What is a keeping room?

Question

I have been saving my hard earned dollars and scrimping pennies so that I can build my dream home.
I grew up fairly poor (like upper lower class, way in debt, needin' loans every month to pay bills, broke as a biatch, just barely getting by with food in our bellies and hand-me-downs on our backs) so I've always dreamed of having one of those luxury homes that feels like a hotel when family visits and my kids are proud to have friends over in.
Well, even though I'm not quite there yet, I'm on my way! And part of being halfway there is knowing what house I actually want. I've been going through all these floorplans and every time, I see a room labled "keeping room" and it is always directly connected to the kitchen.
Is it kinda like one of those little spaces to put the kitchen table and have informal lunches and dinners in? Or is it something else, like a minibar or something, since it is also right there near the dining room?
Help! I don't want to pay for space I won't use!

Ok, let me make this a little better clarified. There are already sitting rooms, breakfast nooks and dining rooms, some even have bars/pubs. It's just there, connected to the kitchen...
And it doesn't quite make sense to me to put gathering furniture (like a couch or chairs) in a room that is open to the kitchen...

Answer 1

A family sitting room. Good luck and congratulations on nearing your goal!

Answer 2

The Warm Keeping Room
In early Colonial days the houses only had one room and it was caled the Keeping Room. The family did a lot of things in the Keeping Room such as eating and cooking and working. The grown-ups and the babies slept in the Keeping Room, while the older children slept in the attic.
The Puritans who came to Boston many years before Paul Revere's time thought that dancing was bad. When Paul Revere was growing up more people did dance. Dancing usually started with a minuet. Couples stepped back and forth to the music. On cold nights there was faster music. Even in the Keeping Room, one fireplace cold not keep the whole room warm. The people could not keep warm with a slow minuet.

Since the early houses were not big and fancy, they were not warm. Sometimes a house was so cold in the winter that if a person was writing a letter the ink on the pen might freeze.

Answer 3

When they were building castles, they built a keep, or heart of the castle. This was usually the middle, safest part of the fortress. They now refer to the keep as the part of the house where people gather. The room they are showing as the keeping room is probably located near the center of the home and is designed to be a gathering place around a table or fireplace.

Answer 4

A sitting room if connected to the kitchen a breakfast nook.