Food was cooked in the kitchen and then brought into the china/butler's pantry, transferred onto the fine serving pieces and brought to the table.  China made in France and England was popular in New Orleans during the 19th century.  Due to its delicate and expensive nature, the mistress of the house or her daughters (or perhaps a trusted slave) would have washed the fine china in the butler's pantry.  In the Hermann family, oral tradition states that Mrs. Hermann’s daughters-in-law washed the dishes.