Amazing, beautiful and curious. Where does it go, and for what will it be use? Well, I know to move things from floor to floor, but what?

Oh, Congratulations! That would make my day too, since I know how long you've been trying to make this work. Don't throw your back out doing that Happy Dance! (At least you'll have the dumbwaiter to help you out if you do...)

Good questions! Our kitchen is on the second floor of a two story home. Directly below it is the garage. The dumbwaiter follows the outside wall so it is just to the side of a vehicle trunk. Life in this house is upstairs... the master, the office, the kitchen, and the great room. So pretty much anything that we do not want to schlep that is less than 50 lbs can go up or in the dumbwaiter. It also has a shelf in it for packages or groceries. (We love Costco ;))

We went with a manual instead of electric one because it fit the age of the home more and we did not want to get into an elevator type of coding. Also... we just liked the old world feel of a manual one.

That is so cool! And attractive. Turning...green...with...envy.

Okay, I promise my inner child that my next kitchen will have both a dumbwaiter and a firefighters' pole. :)

Hey Claire! I must have been writing when you posted. I haven't seen you around here lately... nice to see you again! Yes... (sigh) it has been a long, long, time in coming. We are trying to go for our final inspection in June for our occupancy permit. We would love to be able to move in... it's only been 2 years! LOL

Just an FYI... In April of 2006, the good folks here on the Kitchen Forum helped me to design my kitchen. Claire, among many others, gracious assisted me in that thread.

Thanks Cate :) LOL at the fire fighter's pole! Hehe... oh the stories your inner child could tell eh?

Wow thats fantastic looking - I've only been in one house that had one ever, and theres something so appealing about it.

I hope you won't have little ones around that will get it in their head that its a fun idea to try and ride it ;)

I love the way you exposed the mechanism! What an intriguing thing to have in your home. How many kids do you have and what kind of law do you have to lay down?

Oh my, it has been a long time in the making. I remember your posts from when I first joined 2 years ago and I've been back in my house a year. It looks beautful. Just curious, why all the fire codes?

It looks great, not to mention how much schlepping it'll save you! I can't wait to see the rest of your kitchen.

I love it!! It's really cool the way you show the pulley. I agree, I like the simplicity and old-worldness of it. Did you have it built, or did you buy it from a company that sells them?

That is the coolest thing I've ever seen here!!

Hi! I'm so glad to see your dream realized. I also like the way it turned out and the fact that you kept it simple by manually operating it. Beautiful job, really. Good luck in getting to move in soon and put that gorgeous kitchen to good use!

Valinsv - The fire codes... Ok here is the skinny. A dumbwaiter is a shaft that penetrates the floor, therefore, it falls under all kinds of fire codes (a laundry chute does as well... we had one initially, but after all the coding compliance, it was going to be the size of dime, so we got rid of it). Anyway, the shaft must be fire rated which requires double drywall etc. Since we wanted to show the mechanism, that complicated matters. We had to put the ceiling of the shaft below the the mechanism, but the city didn't like the fact that the ropes and the cable penetrated the ceiling. So.... we came up with a product by 3M that surrounds the penetrating holes. This product will expand and close the holes off it it gets hotter than 250 degrees (fire). This of course had to be approved by our city with the appropriate specs from the manufacturer and drawn up by our architect. It was a big deal... one we just didn't expect. All because "wouldn't it be nice if we could show off the pully?" Ah.... the innocent but ignorant questions!

Egganddart - We purchased the mechanism through a company called Silent Servant. They were great to work with! They had never heard of anyone having so many code issues before and were extremely accommodating to our informational requests and needs. Great Company!

Here is a link that might be useful: Silent Servant

That is really cool! Can't wait to see your kitchen finished!

Looks great! It makes me wish I had a need for it (of course DH would k1ll me if he heard me say that!

Thanks Remodelqueen! I can't wait either!!!

Buehl - LOL What? You mean you have to need one? Ut Oh!

i have fond memories or riding the dumbwaiter as a child :) i love seeing a new one with so much style!

Wow, great dumbwaiter! We are planning on putting one in too. Hadn't thought of exposing the mechanism, but now I think we will. Now for the questions - what brand is the dumbwaiter? Also, does all the surrounding cabinetry come included, or did you have to have someone build it?

tsdiver - the wood work looks gorgeous. Do you have any other pictures of the cabinets or is it too covered up to see?

Laurie

Oh my, who would've thought this would be so complex. After reading your post I had to go back and admire that mechanism once again. Hope you get to use your kitchen soon.

Igloo - Thanks! I have never been accused of having style before! :) (I owe it all to the cabinet maker though.)

Mizjiff - The brand of the dumbwaiter is called Silent Servant. I have linked it at the bottom of this post. The mechanism, including the pulley, rope, counterweight, hardware, some framing, and the cart are all included. How you incorporate it in your home is completely up to you. Our cabinetry was designed by our cabinet maker after it was installed.

Msrose - Here is an older picture that also shows what the dumbwaiter looked like before cabinetry.

Valinsv - Complex is a very good word for it. I know it would have been much easier had we installed it with the mechanism hidden.

Here is a link that might be useful: Silent Servant

Coffeebreak- I know how old this post is, but I had to tell you, you were the inspiration for us! I almost gave up on my hopes of a dumbwaiter when I found your post. Our kitchen is also on the second story. We currently only have the shaft in; and honestly I made a mistake in the size I ordered (I thought the shaft was 27” deep- but that’s the inside; so our shaft will be almost 32” deep once finished.) So it’s a little bigger than I intended 😂 but will be used for groceries and laundry baskets. We have a front and rear open- with a door in the garage, a door on the first floor, and one on the second floor, which will eventually be built into an entertainment center. The first floor, which is just 14” higher than the garage level, we needed to build a little alcove together everything to line up.

First floor alcove:

Second story (I’m standing in what will be the kitchen):

Garage:

Ashley, that is so neat! Please keep us posted!

Huh. I removes the dumbwaiter when we remodeled our kitchen. It was a waste of space for us, and primarily used by all of the nieces and nephews to move toys from floor to floor whenever anyone visited. (Our laundry and kitchen are both on the mail floor, though.)