Scullery (room)

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

A Scullery is a room in a house used for domestic tasks, especially those not involving the handling of food.

A scullery is a form of "back-up" kitchen and is usually located adjacent to the main kitchen, frequently to the rear of the house. Kitchen-related uses might include cleaning dishes and cooking utensils (or storing them), or for doing particularly messy kitchen work. A scullery may also be used for tasks unrelated to cooking, e.g. ironing or washing clothes.

The term "scullery", in a modern domestic context, appears to be somewhat archaic, the room being more commonly referred to (at least in North America) as a utility room.

The term is, however, still to be found in modern use as an alternative term for kitchen in some regions of the British Isles, typically Northern Ireland and North East England.

In United States Military facilities, 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.