At my house, no. The chairs are all armless and alike. I dislike the idea of having "special" chairs at the head of the table.

I grew up with armchairs that matched. Same wood and uphulstory, but with little arms added. Maybe an inch or two taller. We recently moved into a house with a round dining room. Which means an oval dining room table. End chairs just don't work in the round, but without them capping the heads of the table, the whole scene seems so directionless.

Growing up our dining room table was the same - arm chairs at both heads, just fancied up versions of the regular chairs (one big really expensive solid oak set my parents got together before I was born I guess). My house now (first I've owned) doesn't have a separate dining room; the table we have in the kitchen area has 4 identical (and rarely used) chairs.

Perhaps I'm wrong but I've always thought it a sign of an inconsiderate host when they had the only truly comfortable chair. I have matching chairs, with arms, but I'm looking for matching wing chairs for my dining table... and it's proving more difficult than one would imagine (I'm in San Francisco and I'm looking for something reasonably priced!). Wing chairs are something family members do in Germany and Austria. we keep the standard chairs in the garage or spread throughout the house - for use for larger dinner parties, but there we truly live around our dining table rather than in the living room (American-style) and the wing chairs make all the difference at the dining table.

We've never had armed chairs in our dining area. We are equal opportunity eaters.

My parent's dining chair set came with 2 arm chairs for the head and foot of the table, and many dining chair sets I've seen are the same. I bought 2 small leather arm chairs to go with my armless chairs for my oval dining table. I love the look and the arm chairs really work well with my oval table. Maybe mine's wider than mysticfeline's? Anyway, I don't think it matters much. I find armchairs a bit annoying when I'm eating anyway - I keep hitting the arm with my elbow.

It would be cool if everyone at the table had a wing/armchair... you'd never want to sit in the living room! Of course, you'd also need a fireplace in the dining room. *dreams...*

the old dining room set from my childhood had two armchairs as well. other than the arms though, all six chairs were the same. the set i have in my home was given to me from someone who was going to throw it out after they upgraded their dining room. it also has two armchairs and four armless chairs. however, the armchairs also have cushion seats, where the others have wicker-woven seats. also, the armchairs have cutout wooden backs in the shape of o's, while the armless chairs are cutout in the shape of x's. i always thought that was kinda cute. our dining room table doesn't see much use, but when it does, i sit in the head seat. the wife sits to one side, and the boy to the other.

I'm totally going to get a magnificent, high-backed chair for my seat around the table some day.

It's kind of funny, I did grow up with chairs with arms that match the rest of the chairs on the table. But actually we have an armchair at the "head" of our round table. It's an old club chair from the husb's parent's house he took when he moved out.
Our chair is different because we broke one of the chairs from the set that matches the table. We got the table second hand so the chair may have been broke when we received it.
Also, neither my husband or I sit in the green chair, it's reserved for guests. Or unless I am sitting at the table for a long project that will take hours.

I find it kind of disgusting if one has a special chair reserved for the family father. For me it screams: I am the boss of the family and don't you forget it!

I do think however it would be kind of nice to have them for family parties, so you can offer your old or great aunt or your uncle who recently had a surgery a more comfortable chair.