Everything to Know About the ‘Kitchen’ of Pickleball

Although many of the terms used in pickleball like “baseline” or “drive” are likely familiar to anyone who’s played a racket sport before, there’s one common term that’s bound to baffle every newcomer: the “kitchen.” 

A nickname for the 7-foot area on each side of the net technically called the nonvolley-zone, the “kitchen” is a must-know for any pickleball player. After all, “it’s a critical area in controlling the game,” says AARP Champions Tour Pickleball Pro Eva Welsher, adding that the primary goal of pickleball is that “all four players get to the kitchen line.”

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Welsher explains that the reason you’d want to get to the kitchen during a game is so that you can send a dink — a soft, controlled shot that goes just over the net into your opponent’s kitchen — and have it bounce, causing the other side to have to quickly react. “You want to keep your opponent off balance, move your dinks around and keep them low enough that they cannot attack you,” Welsher says.

But of course, you still need to be ready for anything that might happen – which means that whenever you stand by the kitchen line, you should be in your best athletic stance.

“I like to keep my feet slightly wider than my shoulders, a slight knee bend … so I can move with ease, and I like to hold my paddle up around chest-high to be ready,” says Association of Pickleball Professionals (APP) Pro Andrei Daescu.

What are the rules of the kitchen?

Welsher and Daescu explain pickleball kitchen rules and some smart stroke techniques:

Wait until the ball bounces in the kitchen to hit it

In pickleball, players are not allowed to hit the ball in the air while they’re standing in the kitchen – unless the ball bounces into it, and then it’s fair game.

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Don’t let your momentum accidentally take you inside the kitchen

“When you are taking the ball out of the air, the momentum of your shot cannot take you inside the kitchen,” says Daescu (watch the video to see a demonstration ). “That would result in a foot fault and the loss of the point.”