The dining room table is often used for rousing games of cribbage, but cleans up nicely when it's time to eat. The small balcony outside is home to a collection of plants (which get watered more often than the succulents inside).

TEEMA DINNER PLATE $24.00 Adaptable to any style or use, the Teema Tableware collection designed by Kaj Franck for Iittala is based on the fundamental shapes of circle, square, triangle, and rectangle. From these enduring forms, the designer created a range of functional dishes for the home that can be used in myriad ways: from preparing the meal, heating and serving, to storing and freezing. These timeless and sophisticated pieces provide an essential form to allow the food, family, friends, and conversation to shine.

Available in two soothing colors, the Norm Dinner Plate is a simple piece of dinnerware that will communicate well with a variety of palettes. When Valentine’s Day is over, this plate can be used for everyday dinners and fancy parties alike.

Featuring a graphic print designed by Aino-Maija Metsola for Marimekko, this Oiva Round Plate has a small silhouette with a distinctive pattern. A part of Marimekko’s Weather Diary Collection, the print is inspired by the changing natural landscapes in Finland. This print, which is characterized by its varying shades of blue, evokes the dramatic rainclouds that hover over the archipelago.

Designer Jason Miller adorned the dinnerware (which also comes in dessert size) with a jewelry motif, adding a touch of class to your tabletop.

Create a picturesque setting with this Landscape Dinner Set designed by Doiy Design. Each piece is completely removable and when finished, could perhaps double as a temporary plaything. (Pin).

Triangle Dinner Bell by Pat Kim Design, $60 at workof.com Avid chefs probably already have a wide array of cooking supplies, so why not try something different, like this classic instrument that will drive hungry guests to the dinner table with a bit of flair. The hand-bent steel triangle was crafted in Red Hook, Brooklyn.

Husk is no under-the-radar cafe: It was crowned Bon Appetit's best new restaurant in America in 2011 when it opened. Chef Sean Brock's other Charleston restaurant, McCrady's, skews slightly more towards molecular gastronomy while Husk serves up less challenging takes on Southern fare.

Add a burst of color to a dining room table with the Weather Diary Collection. Featuring a graphic print designed by Aino-Maija Metsola for Marimekko, this Oiva Round Plate has a small silhouette with a distinctive pattern. A part of Marimekko’s Weather Diary Collection, the print is inspired by the changing natural landscapes in Finland. This print, which is characterized by its varying shades of blue, evokes the dramatic rainclouds that hover over the archipelago. Also available in a small plate and platter.

Ceramicist Chip Burr tells us how he hooked up with Sean Brock to start producing Hearth's unusual tableware: "My partner [Fiorenzo Berardozzi] and I were joking about all the restaurants who use local beef and vegetables--and then you flip the plate over and it's from China." As luck would have it, Burr's son-in-law is a commercial fisherman who provides all the fish for Husk and McCrady's. "One day he went into manager [Dan Latimer]'s office and saw all these broken plates"--so after offering new samples, Husk fell in love.

Designed by Pat Kim in his Brooklyn studio, the Triangle Dinner Bell is the perfect way to round up the troops for dinner, or delicately interrupt a marathon of video game playing. Reminiscent of traditional, rustic triangles, it is crafted from hand-bent hot-rolled steel, and includes a solid brass striker and an English Bridle leather loop for hanging and holding.

Culinary magazine Bon Appetit agrees with Burr's assessment: "Brock isn't reinventing Southern food or attempting to create some citified version of it. He's trying to re-create the food his grandma knew—albeit with the skill and resources of a modern chef. As a result, he (and Husk) has become a torchbearer for an honest style of home cooking that many of us never truly tasted until now."

The variety of products in stock makes Replacements feel like an endless dinnerware emporium.

Next to the kitchen, Eames and Jacobsen chairs welcome dinner guests to the dining-room table. The back wall is covered in particleboard panels.

At the table, a Todd Oldham for La-Z-Boy modular sofa serves triple duty as seating for work, dinner, and overnight guests.

Set of two Dinner Forks by Design House Stockholm, $50 from theline.com

Laid out in a 270-degree panorama in front of the house is the frosty expanse of Cook Inlet, cascading rocky mountains, and a white sun as big as a dinner plate.

What used to be the driveway is now a private side patio where the family regularly eats dinner. Ikea chairs join a table the couple made themselves.

Alaina and Geraldine love to hang by the pool, host dinners, and throw dance parties. Now that their ’50s family home has been refreshed by Studio Prineas, the fun can really begin.

An acoustic ceiling balances out the sound that might otherwise bounce off of the concrete floor and brick wall during a rousing dinner party. (Bonus: The sound-dampening holes in the ceiling panels add a hit of pattern.)

Out back, the paved patio serves as the family's main dining room. Though occasionally snow and cold keep them inside, family dinners can often be enjoyed outdoors.

Dinner table

A grilled weekend dinner. The bench is by Fermob.

If you frequently entertain guests in your home, or love holding long leisurely dinner parties on the weekends, it’s a good idea to keep these points in mind when designing or remodeling your kitchen. Here are some tips on how to turn this functional area into a space that's fit and fun for gatherings.

With a push of the sliding door, the bedroom morphs into an extension of the living room, adding much-appreciated square feet during dinner parties and other gatherings. The platform bed and backrest are both Tag Front designs.

Dinner, however, has fewer rules and playing with food is permissible, as Tony Antonelli displays. Image courtesy of NASA.

Perfect dinner at the Split table with stackable chair Curve.

The couple designed the great room to be a comfortable room for gathering with friends and hosting dinner parties.

Marie Kondo gives a speech at dinner with Cuyana and Dwell.

The dining room is stylish but simple for fuss-free family dinners.

The porch is designed for living outdoors all summer long, and for parties and dinners with “a stable of friends who arrive announced and unannounced,” Tamarkin says. Courtesy Architects and Artisans.

The informal diner at the basement level is open all day, and it serves breakfast, lunch, and dinner.

A small dining table is situated near the front door for city views during breakfast or dinner.