Farewell to the dining table?

We are turning into a nation of full time TV diners, according to a new survey which reveals that one in five of us eat in front of the TV every night.

Kitchen appliances manufacturer Gorenje interviewed over 1,000 consumers across the UK in January to reveal the latest trends in our cooking and eating habits – and unearthed some surprising findings.

• Almost half of respondents (43%) admit to ordering a takeaway at least once a week, which is eaten on the sofa or at the kitchen island.

• The kitchen is not just for food any more – of the 90 minutes that the respondents spend in the kitchen each day, only half is spent cooking.

• When the interviewees do cook, they are only confident cooking a handful of meals from scratch: seven meals for men, 10 for women.

• Home cooking is supplemented with regular dining out. Nearly a third eats out at least once a week.

•Almost half of the men surveyed admit they don’t consult a recipe at all when they cook.

Gorenje sales director Stuart Benson commented: “The way we live and eat is changing. More and more of us have kitchens with islands, breakfast bars, sofas and televisions, meaning that we now gather there to eat, as opposed to sitting at a formal dining table. This means that our appliances have also changed, to be inclusive and design-led as well as functional. With the noticeable demise of the dinner table we wonder what the next few years will have in store for the UK kitchen?”