Dumbwaiters on the Rise in New Homes and Renovations

JASON HENRY FOR THE WALL STREET JOURNAL

The second-floor deck of Geoff Lomax and Sabina Aurilio’s three-bedroom home in Berkeley, Calif., is decidedly contemporary: bifold doors, ipe-wood floors, a kitchenette. But open a sleek cabinet and you’ll find an element better suited to the 19th century: a dumbwaiter.

Added as part of a 2009 renovation, the machine whisks food and supplies between the deck and the first-floor kitchen, encouraging the couple’s now 14-year-old son to help with cleanup and saving tipsy guests from hauling stuff downstairs after a meal. “The dumbwaiter concept was really critical with that plan, being right over the kitchen,” said Mr. Lomax, 51, a research administrator with the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine.

Once primarily used by servants, these hand-cranked, cupboard-like contraptions used to move items between floors were “a very common feature” by the 1870s in hotels, apartment buildings and wealthy homes, said Lee Gray, a professor of architectural history at the University of North Carolina Charlotte. The first electric models appeared in the early 20th century, but when the Depression hit, the market effectively dried up, he said.

Today, homes with dumbwaiters tend to be newer: 45% of homes listed with dumbwaiters were built after 1999, while only 8% were built between 1850 and 1950, according to data from Realtor.com. And 43.6% of for-sale homes with dumbwaiters were priced over $1 million. ( News Corp., owner of The Wall Street Journal, also operates Realtor.com under license from the National Association of Realtors.)

As land costs increase and more developers build vertically, electric and manual versions are a solution to the hassles of multilevel living, particularly for homeowners who want to age in place. Homeowners commonly use the cabinets to haul groceries and suitcases from the garage, laundry and firewood from the basement, and wine from the cellar.

At a townhouse development in Ketchum, Idaho, elevators were out of the question because of disability access rules, said Brendan Lawrence of Ketchum Partners, the developer of the project. The developer outfitted each of the seven homes—priced between $1.5 million and $2.4 million—with a dumbwaiter that stops on the three floors and a roof deck.

Residential dumbwaiter models can go up to 3-by-3-by-4 feet and hold up to 500 pounds. While most homeowners install them as part of a larger renovation or new construction, some models are small enough to fit into an existing laundry chute or other wall space. At least one company, Powerlift Dumbwaiter, based in Georgetown, Calif., sells machines that homeowners can install themselves.

Dumbwaiters are cheaper and easier to add than elevators, but they are still expensive for what is a convenience rather than a necessity. A standard electric dumbwaiter with two stops costs between $4,000 and $12,000, depending on the state, including installation, equipment, permitting and inspection, said Scott Allen, president of Elevation Innovation, a Diamond Springs, Calif.-based dumbwaiter manufacturer. Additional stops, larger cabs, heavier capacities and custom finishes can push the cost up to $25,000, said Kamran Shushtarian of New Jersey distributor Mobility Elevator & Lift.

Dumbwaiters are also a solution in flood-prone areas where stilt homes are popular, real-estate agents and dumbwaiter manufacturers said. Enzo Morabito, a broker with Douglas Elliman in the Hamptons, N.Y., is listing a 6,000-square-foot home in Remsenburg, N.Y. for $6.95 million. Built in 2006, the home sits on roughly 14-foot pilings and has a dumbwaiter between the ground-floor garage and the kitchen.

Some developers capitalize on the Victorian-era appeal of the dumbwaiter. “Let’s go full-fledged 19th-century and put in a dumbwaiter,” said real-estate developer Robert Gladstone, explaining his plans for four Manhattan townhouses that include English basements and drawing rooms.

For serial renovator Barbara O’Connell, 67, a hand-cranked dumbwaiter provided a “wow factor” for her former home in Bridgewater, Vt. Costing about $2,000, the piece was custom made from a large iron wheel in a backlit glass cabinet.

Ms. O’Connell and her husband, Frank, sold the home in 2006 but installed a similar piece at their next project in Woodstock, Vt. (They have since sold this home as well.)

“Not only was it decorative,” Ms. O’Connell said, “but it was functional.”

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