The living room or lounge is the undisputed heart of the UK home, according to new research, which also found that dining rooms are surplus to requirements for many.
When asked what the heart of the home is in recent years, the kitchen or kitchen-diner has been a popular answer. As kitchens get bigger, so too do their list of uses, and they’re no longer just somewhere to cook and eat, but also a space where the kids can do their homework or guests can be entertained.
However, a new poll conducted on behalf of OceanFinance.co.uk has revealed that the kitchen, in reality, is far from being the place where households while away the most hours together. In fact, just one in 10 (11.6 per cent) respondents said the kitchen is where they spend the most time as a group during waking hours.
In contrast, four-fifths (79.4 per cent) of respondents named the living room as the place where they spend the longest time with each other – although women are more likely to say this than men (81.5 per cent of women compared to 77 per cent of men).
Interestingly, younger people aged between 18 and 24 years old are the least likely to pick the living room as the heart of the home (68.2 per cent) and more inclined to pick the kitchen (17.3 per cent) than the national average. The age group most likely to say they spend the majority of their time in the living room are those aged between 45 and 54 years old (84.4 per cent).
The increasing popularity of kitchen-diners – where the kitchen is extended to create a space to eat – and the option for families to eat their meal together in the living room, perhaps in front of the TV, means that there’s one room in the average UK home that’s getting little use. When asked which room their household spent the least time together in, nearly a third (31 per cent) of respondents said the dining room.
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