Championship League
The eight winning teams enter the Championship League. They also advance to the Cup quarter-finals, then semi-finals and final to decide the Kitchen Cup champion.
KITCHEN TOUR / THE TEAM PATHWAY
Kitchen Cup.
The season starts here. Sixteen teams compete for the Cup and their place in the Kitchen Premier League divisions.
Your opening match
sets your division.
Challenger League
The eight losing teams enter the Challenger League. Their Cup run ends, but their league season continues.
The Round of 16 establishes both divisions. A full ranking from 1 to 16 is not required.
TWO-DAY KITCHEN CUP
Two days.
One Cup champion.
Round of 16 & quarter-finals
All 16 teams play the opening round to determine their league divisions. The eight winners then play the Cup quarter-finals.
Semi-finals & final
The four remaining teams play the semi-finals. The two winners meet in the final to decide the Kitchen Cup champion.
Kitchen Cup is completed before the Premier League begins. Exact dates, court allocations and match times will be announced.
THE MATCH FORMAT
12 doubles games.
One team result.
4Men’s doubles
4Women’s doubles
4Mixed doubles
Each player plays three games: two gender doubles and one mixed doubles. Each gender doubles partnership must be different. All 12 games are played, even if a team has already secured the overall win.
Win seven or more doubles games and your team wins the match. At 6–6, play the Nutcracker. The team that wins the Nutcracker wins the match.
Example doubles lineup
Captains choose the actual pairings using this structure. M1–M4 are the four men and W1–W4 are the four women.
| Game | Category | Pairing |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Men’s doubles | M1 + M2 |
| 2 | Men’s doubles | M3 + M4 |
| 3 | Men’s doubles | M1 + M3 |
| 4 | Men’s doubles | M2 + M4 |
| 5 | Women’s doubles | W1 + W2 |
| 6 | Women’s doubles | W3 + W4 |
| 7 | Women’s doubles | W1 + W3 |
| 8 | Women’s doubles | W2 + W4 |
| 9 | Mixed doubles | M1 + W1 |
| 10 | Mixed doubles | M2 + W2 |
| 11 | Mixed doubles | M3 + W3 |
| 12 | Mixed doubles | M4 + W4 |
TEAM ROSTERS
8–16 players.
Eight play each match.
Register 8–16 players, including at least four men and four women. Rosters are locked for the entire season before Kitchen Cup begins. Each player is registered to one team for the season, covering both Kitchen Cup and Kitchen Premier League. For each team match, select four men and four women from the registered roster. Teams can rotate their matchday squad between matches.
One captain handles lineups, scheduling and result submission. Captains submit their doubles pairings and Nutcracker player order before seeing the opposing team’s lineup. Once exchanged, lineups are locked.
Player trades and transfers
Each player is registered to one team for the entire season. The only exception is a trade or transfer agreed by both teams and the player, and approved by the Kitchen Tour organiser. An approved transfer moves the player’s season registration to the new team; the player cannot remain registered with or continue representing the former team.
- Both team captains and the player must agree.
- The Kitchen Tour organiser must approve the move before the player represents the new team.
- Both teams must continue to meet the roster requirements.
Each player may make only one approved move per season and must remain with the new team for the rest of that season. Each team may bring in a maximum of two players and transfer out a maximum of two players per season. Count individual players moved, not the number of deals: a one-for-one swap uses one incoming and one outgoing allowance for each team.
Transfers are allowed only during one fixed, one-week window after league Round 7 and before Round 8. The same opening and closing dates apply to every team and will be published by Kitchen Tour. No transfers are allowed during Kitchen Cup or outside this window. A player cannot represent two teams in the same round.
Results and league points already earned remain with the original team. A genuine season-ending injury or withdrawal may qualify for an organiser-approved replacement outside the transfer limits or window; this is not an additional tactical transfer.
GAME SCORING
21 points.
Rally scoring.
All doubles games use rally scoring to 21 points, win by two, capped at 30. At 29–29, the next point wins.
Change ends when either team reaches 11. Each team has one 60-second timeout per game.
Let-serve rule applies: a serve touching the net and landing in the correct service court is replayed.
THE NUTCRACKER
Win the Nutcracker.
Win the match.
At 6–6, each team’s nominated two women and two men play rotating singles on the full court.
Woman 1Man 1Woman 2Man 2
Repeat this fixed sequence. Both teams change players after every four rallies played in total, regardless of who wins those rallies. Women face women and men face men.
- Rally scoring to 21 points, win by two, capped at 30. At 29–29, the next point wins.
- Change ends when either team reaches 11. This does not restart the four-rally rotation.
- One 60-second timeout per team for the entire Nutcracker.
- The nominated players and their order cannot change once play begins.
- The same let-serve rule applies.
In Kitchen Cup, the winning team advances; the winner of the final becomes Kitchen Cup champion. In Premier League, the Nutcracker winner earns two league points and the losing team earns one.
From the Cup
to the league.
See how the two divisions compete through home and away fixtures.
Explore Kitchen Premier League