorkel mask and a life vest.

I do miss family dinners, though. My mom, siblings, and I always had dinner at the kitchen table.

 

[Emher]

Definitely kitchen table. Sorta becomes that way when you're a big family and spend a lot of time together at it for meals.