Are formal dining rooms becoming the dinosaurs of design? In this new age of small carbon footprints, gaga for green and badges of honor for thrift, do the dust-collecting monuments to fine dining make sense anymore? Let’s face it: The formal dining room in most “normal” activity-driven, modern homes is used about as often as the garage attic space. Sure, the occasional holiday might bring a rare family sit-down (assuming no football games are playing).

Here’s a thought that may go against tradition, may taint some fond family memories of the good old days: Just get rid of it. We’ll say it again: Make the dining room go away. How? To quote a famous president, “Mr. Grubby-chef, tear down this wall.” Tear down the wall between the kitchen and the dining room (let’s just assume they're connected; otherwise, put the hammers away—we’ll need to talk further).

By taking this seemingly extreme action, you could create an amazing eat-in kitchen. A kitchen big enough for the holidays, big enough for the family to hang out, big enough to entertain and actually talk with your friends while the meal is being prepared. Losing the “formal” space and creating everyday family space is actually very appealing to many homeowners and also to many home buyers (i.e., it could provide a decent return on your investment).

Good kitchen designers can do wonders with the extra space, and good therapists can get you over the loss of the perceived necessity of formality. The combination of the two spaces may eliminate the need for a room addition to enlarge the kitchen, and may eliminate the need for the wasteful excess of stuffy, formal dining room furniture.

Mark Lewis is president and founder of ProCraft Contracting. Fixing up old houses gave him a well-rounded background in the industry. He holds Certified Remodeler and Certified Kitchen and Bath Remodeler designations from the National Association of the Remodeling Industry.