Do You Think It Is Practical To Have A TV In Your Kitchen?

No, I don’t think it’s appropriate. Then again my kitchen is for cooking only, no table to sit in, that’s in the dining room. A portable video player or my fave gadget the iPod Touch are great though – you can literally cook along with your favorite TV chef, email yourself a recipe, etc.

I find it’s a bit impolite to watch TV while eating, but only if you’re depriving yourself of conversation. Some families just don’t do the whole talking-over-dinner thing. Some people take their food and run off, and it’s nice sometimes to watch a news show or something like the Colbert Report while eating dinner.

At my parent’s house, we had a tv in the kitchen, living room, and “study”/computer room. We would use the tv in the kitchen to watch news in the morning, record shows while watching others on at the same time in the living room, or for the lonely tv watcher to camp out (If 3 people wanted to watch show A, but one person wanted to watch show B… the one person was on his/her own in the kitchen). We have a dining room and table, but it was taken over by my mother for office work about 18 years ago (despite that she has an office in the basement). It is only used to “special occassions”. Otherwise, dinner is served in the living room with the tv on.

As a woman and knowing my place, aka in the kitchen ;] I like to have one in there, I spend so much time in there, company is much needed while slaving over a hot oven to make my boy happy.

I don’t have a TV in the kitchen, but I’m working on getting a little one in there. I have a portable DVD player right by the sink so I can watch my Murder She Wrote seasons. But I DO have one in the…...bathroom! Hooked to the satellite. I can’t stand to miss a thing, especially in the mornings watching GMA.

Growing up, we had a tv in the kitchen – which was eat-in. That tv was on, a lot. At some point, I started to hate that tv.

When my first husband and I separated, he took all electronics – I could have the child, but believe me, he fought hard for the tv. That’s fine, I got the better deal. I couldn’t afford a tv. No big loss. When I started making more money, I didn’t run out and buy one, either. We had a lot of fun without a tv.

I remarried and yes, we have televisions, but not in the kitchen. Never in the kitchen. We use the eat in part of our kitchen for meals – we converted our formal dining room – we’re not formal people. We talk in the kitchen, we cook and we hang out. I’d never do anything to ruin that time with my family!

I like having one TV in the living room with a TiVo. I went years without a TV because I didn’t like the constant commercials. Now I can skip them. We don’t miss anything we don’t want to miss, but life doesn’t revolve around the TV. Kitchens are for cooking, eating, talking. I don’t like the idea of having a TV in the bedroom either. Bedrooms are for sleeping and other recreation. :^>

@jbfletcherfan, I have a TV in my bathroom too! Its a plasma screen, good size. It new and its on the shower wall but there is plexi-glass overtop of it so its completely safe. Its great to watch a movie while I have a realxing bath on the weekends. I dont use it too much because I never have time to lounge around in the bath, I take showers.

Having a tv in the kitchen helps keeps the crumbs and other food mishaps out of the living room!! We are completely comfortable watching while we eat or turning it off if we have something to say. I did “my time’ with the “Leave it to Beaver formal family meal thing.” Now SO and I are very casual and relaxed.

After seeing comercials for toe fungus, tampons and erectile dysfunction during dinner, we stopped turning the tv on at that time.

In the mornings, I’d prefer it. I could get the news, weather and run out the door.
As it is, we don’t have a tv hooked up to anything fancier than a DVD player, the tv is about fifteen years old. I get my shows on hulu.com or torrenting while I wait for DVD’s I can afford.

We have an Audiovox 12” under-cabinet “DVD/TV combo. It’s good for the kids to watch cartoons in the mornings and the wife watches the news during/after dinner, but we turn it off during dinner. We sometimes keep the radio on though.

I don’t see anything inappropriate about it and, given your situation, it can easily be practical too.

I wish I had a t.v. in the bathroom.

@chyna….Oh dear Lord!! I never even thought about all of that!! Yeah, if I hadn’t already put my foot down about the TV – that would have been the deal breaker!

I don’t know if it is practical or even appropriate, but I have a television in my kitchen and I love it.

@cak For some reason, the toe fungus seemed the worse.

I dunno. Seems like the radio is excellent for news, and a computer would help you get the weather and traffic whenever you wanted (and not when TV or radio wanted to tell you).

I’ve been dreaming of a computer built into the fridge, or maybe standing behind the stove, so I can look up recipes, or find out about that question my son just asked, or show my daughter pictures of Fort McHenry (she sang the Star Spangled Banner about five times at dinner tonight—I blame the superbowl). Yeah a kitchen computer would be cool.

I used to want a tv in the kitchen because then I wouldn’t miss the game while cooking dinner or something. But now I don’t watch much anymore, so it doesn’t matter. The radio, however, is indispensible.

@ daloon. That is such a good idea about the computer on the fridge. It should look like a picture frame or something and have a setting where you can have a picture on there like kind of like those new digital picutre frames where you can upload pictures and choose a different one to display all the time.

this reminds me of that mr magoo movie, when he’s trying to make chicken i think, and he’s watching the tv in the kitchen and like making it dance and whatnot.

anyways, i think it can be convenient, but i think you’re faced with the same problems you have with a tv in the living room – it’s completely distracting. i guess if you aren’t comfortable with watching television during meals the household would have to have an understanding of that and know when it’s appropriate to watch the kitchen tv.

i’m not a tv person really, but i personally don’t have a problem with watching television during dinner. maybe it’s because i’ve been raised with dinners being taken casually, being that it’s usually just me and my mum. we never have a problem eating with the company of project runway or like, roseanne (;

@chyna – since I hate feet – yep, that would be the worst for me, too!

@desiree333 it’s great, isn’t it?
@chyna the toe fungus would DEFINATELY be the worst!
@buster get one. You’ll love it.

it sure is. :)

@daloon: Actually, it already exists.

@asmonet: I know. But I thought of it years before the first products ever came out. I did not like the implementation of the first ones, though. It would probably be even more useful if you could have one set on those mobile arms, like in a dentist’s office, and you could move the screen to wherever you needed it in the kitchen. Or if it could automatically follow you, like a pet, that would be totally cool. I also worry about the input mechanism.

@asmonet Damn you!!! I was literally Ctrl+V-ing that link when I saw yours.

Lurve for speed

We have a TV in our kitchen. It’s used for a variety of things, most mentioned above. When it’s full dinner (with the kids) at the kitchen table, it gets turned off. If it’s just hubby and me, it can go either way.

In my old house, we didn’t have one in the kitchen, but it was in the attached family room, and you could hear/see it if you wanted to.

No. It might distract the cook while cooking..

I guess it depends on the kitchen and your relationship with the TV. It could be nice to have it on while cooking or doing the dishes for example. Then again, a radio would be just as good (and take less space).

Avoid having the TV on during social interaction though. It should never be on when you’re eating, and it should certainly never enter a bedroom. TV is what kills both sex and sleep.

it’s appropriate and useful for when you are cooking or doing dishes. but always a good idea to talk w/ family at the dinner table, rather than have a tv on.

@Jack79 we have one in the bedroom. But it only gets used when hubby’s watching something that I’m not interested in, or I want to see something he doesn’t like. When said show is over, it gets turned off.

I have one TV, in the den, and it spends most of its time off. I’ve considered getting rid of it altogether, but I like watching movies on it. I can’t imagine what I’d want a TV in the kitchen for.

On the other hand, there’s a decent stereo in my kitchen. That probably tells you where my priorities are.

@Sakata: Suck it. I win. ;)

@asmonet: I think you lost your nose! ;-)