Scullery (room)

A scullery is a room in a house traditionally used for washing up dishes and laundering clothes, or as an overflow kitchen when the main kitchen is overloaded. Tasks performed in the scullery include cleaning dishes and cooking utensils (or storing them), occasional kitchen work, ironing, boiling water for cooking or bathing, and soaking and washing clothes. Sculleries contain hot and cold sinks, sometimes slop sinks, drain pipes, storage shelves, plate racks, a work table, various "coppers" for boiling water, tubs, and buckets.

The term "scullery" has fallen into disuse in North America, the room being more commonly referred to as a utility room or laundry room.

The term continues in use in its original sense in Britain and Ireland, or as an alternative term for kitchen in some regions of Britain, typically Northern Ireland, North East England and Scotland, or in designer kitchens.

In United States military facilities and most commercial restaurants, a "scullery" refers to the section of a dining facility where pots and pans are scrubbed and rinsed (in an assembly line style). It is usually near the kitchen and the serving line.

Etymology (according to the Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary): Middle English squilerie, sculerie, department of household in charge of dishes, from Anglo-French esquilerie, from escuele, eskel bowl, from Latin scutella, drinking bowl.

The scullery was a back kitchen located adjacent to the main kitchen, frequently to the rear of the house nearest the water supply, such as a public fountain or a well, or near a barrel that collected rain water, which was the preferred water for washing dishes. In houses built prior to indoor plumbing, scullery sinks were located against an outside wall. Since sculleries were used for washing and great quantities of water had to be carried inside, they were made with solid floors of brick, stone, terracotta tiles, or concrete. Although a drain, known as a soil pipe, would carry the dirty water outside of the house, the floors were likely to stay wet. The scullery maid, or person washing dishes at the sink, would stand on slatted wood mats near the sinks. The floor itself was often dug 6 inches or so (150mm) below the main house floor in case of leaks or flooding. In designing a scullery, architects would take care to place the room adjacent to the kitchen with a door leading directly outside to conveniently obtain water. However, for sanitation purposes (since so much slop was processed in the scullery) no doors led from there to the pantry or store rooms.

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