A sheet feeding device has: a sheet accommodating portion that accommodates a sheet stack of a plurality of sheets; a sheet carrying plate that is provided within the sheet accommodating portion and stacks the sheet stack thereon; a pickup roller that contacts an upper face of the sheet stack and dispatches a sheet on an uppermost layer of the sheet stack, an elevator mechanism that displaces the sheet carrying plate between a sheet feeding position in which the upper face of the sheet stack contacts the pickup roller, and a separating position in which the upper face of the sheet stack separates from the pickup roller by a predetermined distance; and a controller that controls an operation of the elevator mechanism such that the sheet carrying plate is lowered to the separating position after a sheet feeding operation for feeding a sheet at the sheet feeding position is completed.