Small (SoHo) LAN, how to manage local DNS etc.?

[Chris Green]

What's the "Ubuntu" way to manage DNS etc. on a small Home/Office LAN?

I have a small LAN running at home with, at this precise moment, eight
devices on the LAN.  These comprise (usually) three or four computers
running xubuntu, a windows computer, a printer, a DECT phone base
station and the NAT router that connects them all to the internet.

I need a manageable way to handle these by assigning IP addresses (i.e.
DHCP) and providing name services (i.e. DNS) such that I can use names
for the various systems.

So how should one manage this sort of a system?  I can run DHCP on the
NAT router but that doesn't provide DNS for the LAN so I don't get names
for my systems.  How do people handle this sort of thing?  Do you just
set (for example) printers up with static addresses and put them in
/etc/hosts?  That's not very flexible and means that visitors can't see
the printer.  Is there a better way?

-- 
Chris Green