Dumb Waiter Lift

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.
The term 'Dumb Waiter Lift' is because the lift was first used in large houses with their kitchens and household staff in the basements or the servant's 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 the kitchen to the restaurant, allowing noise and cooking odour to be isolated from the patrons. The term's origins are simply that this lift was a way of having your own silent waiter, not seen and not heard.