Service and Pantry on deckplans

[Maritha Boström]

Ok, I'm continuing to explore the deckplans and trying to translate every aspect into my mother tongue Swedish, as to get a full picture of the Titanic.

Now I'm wondering what exactly the many small rooms marked "Service" and "Pantry" was. Service is of course service, but what was this room's function? As for pantry; when looking it up in a English-Swedish dictionary, it gives at least 2 different possibilities; either a food-storage room (like a larder) or some sort of room where food is served.

I've searched the forum and if this has been mentioned somewhere else, I've missed it and if so I'm sorry for repeating questions. (The amount of information here is so overwhelming that it's easy to miss something.)

I admire you guys tremendously for having so great a knowledge! You're a great source of inspiration!

 

[Bob Godfrey]

The 'service' rooms were like those which can be found in hotels. Most would have contained a sink, along with brushes, mops and other cleaning and maintenance materials for use by the stewards. Pantries were the areas where crockery and tableware were stored and food and drink was prepared for serving. These would vary in size from the very large pantries adjacent to the main kitchens, to the small rooms within the passenger areas in which hot drinks and light snacks could be prepared by stewards to meet with direct requests from passengers.

Some of the larger pantries on the upper decks were connected by service shafts to the main kitchens. Even the smallest, found scattered among the passenger cabins, would have contained cupboards and racks for dishes and utensils, a means of keeping food hot (or re-heating), often a sink, and generally the basic necessities for making tea, coffee and light snacks.

The pantries were also the areas in which the stewards and other members of the 'victualling' crew were expected to grab their own refreshements at whatever time was convenient to their duties. This often meant eating while standing in a corner. Unlike the deck and engineering crews, these hard-worked men and women had no separate mess rooms of their own.
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[Maritha Boström]

Again you've made my day, Bob! Thank you so much for the extensive answer!