Working in the Kitchen

Microsoft Ottawa’s Kitchen. It has a decent view.

Every Microsoft office has a “touchdown area”, a place filled with cubicles where visiting or mobile workers can work. I avoid these like the plague.

Thanks to all the work I’ve done in cafes or coworking spaces, I prefer to set up in Microsoft’s “kitchen” spaces. The wifi is just as accessible there, but the lighting is natural, the tables are larger. the fridge with all the free Diet Coke is nearby by and it doesn’t feel so boxed in. Unlike cafes, you can leave your stuff at the table when you go for a bathroom break.

So, when I hung out in Microsoft’s Ottawa offices on Friday while waiting for my coworker and travelling buddy Damir to finish his meeting, I eschewed the touchdown cubicle and set up shop in the kitchen. These photos show what my “office” looked like, and believe me, it’s a lot nicer than a veal-fattening pen-like cube.

A lot of office workers might balk at the idea of working in a kitchen space, but consider this: people have been working in kitchens for millennia. Its centralized  placement in homes and workplaces as well as its layout and design are the product of countless generations doing work that sustains life.

On the other hand, the modern office has its roots in the Industrial Revolution. Its design is based on the concept of employee as interchangeable production unit and the hypothesis that people are naturally lazy and must be coerced into being productive.

Hence in the absence of a workshop-like environment (such as the Hacklab, where I often work), I opt for the kitchen.

This article also appears in Canadian Developer Connection.

Joey deVilla

View Comments

Recent Posts

The highest-ranking Black Medal of Honor recipient’s article on the Department of Defense’s site has been removed and marked as “DEI.” Why?

Major General (Retired) Charles Calvin Rogers was the highest-ranking African-American to receive the Medal of…

10 hours ago

Sunday picdump for March 16, 2025

Another Sunday, another “picdump!” Here are 200+ memes, pictures, and cartoons floating around the internet…

1 day ago

TV caption of the day

A Swedish TV program labelled Vladimir Putin as “President USA.” My thoughts on this:

3 days ago

[Update] A true is friend is someone who would hide you. Canada has been that friend to the U.S.

[ The original version of this article is incorrect, so I’m substituting its content with…

4 days ago

The better Vance: JD Vance’s cousin Nate was a volunteer soldier in a Ukrainian battalion

Le Figaro, a daily newspaper in France that’s been around since 1826, has published an…

1 week ago