The History of Dumbwaiters

However you write it, ‘dumb waiter’ or ‘dumbwaiter’, the origins of the term are puzzling. The name of this small service lift and the history of how it came into being are interesting topics. For those of you unaware of dumb waiters, let us explain ... it's a small lift (most often waist-height) used to bring food up to a restaurant from kitchens below, and to take dirty dishes back down from the dining room – a hidden and essential device in almost every mansion, café and restaurant. These hard wearing little service lifts are designed to carry goods, not people, between floors. It's origins This lifting device has been used for thousands of years. The first recorded use dates back to around 200BC, during the age of the Romans. An architect described installing a dumbwaiter to allow the movement of goods. Why's it called a dumbwaiter? The term 'dumbwaiter' came to be as the lift was first used in large houses that had their kitchens and household staff in the basements or the ‘servants quarters’. These servants would use the lift to take food and dishes upstairs to the dining room and back down again as the go-between from kitchen to restaurant, allowing noise and cooking odour to be isolated from the patrons. The origins of the term are simply that this lift was a way of having your own silent waiter, not seen and not heard.

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