Formal dining serves up variety of sizes, looks
By Jeff Linville -- Furniture Today, November 5, 2006
High Point — In order to find a place in new and existing homes, formal dining resources are offering a wide variety of sizes, looks and functions in tables and cases.
A one-size-fits-all approach won't work because, company executives say, consumers today walk into stores with clear ideas of what they want, often after scoping out shelter magazines and Web sites to see what's available and what will look good in their homes. If a manufacturer doesn't offer that look, or the store doesn't sell it, the shopper goes elsewhere.
As these resources design formal dining suites, they pay close attention to popular home floor plans, current lifestyles and the latest style trends.
While upper-medium and high-end companies say they still do good business in formal, those at lower price points have seen sales eroded by casual dining sets and by lifestyle stores such as Pottery Barn, Pier 1 Imports, Crate & Barrel and Restoration Hardware.
As the old saying goes: If you can't beat 'em, join 'em. Thus, new formal dining groups offer smaller sizes, different dimensions, less-formal looks and a wider variety of case pieces to fill out the room.
"We're adapting to what the marketplace is selling," said Jim Kelly, Pulaski executive vice president of product development and marketing. "We're scaling back sizes both on chinas and on curio cabinets."
A 50-inch curio/china will fit into a greater percentage of homes, and Pulaski still gives it some formal touches, he said.
"We think consumers really want a nice place to eat, but they don't want it to be the overpowering feature of their home because they are spending more of their time in the family room," Kelly said.
People aren't collecting china like they used to, said Jena Hall, Aspenhome vice president of marketing and merchandising, and fewer families have dishes to put on display in a china cabinet.
"We're adapting to the consumer trend away from hutches by providing dining rooms with a strong sideboard case piece, and that's made for steady sales in (the formal dining) category," said Marco Confalone, president of Canadian producer Leda.
Many younger consumers feel a china is too quaint, something more appropriate for their grandparents, said Kelly Cain, vice president and product manager for the Stanley Collections division.
It's not necessarily about the dimensions of the room, he said. A large buffet or sideboard can take up the same floor space.
However, a china's height can be a problem, since many home designs don't offer enough flat wall space, and putting one in a dining room might mean blocking a window, Cain noted.
AICO's customers tend to have more living space, so it comes down to personal choice, said President Larry Rinaldi; a china cabinet completes the room as "a statement of decoration."
"There is still a consumer that looks at formal dining as an important statement about their lifestyle and position," said Aspenhome's Hall, "even if it isn't used that frequently."
Those in higher-priced homes still want to make that statement and fill the dining room with a china, she said.
True, many new homes aren't designed with formal dining in mind, Rinaldi said, but some are. Plus, there are plenty of existing homes with formal dining space, so existing-home sales can be a better indicator of market potential than new homes, he said.
"Kitchens have become the ultimate status symbol of the home," Hall said, noting couples will spend $40,000 to $50,000 to renovate kitchens in finer homes, including countertops of granite, marble or Corian. They don't want a cheap dinette, and the kitchen might be too modern to look right with an 18th century cherry table, she said.
Klaussner, meanwhile, recently has been offering large dining sets that aren't exactly formal. The company's Dick Idol and Vineyards licensed lines, for example, are a little more rustic and relaxed, yet the full-sized dining tables are selling well.
Jim Williams, chief marketing officer of Dick Idol Ventures, said, "The reason they work is because it's formal done casual," and these lines blend better with family settings.
For Klaussner's own line, casual contemporary is doing very well, said Darren York, Klaussner vice president of merchandising for case goods.
What people buy often depends on how they live, noted Pulaski's Kelly. Some couples like to invite two or three friends over, while others welcome large family groups, which is why the larger dining tables in the Casa Cristina line, licensed by Hispanic TV star Cristina Saralegui, are doing well, he said.
"In the Latino/Hispanic culture, the family getting together is very important," said Kelly. "They like to entertain. Everything with their culture is family, family, family."
The design of the chairs can help move a table toward either a more formal or casual look, said Stanley's Cain. Some of the company's more ornate chairs are selling well these days, like a fully upholstered wing chair and a leather chair with an aged, rubbed-through finish.
Some exhibitors at last month's High Point market showed benches with their bigger tables, giving the groups a more relaxed feel.
The two-seat bench is a very old idea, said Aspenhome's Hall, whose company included a bench with an open-fretwork back in one of its new groups. The bench feels more family oriented, she said.
Legacy Classic and Bernhardt's new Martha Stewart collection also included benches.
Leda's Confalone attributed his company's continuing success in formal dining to its focus on "fashion-forward tabletops and case piece designs with exotic woods, inlays and marquetry at competitive price points, rather than at the extreme upper end of the spectrum."
Steven Kayne, president of Excelsior Designs, said metal, glass and wood combinations have been popular recently. The company is known for transitional to contemporary designs, but a glass top softens the table's appearance, he said.
Meanwhile, "lacquers (are) coming back a bit," Kayne said. "The look is a little more European."
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