kitchenette
Americannoun
-
kitchenettes
plural
noun
Other Word Forms
Noun Inflected Forms
Etymology
Origin of kitchenette
Explanation
A kitchenette is a very small, scaled-down area for doing basic cooking and food preparation. If your fancy hotel suite has a kitchenette, you can make popcorn in the microwave. The suffix -ette is used as a diminutive, to mean "a small version," and that's just what a kitchenette is — a kitchen, but smaller. Sometimes a kitchenette is distinguished by its pint-sized appliances, like miniature refrigerators and narrow stovetops. It might also be missing certain standard elements of a kitchen, like a sink or a dishwasher. If you're staying in a hotel or living in a college dorm, a kitchenette can be all the kitchen you need.
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:
A small kitchenette installed on each floor cost nearly 8,000 euros, excluding appliances.
From Barron's ● Jul. 17, 2026
“Each unit will provide a bed, a bathroom with shower, a kitchenette with sink, microwave, refrigerator, and HVAC,” the notice said.
From Los Angeles Times ● Apr. 22, 2026
It added: “Awe-inspiring features abound, including eight spacious en-suite bedrooms with beautifully appointed baths, a guest house complete with a kitchenette, and an intricately paneled study featuring a warm fireplace.”
From MarketWatch ● Mar. 18, 2026
Behind the scenes, Tesla engineers were working out of a kitchenette on campus.
From The Wall Street Journal ● Jan. 3, 2026
Eventually I get a menial job doing mock-ups, and a small furnished two-bedroom apartment with kitchenette and separate entrance in a large crumbling house in the Annex, north of Bloor.
From "Cat's Eye" by Margaret Atwood
From old postcards online, though, we can see that the Clark was built sometime in the early ’40s and had 22 cottages on-site, 16 with kitchenettes, as well as a heated pool.
From Los Angeles Times ● May 15, 2025
With features such as kitchenettes and expanded living spaces, extended-stay hotels are booming.
From New York Times ● Jan. 18, 2024
The Detroit building had elevated Legionella levels in its rooftop cooling tower, kitchenettes and a holding facility.
From Washington Times ● Sep. 21, 2023
It had a greengrocer and several small shops, offering easy access to basics for our apartment kitchenettes, and it was just a 10-minute tram ride into the heart of Florence.
From Washington Post ● Jun. 23, 2022
Housewives who operate kitchenettes in Manhattan will appreciate the amount of room which the cook has.
From Our Navy in the War by Lawrence Perry
Definitions and idiom definitions from Dictionary.com Unabridged, based on the Random House Unabridged Dictionary, © Random House, Inc. 2023
Idioms from The American Heritage® Idioms Dictionary copyright © 2002, 2001, 1995 by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company. Published by Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishing Company.
