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Original poster

Serving hatches

27 replies

witchofzog · 25/08/2018 21:13

I was just watching an old episode of Some Mothers Do Av Em and the house had a serving hatch which reminded me of the house I grew up in which also had one. Yet we don't have them now.

Did anyone else have one and why did they go out of fashion? I kind of think they were a bit genius really and it's a shame they don't exist anymore really

OP posts:
BigBlueBubble · 25/08/2018 21:16

Open plan living is much more popular now. Lots of people just knocked through the wall or built an extension so they have room for a table in the kitchen.

tryingtocatchthewind · 25/08/2018 21:16

So many people eat in the kitchen now so there’s no need for them. I used to love going to houses with them as a kid - so exciting

KatyN · 25/08/2018 21:19

We have a serving bar. About a 5 foot wide serving hatch. It is flipping amazing. It’s up a couple of steps so I can lord it up from the kitchen. Friends stand at it in the dining room and pretend it’s a bar. Every flipping time.

Original poster
witchofzog · 25/08/2018 21:19

Yes I guess open plan living might be th3 reason. Back when I grew up houses tended to have smaller but more rooms. Kitchen diners were not really a thing

OP posts:
Cheerfulcharlie · 25/08/2018 21:22

We moved into a house recently that still has one but the wall comes down in the next few weeks. The kids have had fun trying to crawl through it whenever my back is turned.

JynxaSmoochum · 25/08/2018 21:31

My previous house had one. It was useful as the route through doorways involved passing through the hall and lounge. We had no desire to knock it into an open plan room because it would have meant losing the majority of the cupboard space in the kitchen as 3 doors, the sink and the oven occupied the majority of the rest of the wall space, or losing the patio doors off the dining space to create a long kitchen with a peculiar layout.

LadyKyliePonsonbyFarquhar · 25/08/2018 21:35

We had one in the house I where I grew up. I used to go in the dining room and open it really fast to scare the shit out of my mum when she was preparing dinner.
This was pre internet and we had to make our own entertainment

Emsmomma · 25/08/2018 21:38

We have a serving hatch! I'm only 32 but my grandma has one when I was younger so when we moved it it was the one thing I insisted stayed! We never use it though 🙄 only to store crap in although it completely clear at the moment for the first time in 6 years 😂

Gardeninginspring · 25/08/2018 21:40

We had one but my parents filled it in as they felt it was old-fashioned

NonJeNeRegretteRien · 25/08/2018 21:45

They were considered really naff for a while. I don’t know why; I bloody love a serving hatch.

Haint · 25/08/2018 21:48

We’ve got one. We recently enlarged it so we’ve got max serving hatch

SleepyMcEdie · 25/08/2018 21:49

The house I bought 2 years ago had one. That wall coming down was the first thing we did once we had unpacked!

Ploppymoodypants · 25/08/2018 21:52

We have one now! Late 1950’s bungalow. Just spent a fortune on a remortgage to do a large kitchen dining room extension. And when the kitchen designer arrived, number one on our list of priorities was to keep the serving hatch from kitchen to front room. We love it 😁

chocoholicanon · 25/08/2018 21:54

My parents still have a serving hatch at their house. When I was a child we had so much fun playing games with it and recently my nieces have.

Now when we have big family meals at my parents there’s a big race to sit at the dinning table on the side away from the hatch or you end up having to pass everything through it to put on the table and then pass all the dirty plates and crockery back again.

TeaForTiger · 25/08/2018 21:59

We recently moved and the serving hatch was one of the things that made me buy it! My Nan had one when I was little too.

We use it every (kids love it) we also have a service bell that I ding when the kids dinner is ready to be collected from the hatch Grin

AnnaMagnani · 25/08/2018 22:04

We are v much planning to put one in! We are moving our kitchen and have no room for a kitchen-diner so food will need to be carried through a v low doorway. However we do have a 70s blocked up window we are planning to re-open.

I am trying to pretend it will be stylish and not Margo Leadbetter.

KipperTheFrog · 25/08/2018 22:04

My grandparents have one, 4 year old DD is fascinated by it! Very hand if you have separate kitchen and dining room, but most people have more open plan layouts now.

SallyCinnamon3009 · 25/08/2018 22:09

My grandma had one I loved it! It had the same ha del as the door in the living room so they matched. Fascinated me as a kid

greenjojocat · 25/08/2018 22:11

We have one! And a service bell! 1960s house and without that serving hatch we'd have to walk through the entire downstairs to serve food so the hatch is definitely staying

MiddlingMum · 25/08/2018 22:12

We didn't have one when I was a child but our neighbours who had an otherwise identical house had one and my brother and I were so jealous.

No amount of persuasion would convince our Dad to make a hole in the wall - especially when one of the neighbouring children broke an arm climbing through theirs.

Leyani · 25/08/2018 22:14

We’ve had to force our builder to put one in, he thought it was so old fashioned. But it’s brilliant and we use it all the time. Also means I can keep an sneaky eye on homework and what is watched on tv whilst cooking without having to suffer through yet another episode of whatever the current favourite programme is

elephantoverthehill · 25/08/2018 22:16

My friends houses' had serving hatches. They were great for performing puppet shows Grin. We didn't have one Sad.

Original poster
witchofzog · 25/08/2018 22:32

I didn't really appreciate ours when I was a child but after watching Some Mothers Do Av Em I have a yearning for one. And also for a Morris Minor lol

OP posts:
FabulousTomatoes · 25/08/2018 22:37

My parents still have one. It is unbelieveably naff. They live in a really nice Edwardian house too, but insisted on installing the monstrosity back in the nineties. Our current house had one when we moved in (it’s Georgian so I have a feeling it might have been installed after it was built Grin) but we knocked through the kitchen and dining room so it is no more.

My parents still find theirs indispensable.

NonJeNeRegretteRien · 25/08/2018 22:40

Actually, so this is quite funny... My PIL moved into a newish build house recently. Something about the light in the dining room was getting on their nerves (I’ve still never understood what exactly) so they got someone in to knock a massive hole in the wall between the kitchen and the DR. It’s effectively a serving hatch.

He’s so proud of it, he keeps suggesting it for our house. I just give a nervous giggle in response....