Dining table sales up as families ditch TV dinners

It WAS once considered the height of fashion to eat the evening meal from a tray in the living room, often while watching a favourite programme.
Over a third of people surveyed said they now spend more than four hours per week sitting down to eat. Picture: Kate ChandlerOver a third of people surveyed said they now spend more than four hours per week sitting down to eat. Picture: Kate Chandler
Over a third of people surveyed said they now spend more than four hours per week sitting down to eat. Picture: Kate Chandler

But now, householders are opting to return to the traditional shared family dinner, shunning the trend for TV dinners made popular in the 1980s.

Sales of dining tables are soaring, according to furniture giant Ikea, while almost half of UK homeowners say they now eat most of their meals in a dedicated dining room.

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Over a third of people surveyed said they now spend more than four hours per week sitting down to eat with loved ones, while 85 per cent of households claimed they cooked meals from scratch rather than micro- waving a ready meal.

The retailer also reported that sales of serving products such as trays and bowls are up by 20 per cent, indicating a return to a sit-down meal at a table, while sales of dining tables rose by 11 per cent compared with last year.

Julian Masters, head of kitchen and dining at Ikea UK and Ireland, said: “In the last 12 months, we have seen a growing trend in sales of our range of dinner-ware, suggesting that family mealtimes are having a major resurgence among us Brits.”

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Ikea’s report, which surveyed 2,000 people across the UK, also noted a 50 per cent rise in the number of gravy boats sold, suggesting that people were cooking more traditional family meals such as the Sunday roast. Two-thirds of people questioned said they favour classic British fare like roast beef and shepherd’s pie, followed by 37 per cent of amateur cooks who said they prefer to make Italian dishes.

Estate agents have also witnessed a high demand for a stand-alone dining room, or a kitchen big enough to fit a family-sized table. “There is no doubt that flats with a large dining-kitchen are highly desirable to young couples, especially those with a young child, who value the ability to dine and entertain in style and comfort at home,” said Robert Carroll, managing director of Mov8.

Edinburgh in particular has some fantastic tenement flats with large, bright dining kitchens and, as the owners often convert these into an additional bedroom with a smaller, internal kitchen, they can be like hen’s teeth.

“The eternal popularity, and at times the feeding frenzy that can accompany the sale of a family home in Edinburgh and the Lothians indicates that having a living room with a dining area or having an entirely separate dining room is always in high demand.”

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Edinburgh-based social etiquette expert Roddy Martine said people had previously sacrificed enjoyable family get-togethers for speedy meals.

“Life today is far too instant, everyone is in far too much of a hurry and there are too many distractions.

“I suspect that the majority of families nowadays only sit down together on formal occasions but if the trend is coming back it is all for the better.”

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