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Does English have a specific word for a hole between the kitchen and the living room that is used to get food directly to the dining table?

German has the nice Durchreiche, which approximately translates to hand-through. I am ideally looking for a nice translation of that word.

kitchen hole

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What, "kitchen hole" isn't fancy enough for you? Some people are so hard to please. –  Robusto Mar 12 '11 at 20:51
@Robusto it contrasts nicely with Car hole :) –  Pekka 웃 Mar 12 '11 at 20:53
I clicked this question wondering what in the world a "kitchen hole" could be. –  tankadillo Mar 12 '11 at 21:38
@intuited, you might have to explain that one in some contexts. I (native en-gb speaker) understand "pie-hole" and "cake-hole" as "mouth", most commonly encountered following the words "Shut your". –  Peter Taylor Mar 13 '11 at 14:32
We just called ours a hatch. –  FumbleFingers Mar 23 '11 at 0:32

6 Answers 6

up vote 20 down vote accepted

It is also called a serving hatch.

An opening in a wall at window height for the purpose of serving food or other items.

The cook passed the dishes through the serving hatch.

from Wiktionary

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I usually hear it called a kitchen pass-through.

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Or just "pass-through". Google [ define pass-through ] gives: “an opening that resembles a window between two rooms (especially a shelved opening between a kitchen and dining room that is used to pass dishes)”, citing WordNet. –  MετάEd Oct 1 '12 at 14:30

In restaurants, I've heard that area is referred to as the pass and that is what we call it in our house.

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I've known it to be called a breakfast-bar.

A similar feature is a dumb-waiter, which is used to move crockery and food between different levels especially in hotels.

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A breakfast bar is something completely different This is a breakfast bar. summerplace406.com/Pictures/Kitchen_Breakfast_BarN.jpg –  Ralph Gallagher Mar 13 '11 at 1:56
@Ralph: It looks like some serving hatches can double as breakfast bars, including the one pictured above. It's set with place mats and I think it shows the top of a stool. –  Callithumpian Mar 13 '11 at 14:17

In French, it is known as a passe-plat, which is elegant and simple. It can also be translated simply as hatch, which might be better than serving hatch as any sentence employing it is likely to involve a serving context which would make it redundant.

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In spanish is the same: pasa-platos (pasa=pass, platos=plates) buscon.rae.es/draeI/… –  belisarius Mar 13 '11 at 2:57
Very nice, thanks for this! This question is in the context of a software naming decision and passe-plat is an interesting option. –  Pekka 웃 Mar 13 '11 at 14:34

Not meaning to observe the obvious, but "service window" would be appropriate.

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protected by RegDwigнt Sep 29 '12 at 0:26


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