kitchen

[kich-uhn]

noun

1. a room or place equipped for cooking.

   The apartment has a full kitchen with an oven and dishwasher.

2. the staff involved in food preparation in a restaurant or eatery.

   He called the kitchen to make sure they could accommodate his allergies.

3. culinary department; cuisine.

   This restaurant has a fine Italian kitchen.

4. the equipment and fixtures needed to make a room suitable for cooking.

   We bought a kitchen, but it still needs to be installed.

5. 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

1. 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.

2. 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.

kitchen

/ ˈkɪtʃɪn /

noun

1. 1. a room or part of a building equipped for preparing and cooking food

   2. ( as modifier )

      a kitchen table

Other Word Forms

• kitchenless adjective
• kitcheny adjective
• outkitchen noun

Word History and Origins

Origin of kitchen¹

First recorded before 1000; Middle English kichene, Old English cycene ≪ Latin coquīna, equivalent to coqu(ere) “to cook” + -īna -ine ¹; cuisine

Word History and Origins

Origin of kitchen¹

Old English cycene, ultimately from Late Latin coquīna, from Latin coquere to _cook ; see _kiln

Idioms and Phrases

see everything but the kitchen sink; if you can't stand the heat, get out of the kitchen.

Example Sentences

Companies point to the same culprits: student-loan payments, higher rents and a softer job market that are pushing younger consumers back into their kitchens.

Read more on The Wall Street Journal

Orfali said he limited the use of AI in his own establishment to administrative tasks like setting the kitchen schedule and providing additional research.

Read more on Barron's

Elsewhere, middle-class men, many of whom had rarely set foot inside a kitchen, hold impromptu classes where they instruct volunteers on boiling and cooking salt.

Read more on BBC

The expansive living room has elegant oak wood flooring, and the chef’s kitchen offers a chic and minimalist design with gray cabinets, modern appliances, and marble countertops.

Read more on MarketWatch

For years, uneaten hot dogs and half-empty cans of tomato paste languishing in the fridge have charted a quick path to the trash in American kitchens.

Read more on The Wall Street Journal

Related Words

• gallery