What Is The Kitchen In Pool? Billiards 101
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The kitchen sounds like a weird name to be used in the game of pool, but the kitchen is a common term used in hobbies. Shuffle board uses the term the kitchen to represent the 10 off area where players lose points. Pickleball uses the name the kitchen to represent the area close to the net where you aren’t allowed to volley. In billiards and pool, the kitchen represents a small area on the table where you have to place the cue ball after a scratch.
Table of Contents
What Part Of The Pool Table Is The Kitchen?
The kitchen is the small section to the left of the line pictured above. The kitchen marks where you have to shoot from on the first shot, also known as the break shot, and on scratch shots when you are not playing ball in hand. When playing ball in hand, after a scratch/foul, you can place the ball anywhere on the table that you want.
Why Is It Called The Kitchen In Pool?
The term kitchen in pool is believed to come from the mid-19th century when billiards and pool were first gaining popularity. Since many homes didn’t have the extra space to have a room dedicated specifically for a pool table, many pool tables were also used as dining room tables. They’d just put a cover over the pool table to allow it to be a mixed use pool table. These dining rooms, many times weren’t the ideal size for a pool table, so on many sides of the table you’d be cramped when shooting.
However, since many times the dining room is next to the kitchen, what they would do is face the table so that the side you break from was facing the kitchen, that way when you were breaking, you could stand in the doorway and have more room for your break shot. This meant, you’d be standing in the kitchen while taking your break shot. So, over time, this area became known as the kitchen.
Is The Kitchen Used In All Pool Games?
In most billiards games, the kitchen is used. This includes 8 ball, 9 ball, and cutthroat. For these games, you will always use the kitchen for the break shot, whether or not you will use it for scratches depends on which ruleset you use. When you play under the bar rule set, you’ll typically use the kitchen every time someone scratches. However, if you are playing ball in hand, APA or BCA, you will only use the kitchen on the break, after that, when a foul occurs, you can place the ball wherever you want.
Does It Matter Which Side Of The Table You Use For The Kitchen?
Technically it doesn’t matter which side of the table you use for the kitchen. However, once the game starts, you can’t change which side is used for the kitchen. Whichever side was used for the break shot is now the side that will be used for the entirety of the game.
Most bars and venues will have a dot on the side that the rack is supposed to go on. This is usually because the pool table either has a ball return at that end of the table, or if there are multiple tables, they want everyone to break in the same direction.
When choosing which side you want to break from, look at your surroundings. If there’s a window, glass door, or anything fragile in the room, you ideally want to break away from them. When you break the balls, you have to hit hard and the cue ball can sometimes jump off the table. If hit hard enough, the cue ball could fly into the window or door, causing them to shatter. This can be a costly mistake, which I have seen happen.
Conclusion
The kitchen is a section on the pool table where you break from and where you put the ball when there is a scratch. The name kitchen comes from a long time ago when many people put pool tables in their dining rooms and had to stand in the kitchen to break when there wasn’t enough space. Over time, the name just stuck and now it’s the common term for that area on the table. If you have any other questions about the kitchen, feel free to leave them in the comments.
