It's a really weird thing, and it's been going on for a couple years if no more. I'm pretty sure it was not in the game from the beginning.My sim prepares a meal, then walks into the living room to place the plate on the coffee table. It would be much smarter placing it on the dining table, or on a counter in the kitchen. But no.Right now a sim was standing in front of the kitchen fridge eating. When done, she could have left the plate on the kitchen counter 2 floor tiles away, or the kitchen dining table (6 floor tiles away). But no, she chose to walk 15 floor tiles into the living room, because that is where the only coffee table is in this house.How do you work around this bug that I don't think they will ever fix?Placing a coffee table instead of a dining table in the kitchen?Stop eating food, and rather fill their hunger bar with cheating?

That's one reason my sims can't have nice stuff, or a somewhat realistic house. I remove or don't add coffee tables because I know they'll walk through the entire house to put something there, instead of the available surface right next to them. Especially annoying with empty plates, because if the table has stuff on it, the plate can be difficult to spot, behind something.Now, lacking a coffee table, they resort to putting empty plates on fireplace mantles (?) instead :|Also, and maybe relate I don't know, I'm removing dining tables as well. My sims are wasting so much time with those around. I always tell them to grab food and then watch cooking show. Instead, they grab food, sit down at dining table, get up, sit down on sofa, then watch tv. I had to cut out the middle man, so to speak.

I’m not really seeing this in my game. My Sim eats at the kitchen snack bar or dining room table and leaves the dish there or puts it in the dishwasher. The only time he takes food into the living room is when he wants to enjoy the fireplace or if the cat’s in there and he wants to interact with it. He will leave dishes there, in that situation. I think sims gravitate to the items of higher value. Could that be it?

I've only seen a sim place a plate on a coffee table once. I had her baking every flavor of cupcake and she ran out of counter space before I moved all the cupcakes to the fridge.

The only time I have the coffee table issue is when my sims BBQ. They come in the back door and place the platter of burgers or whatever on the coffee table. This makes a sort of sense to me since at that point the coffee table is closer than the kitchen. When they cook a meal in the kitchen, they either place in on a counter or the counter island.

Maybe they want to watch TV while they eat dinner?

Why do sims prefer coffee table over dining table and counter?

Simmerville
Seasoned Ace
3 years ago
"babajayne;c-18021121" wrote:
This drives me crazy. I think the attraction depends on which coffee table you have. For example, I had the industrial style (base game) coffee table in the living room. My sim was canning in the kitchen. Despite having multiple surfaces available in the kitchen, she insisted on bringing the jars to that coffee table every time. So then I added a coffee table to the kitchen, but she ignored it and continued using that industrial one. I changed it to a different coffee table and it wasn’t a problem anymore.

I can think of another time when my sim carried laundry from the second floor down to the first floor, on the opposite side of the house to put the folded laundry on the coffee table. That was infuriating. I can’t remember which coffee table it was, but I deleted it and the laundry stayed in the laundry room from then on.

Thanks! I was not aware that tables have attraction, much less that they are programmed individually and not as a group. So, I'll take note on which coffee table they actually have and try switching it. I wish this problem was basically not there, though.

Btw, I never had the problem with canning, but then I might have had a better coffee table.

"Sindocat;c-18021224" wrote:
Empty dishes end up on coffee tables, computer desks, half-walls...

But cooked food, no. If you are seeing that, something is causing your game to read table space and counterspace as "occupied". I haven't seen this in TS4, myself, but ran into it from time to time in TS3. Sometimes actions wouldn't end cleanly, and the game thought a surface or appliance was still in use.

Clear your caches, maybe?

It's happened in brand new houses, too, where kitchen surfaces were never before used. I will try spotting if it might be caused by just a few coffee table versions. And if I can't spot it, I might place a 1 tile coffee table in the kitchen.

Not sure how I clear game cache...? I do remove the localthumbcache occasionally, what more should be removed?
userafw
New Spectator
3 years ago
"Simmerville;d-995968" wrote:
It's a really weird thing, and it's been going on for a couple years if no more. I'm pretty sure it was not in the game from the beginning.

My sim prepares a meal, then walks into the living room to place the plate on the coffee table. It would be much smarter placing it on the dining table, or on a counter in the kitchen. But no.

Right now a sim was standing in front of the kitchen fridge eating. When done, she could have left the plate on the kitchen counter 2 floor tiles away, or the kitchen dining table (6 floor tiles away). But no, she chose to walk 15 floor tiles into the living room, because that is where the only coffee table is in this house.

How do you work around this bug that I don't think they will ever fix?

Placing a coffee table instead of a dining table in the kitchen?
Stop eating food, and rather fill their hunger bar with cheating?

When my husband and I want to eat our dinner together in front of the TV while watching movies, we bring the plates to the coffee table. On the other hand, if we eat meals alone, I sit at the dining room table, or if we are eating meals with extended family as dinner guests, it is always the dining table. A "move plate here" interaction would probably work well in a situation where you want your Sim to sit and eat somewhere else.

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Why do sims prefer coffee table over dining table and counter?

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