kitchen cabinet

American  

noun

1. a cupboard built into a kitchen or a chest of drawers for kitchen use, as for dishes and silverware.

2. a group of unofficial advisers on whom a head of government appears to rely heavily.

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kitchen cabinet British  

noun

1. a group of unofficial advisers to a political leader, esp when considered to be more influential than the official cabinet

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Etymology

Origin of kitchen cabinet

An Americanism dating back to 1825–35

Example Sentences

A kitchen cabinet had come undone, and I needed a bracket and some glue to piece it back together.

From The Wall Street Journal • Mar. 12, 2026

Be honest with yourself: Are you really going to use the dusty waffle maker in your kitchen cabinet?

From MarketWatch • Feb. 23, 2026

On a kitchen cabinet door, Merritt pinned a multicolored turkey her 3-year-old grandson crafted out of a brown paper bag at Thanksgiving.

From Los Angeles Times • Mar. 10, 2025

Regardless of that choice, Mr. Biden’s kitchen cabinet of advisers is clear: The handful of people whom he has kept close throughout his first bid for the presidency and his time in office.

From New York Times • Apr. 24, 2023

Open the kitchen cabinet where the peanut butter was kept and you were face to fossil face with an extinct fox.

From "Stargirl" by Jerry Spinelli