Butler’s Pantry

The Butler's Pantry served as a staging area between the Kitchen and Dining Room. Food was passed from the Kitchen through a small window to keep cooking smells and noise separate from the Dining Room. The large oak icebox kept foods chilled, while the warming oven with polished metal doors kept food warm. The butler used the large central table to prepare the meal for presentation in the Dining Room or for delivery, while Doris Duke was in residence, on a custom-made wheeled cart to other parts of the house.

All the dishes, glassware, silverware, and table linens, were kept in this room either in the cabinets above or in two large locked vaults hidden behind the wood paneling on the far right of the wall with the warming oven. A silver closet just inside the door to the Dining Room kept the silver organized and secure. After dinner the room acted as a receiving area as the butler removed dishes from the table and brought them to the pantry for washing. An annunciator, or call box, remains on the wall just inside the door to the back hallway. The microwave and Dustbuster remind us that the room remained in continuous use throughout the 20th century.