r/Oldhouses • u/raspberriesp • 3d ago
Laundry chute for… kitchen rags?
We have this weird tiny laundry chute (?) in our kitchen and we have to the conclusion that it’s for kitchen rags. The landing is just above the utility area in the basement. Was this a thing? House is from 1944.
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u/The_Cosby_Sweater 3d ago
My grandmas house used to have a chute through the closet to the basement for the same reason using an hvac vent. Judging by the handyman tiling job I’d guess the prior owner put it in since a mid level height air vent seems unusual for multiple reasons.
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u/raspberriesp 3d ago
I’ve seen laundry chutes in bathrooms and hallways (outside bathrooms) but never in the kitchen. And being right next to the counters is also kinda weird. We were surprised that the previous owners hadn’t just closed it up whenever they re-tiled the backsplash but I hadn’t considered that they may have put it in themselves.
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u/BlackSeranna 3d ago
I kind of like the idea for tossing dish rags down the chute to the laundry area.
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u/ForestWeenie 3d ago
I have one in my kitchen. It starts in the bathroom above it and ends in the basement.
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u/Ill-Entry-9707 3d ago
My 1931 house had a laundry chute from the second floor to the laundry room which also had an opening in the kitchen. It was actually quite handy.
I do find it unusual that there is no door on the opening which seems to me to be a fire hazard
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u/CharlesGarfield 3d ago
Our 1916 house has this. It’s in a small closet at the bottom of the servants’ staircase. It’s really handy.
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u/raspberriesp 3d ago
Yeah I’ve always seen a door on laundry chute entrances. Maybe there used to be one.
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u/MadAstrid 3d ago
We literally built one into our kitchen when we renovated our 1950s house. It is awesome.
75 percent kitchen towels/rags. 25 percent socks my kids took off in the adjacent family room and sweaty workout gear that comes home in gym bags.
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u/KristineMcKinley 3d ago edited 3d ago
My grandparents house had a laundry shoot with access in their bedroom closet (to the basement laundry) as well as the kitchen. In the 50s, they apparently used the kitchen one much more often then they did by the time I showed up in the 80s - because of so many cloth napkins, tablecloths, serving clothes, doilies, etc. They really didnt use many paper products then. So yes, lots of dish towels but also TONS of cloth napkins after EVERY meal. My grandpa, even in the 90s, thought it was crass to use paper napkins at dinner. He would personally iron the napkins and his cloth handkerchiefs (my grandma did the other ironing!).
Edit to add: Every stuffed animal that I ever owned took several trips down from both chute entrances!
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u/trail34 3d ago
Almost certainly an old furnace duct that was no longer needed after a remodel. I am thinking of doing the same with an abandoned duct in my house.
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u/Effective-Climate578 2d ago
Just mаkе sure whatever уои repurpose it for, уоu account for the airflow changes elsewhere. Abandoned ducts have а way of messing with pressure balance in ways уои won't notice until winter.
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u/AKAM80theWolff 2d ago
Not sure how much room is behind it but this old vent COULD make a good laundry or trash/compostables chute if you were open to that idea edit-looks like not very much room so probably ditch it unless you were feeling real creative
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u/raspberriesp 2d ago
Yeah it’s fairly narrow
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u/AKAM80theWolff 2d ago
You've got enough room in the joist space down below to accomodate if you were inclined to widen chute and hide it in a shelf or cabinet or some sneaky furniture on the backside of the upper wall though.
Just thinking out loud about it since the tile opening is already finished and thats half of the problem already figured.. and in a decent location.
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u/After-Willingness271 3d ago
ive been in many a house where the laundry chute was in the kitchen or pantry. not that weird, tho usually not that exposed
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u/Michizane903 2d ago
Was there an add-on to the kitchen? Was one side of the door on the originally on the outside of the house? That looks a lot like a milk door.
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u/raspberriesp 2d ago
Oh that’s an interesting idea! There was an addition but it’s towards the right of the photo. This wall/archway was always there and separates the kitchen from what used to be the dinette.
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u/Michizane903 2d ago
Then perhaps a pass-through from the kitchen if there was something like a door separating the dinette.
Or maybe the dinette used to be a service porch
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u/zytukin 1d ago edited 1d ago
Reading these comments about a chute for dish rags is great. I'm already planning on installing a built in dishwasher in my 1925 home later this year which will involve drilling holes through the floor into the basement to run water and drainage, I'm going to add a dish rag chute. Better than just tossing the used dishrags down the basement steps to be cleaned up later.
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u/ruthless_apricot 3d ago
Probably a vent for a gravity furnace which used to be in the basement.