Wow, that sounds really cool. I did a couple of Google searches and couldn't come up with anything.

Are you talking about from a garage? I don't see why it would be hard to do in theory--if your kitchen backs to a garage wall, just cut a hole through the garage wall and the back of the cupboard, finish the edges, and put a cupboard door on the garage side. That said, I don't know if that would be to code. Garages aren't supposed to have holes in the wall or anything that could let carbon monoxide into the house, but maybe there's a way around that.

If it's not in a garage, the principle is the same, but you would need a locking door. Maybe you could cover your cut-out door with siding (so it blends), use hidden hinges, and use a hasp lock with the screws covered. Use a padlock that can't be cut off with bolt cutters--I know U-Haul sells them for about $5. There's probably better ways to do it, but that's what I can think of off the top of my head.

My other concern would be temperature--I don't know where you live, but if you have a cold winter or a hot summer you'll feel it wherever that hole is. I suppose you could put weatherstripping around the door and maybe insulate the door a little, though.

Good luck on finding information! It sounds like a great idea.

Try researching "baby hatch", "baby door", or "foundling wheel" for similar devices used for a completely different purpose.

"Dumbwaiter" is the term. The link below gives some design basics. Much more is available when you search by that name.

Here is a link that might be useful: Website re., dumbwaiters

My elderly father had a handyman cut a small hole and install a door on the bottom half of his 3 season porch. From inside the door is close to the floor but outside it is about shoulder height. Of course my brothers thought he was crazy and tried to stop him. Now my father has his grocerys delivered and the delivery guy knows to open the small door and push all the grocerys in. There is a regular door knob with a lock when not in use. Whenever we have a cookout we just open the small door and put the cocktails, paper plates, ketchup and mustard all by the little door and someone outside brings it to the table. Now we don't have to keep going up and down the backstairs. It's turned out to be a very handy idea!!

A dumbwaiter with a fire code door would work for a garage/house penetration.

I grew up in the Midwest in the 60s and many homes built during that time still included what was called a 'milk chute'. It was located next to the back door and was accessed from inside from a pantry or broom closet. I remember it being big enough for cartons of milk and a can of potato chips (remember those? LOL). I think a lot of them have since been sealed up due to energy concerns, etc.

Thank you all, I will research further now with your suggestions. We are buying a fixer which has a long driveway to a detached garage. We want to seal off the mud room door which opens to the driveway, it takes up driveway room (the stoop & stairs) also because there are 2 doors to outside in this mudroom. It would be a good time to seal one off as we are remodeling that mudroom & incorporating a laundry area. The other mudroom door goes towards the back patio, which is only a few steps to the gate and then to the driveway. That back patio door is actually almost as close to the driveway & garage, just a different path and a few more steps, so not a real biggie to lose one of the doors. I was just thinking of a quick way to transfer groceries. I remember another GW poster years back who used something similar to pull up to in her vehicle for unloading her groceries without there being a full size door there and they actually loaded into a walk in pantry, which made putting them away easy, as well as less carrying. I suppose I could just leave the 2 doors as is I hadnt thought about fire codes (although my DH is a GC so he could handle it if it was allowed). It would be nice to have some more organized storage space and look better in there if one door was sealed up. Thank you all again for the responses.