Preparing an elegant meal, serving it at just the right temperature and entertaining guests at the same time can be a tiresome feat.

This is especially true if you have a long walk from the kitchen to the dining room. What if the Chateaubriand cools too quickly or the plates from one course stack up on the table as you serve the next course?

In custom renovations, the answer is a butler's pantry. This small room between the kitchen and dining room provides the perfect venue for dropping off dishes, popping a dish in the microwave and grabbing another bottle of that aged Bordeaux.

A Little History

The butler's pantry has long been a symbol of affluence, as wealthy home owners carved out a space near their dining room for their heirloom linens and silver coffee service and serving trays.  Often they actually employed butlers to keep the glasses filled and the plates cleared.

In today's upscale homes, the butler may not be present, but the room serves the same purpose.  Home owners are using the space to store their fine china, crystal and table linens, and as a staging area for entertaining.

"It's more than just a walk through pantry," said Janice Pattee, director of design for KraftMaid Cabinetry, Inc., based in Middlefield, Ohio. "Maybe there's a water source, wine storage, refrigerator of sorts and maybe another dishwasher."

Originally the butler's pantry was designed for dish storage and as a food staging area for formal dining, Pattee said. "Because our dining has become informal, we've taken back the pantry and made it less formal."

When entertaining, consumers use the butler's pantry as the resting space between the kitchen and dining room. "Why walk all the way to the kitchen with the dishes when I can stop off at the butler's pantry after entertaining, when this is where I store my dishes anyway," Pattee asks.