kitchen
Americannoun
-
kitchens
plural
-
a room or place equipped for cooking.
The apartment has a full kitchen with an oven and dishwasher.
-
the staff involved in food preparation in a restaurant or eatery.
He called the kitchen to make sure they could accommodate his allergies.
-
culinary department; cuisine.
This restaurant has a fine Italian kitchen.
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the equipment and fixtures needed to make a room suitable for cooking.
We bought a kitchen, but it still needs to be installed.
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Sports. (on a pickleball court) a seven-foot zone on either side of the net from which players are prohibited from returning the ball before it hits the ground.
adjective
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of, relating to, or designed for use in a room equipped for cooking.
There's a view of the yard from the kitchen window.
We got a new, more colorful set of kitchen curtains.
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employed in or assigned to a place or business that makes food.
Kitchen staff and volunteers worked together to feed over 500 food-insecure people.
noun
Other Word Forms
Derived Forms
Inflected Forms
Nouns
Etymology
Origin of kitchen
First recorded before 1000; Middle English kichene, Old English cycene ≪ Latin coquīna, equivalent to coqu(ere) “to cook” + -īna -ine 1; cf. cuisine
Explanation
People always hang out in the kitchen at a party because a kitchen is where the food is. Restaurants have kitchens too, but only the kitchen staff hangs out in there. A kitchen is a room that’s meant for cooking. Whether you're making a four-course meal or microwave popcorn, the kitchen is where the magic happens. Schools, hospitals, and restaurants have kitchens. The word kitchen can also be used as an adjective. Guess where the kitchen cabinets are? If someone says you’ve packed everything but the kitchen sink, your suitcase is overflowing. And you should totally go back and get that sink. The Old English root of kitchen is from the Vulgar Latin cocina, rooted in coquere, "cook."
Example Sentences
Examples are provided to illustrate real-world usage of words in context. Any opinions expressed do not reflect the views of Dictionary.com.
See Examples For:
The only way for Wardley to win is to throw the kitchen sink at Dubois for the first three or four rounds.
From BBC ● Oct. 17, 2026
They bought an expensive mattress, installed a new stove and work station and fully stocked the kitchen with dishes and appliances.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 17, 2026
Still, I was curious to test their capabilities, so Pinkerton ushered a robot to my kitchen sink, where I had assembled a small selection of dishes that I deemed expendable.
From MarketWatch ● Oct. 16, 2026
When tech entrepreneur Jeremy Redman and his wife set out to redo the kitchen in their Los Angeles home, they budgeted $60,000.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Oct. 14, 2026
If it weren’t for the fact that the water was near boiling, he would have thrown it across the small kitchen.
From "Legendary Frybread Drive-In" by Cynthia Leitich Smith
Apple on Tuesday unveiled HomeView, a voice-driven smart display built around its revamped Siri AI assistant, as the iPhone maker makes a fresh bid for a place in living rooms and kitchens.
From Barron's ● Oct. 13, 2026
Handling personalized drinks, along with burritos and bowls, could make things complicated in Chipotle’s kitchens, Zackfia said, depending on how far down that road Chipotle might go.
From MarketWatch ● Oct. 8, 2026
It is to make enough room for women to decide what those kitchens — and the careers built inside them — should look like once they arrive.
From Salon ● Sep. 27, 2026
The department has ordered canteens, hostel kitchens and midday meal suppliers to obtain proper licences, and banned the sale of food high in fat, sugar or salt within 50m of schools.
From BBC ● Sep. 7, 2026
Werfel knew it must have taken them days to find all these delights and prepare them in their kitchens.
From "The Assassination of Brangwain Spurge" by M.T. Anderson and Eugene Yelchin
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Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
