Meaning & use
kitchen porters
Last updated
“kitchen porters” is a form of “kitchen porter”.
Meaning
nounpluralBritish
Workers in a restaurant or hotel kitchen who wash dishes and pots, keep the area clean and carry supplies.
Grammar: Plural of kitchen porter: she works as a kitchen porter, but the team needs two kitchen porters.
Patterns
- work as a kitchen porter
- the kitchen porters wash something
The kitchen porters arrive early to scrub the huge pots left from last night.
Two kitchen porters kept the restaurant running by washing every plate during the busy lunch rush.
The chef thanked the kitchen porters at the end of every shift.
Word forms
| singular | kitchen porter |
|---|
Common combinations
- work as a kitchen porter
- He worked as a kitchen porter before he trained to be a chef.
- hire kitchen porters
- The hotel is trying to hire kitchen porters for the summer.
- kitchen porters and chefs
- Kitchen porters and chefs share the same busy space.
- head kitchen porter
- The head kitchen porter organizes the cleaning rota.
- night kitchen porters
- Night kitchen porters clean the whole kitchen after closing.
Synonyms and how they differ
- dishwashers
- Dishwashers is the American term and focuses on washing, while kitchen porters also carry and clean.
- kitchen hands
- Kitchen hands is a broader term that can include basic food preparation as well as cleaning.
- kitchen helpers
- Kitchen helpers is a general phrase for anyone assisting, and has less of a formal job-title feel.
Opposites
Word family
- porter noun
- a person who carries things
- kitchen noun
- a room where food is prepared
- kitchenette noun
- a very small kitchen
- sous chef noun
- a chef who ranks just below the head chef
Commonly confused: kitchen porters or line cooks?
kitchen porters vs line cooks
Line cooks prepare food at stations in the kitchen, while kitchen porters clean and carry rather than cook.
Practice
Who is mainly responsible for washing the pots and cleaning in a restaurant kitchen?
Choose one answer.
Kitchen porters wash dishes and keep the kitchen clean. Pastry chefs cook desserts, and sommeliers deal with wine, so they do not fit.
Make it your own
Write a sentence using “kitchen porters”, then check it and compare it with the examples above.