Championship League
Compete home and away against the other seven teams. Finish first in the league table to become the Kitchen Premier League champion.
KITCHEN TOUR / THE LEAGUE SEASON
Kitchen
Premier League.
Sixteen teams. Two divisions. Your Kitchen Cup opening result determines where your league season begins.
Eight teams.
Every opponent twice.
Challenger League
Compete home and away against the other seven teams, with a separate league table and a Challenger League champion.
Each team plays 14 fixtures: seven at home and seven away. There are 56 fixtures in each division. The league title is decided by the table, with no playoffs.
MARCH–OCTOBER LEAGUE SEASON
One match.
Every two weeks.
The Premier League starts in March and closes at the end of October. Each team plays 14 league matches, with one match scheduled per two-week round. The season calendar includes the halfway transfer window and time for approved rescheduled matches.
- Kitchen Tour publishes opponents and the opening and closing dates for every round.
- Captains agree a match date within the two-week window and confirm it with the organiser within the first seven days of that round.
- All 14 league matches must be completed within their published deadlines and no later than the end of October.
- Extensions require organiser approval before the round deadline.
- If one team cannot play and no extension is approved, that team forfeits the match.
- If both teams fail to arrange the match, the organiser reviews responsibility before deciding the outcome.
The one-week transfer window falls after Round 7 and before Round 8, on fixed dates shared by all teams. Exact season dates and round windows will be published before the league begins.
Each team plays 14 league matches plus one to four Kitchen Cup matches, depending on how far it advances: 15–18 team matches across both competitions.
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.
LEAGUE POINTS
Every result counts.
| Match result | Points |
|---|---|
| Win without Nutcracker | 3 |
| Win through Nutcracker | 2 |
| Lose through Nutcracker | 1 |
| Lose without Nutcracker | 0 |
At 6–6, the team that wins the Nutcracker wins the match.
TIED LEAGUE STANDINGS
How ties are decided.
Teams level on league points are separated in this order:
- Head-to-head league points.
- Overall doubles game difference: games won minus games lost.
- Overall doubles rally-point difference: points won minus points lost.
For three or more tied teams, head-to-head uses their results against one another. Nutcracker scores are excluded from doubles game and rally-point differences. If teams remain tied and a title depends on the result, a deciding playoff is required.
Start with
Kitchen Cup.
Discover how the opening knockout round determines the two divisions.
Explore Kitchen Cup