Meaning & use
a kitchen porter
Last updated
Meaning
nouncountable
A person employed in a restaurant kitchen to wash dishes, clean, and help with basic tasks.
Grammar: Countable: you can say 'a kitchen porter', 'two kitchen porters', 'the kitchen porter'.
Patterns
- work as a kitchen porter
- a kitchen porter in a restaurant
He got a job as a kitchen porter in a busy hotel.
The kitchen porter washed pots and swept the floor after service.
They hired a new kitchen porter to help during the dinner rush.
Word forms
| plural | kitchen porters |
|---|
Common combinations
- work as a kitchen porter
- She worked as a kitchen porter to pay for college.
- head kitchen porter
- The head kitchen porter trains the new staff.
- kitchen porter job
- He applied for a kitchen porter job at the new café.
Synonyms and how they differ
- dishwasher
- In American English, 'dishwasher' is the usual word for this job; in British English, a dishwasher is also the machine, so 'kitchen porter' is clearer for the person.
- kitchen helper
- A kitchen helper may do some of the same tasks but often has a wider range of duties, including preparing food.
Word family
- porter noun
- A person employed to carry luggage or do cleaning work in a hotel, hospital, or similar place.
Commonly confused: a kitchen porter or porter?
a kitchen porter vs porter
A porter carries bags or works as a doorman, while a kitchen porter specifically works in a kitchen washing dishes and cleaning.
Practice
In a restaurant, a kitchen porter is mainly responsible for ___.
Choose one answer.
A kitchen porter washes dishes and does cleaning tasks in the kitchen. Cooking is done by chefs, serving by waiters, and budgeting by the manager.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “a kitchen porter”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.