What Is a Scullery? Where You’ll Find Them and How They’re Used

When you want to be old-school and extra

Beautiful kitchen with shelves
Photo: Sophia Hsin/Stocksy / Adobe Stock
Beautiful kitchen with shelves
Photo: Sophia Hsin/Stocksy / Adobe Stock
Mitchell Grant
Written by Mitchell Grant
Contributing Writer
Updated May 6, 2024
Highlights

  • A scullery is like a fancy kitchen’s sidekick, used for food prep and storage.

  • They’re most often seen in older, high-end homes.

  • Creating a simple scullery in an existing room starts at $5,000.

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Once a sign of wealth in Old World homes, sculleries have come back in style. Manor houses, large estates, and homes built for entertainment may feature one—but what is a scullery? 

A scullery is an overflow kitchen or a small room near the kitchen used to prepare food and wash and store dishes. Whether you're looking to buy an old home with a scullery or build one in your modern home—here's what to know about this handy kitchen sidekick. 

What Is a Scullery?

A scullery is a small room equipped like a mini kitchen with storage and appliances designed for preparing food, washing dishes, and keeping the kitchen and dining rooms free from clutter.

These rooms were popular hundreds of years ago when it was considered unsightly for a working kitchen to be in plain view. In modern homes, a scullery can be built from a kitchen-adjacent butler’s pantry or laundry room. 

What’s Usually In a Scullery?

A modern scullery is a type of pantry with kitchen appliances like a dishwasher, sink, stove, oven, and microwave. The largest and most powerful kitchen appliances tend to be in a scullery.

Sculleries sometimes have hot and cold sinks, slop sinks, and drain pipes for large-scale dining clean-up. Sculleries may also feature storage shelves, plate racks, a prep table or island, and a pasta arm.

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What Are Some Reasons to Have a Scullery?

One of the main reasons to have a scullery is to separate the mess of cooking with a more aesthetic kitchen. People tend to gather in kitchens even when food isn't being prepared. When entertaining, some hosts like the kitchen to remain clean. 

Cooking is done in the scullery and can either be finished there and brought straight out (like with canapes or other passed appetizers), or the majority of the cooking can take place in the scullery and “finished” in the main kitchen. This is popular with dishes like paella, risotto, or other “showy” dishes. 

What Are Some Interesting Scullery Additions?

Assuming your scullery is used like a second (or primary) kitchen, there are some seriously useful additions you can add. If you have a scullery or are planning on building one, consider adding additional elements. Most of these will require a professional installation, so discuss your options with a kitchen remodeling pro near you. 

6 special scullery additions, including a pasta arm, knife-sharpening station, and induction cooktop

How Much Does a Scullery Cost? 

A scullery or butler's pantry
Photo: Joe Hendrickson / iStock / Getty Images Plus / Getty Images

A scullery costs more than a butler’s pantry since it's larger and has more features. However, the cost of a scullery depends on the size of the room and the types of appliances you include. A small-scale scullery can run as low as $5,000 if you convert a small room into a scullery. 

However, if you start from scratch and opt to build a big-budget, higher-end scullery space, you'll pay more than the cost of a kitchenette—which averages about $15,750. That’s because you’ll likely need to demo a room and add a wall, plumbing, and electrical, which has a higher price tag than simply retrofitting an existing laundry room. 

Frequently Asked Questions

It’s called a scullery after the Latin word “scutella” which means platter. This is an appropriate name, as platters were often used by servants to serve food to already-seated guests. These platters were cleaned and stored in what is now called a scullery. This is not to be confused with a butler’s pantry, which only stores items, but doesn’t wash them. Food is also not prepared in a butler’s pantry vs. a scullery.

Many modern sculleries have a full range of kitchen appliances and are capable of whipping up large amounts of food—and cleaning the resulting dishes—and can be considered a smaller, more purpose-built kitchen. In some households, such as those with a private chef, the scullery is often used much more than the main kitchen. 

Whether a scullery is worth it depends on how much you like to cook and entertain. If you frequently host gatherings—a scullery is likely worth the money. If you’re looking for ROI, it’s not so clear. It may not add significant value to your home, as it doesn’t increase square footage and may repurpose space that a buyer would have preferred to remain as-is (like a laundry room). 

You can call a second kitchen many different names—butler’s pantry, scullery, prep kitchen, working kitchen, dirty kitchen, or even just second kitchen. In modern times, however, second kitchens are almost always called prep kitchens or small kitchens. However, the purpose of a second kitchen remains the same—prepare food and clean items “behind closed doors.”

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Learn more about our contributor
Mitchell Grant
Written by Mitchell Grant
Contributing Writer
Mitchell loves to share his passion for hands-on work at home. His current writing can be found on Investopedia, Citigroup, LendingTree, and more where he provides financial tips on saving, buying, and investing in homes.

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