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

“You really want to know: ‘What’s in the air, what’s in the water, what’s in the ash that blew into my kitchen cabinet?

From Los Angeles Times • Mar. 27, 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

He knew where things were: socks in the top dresser drawers, toys in the bedroom closets, skates and bikes on the back porch, and pots and pans stacked neatly in the kitchen cabinet.

From "While the World Watched: A Birmingham Bombing Survivor Comes of Age during the Civil Rights Movement" by Carolyn Maull McKinstry