Kitchen-table polyamory
Kitchen-table polyamory is a warm, family-style approach where partners and their metamours all know one another and are comfortable sharing a table.
Kitchen-table polyamory takes its name from a simple image: everyone in a network — partners and their partners alike — being comfortable enough to sit around the same kitchen table together. It describes a warm, family-style approach in which connections are open and friendly.
In this model, metamours (a partner's other partners) are not kept separate but form part of an extended social circle. People may holiday together, share meals and build genuine friendships, even when they are not romantically involved with one another.
It contrasts with parallel polyamory, where relationships are deliberately kept apart. The kitchen-table style asks for openness and emotional generosity, and many find it deepens trust and eases jealousy across the whole network.
Frequently asked
A metamour is your partner's other partner — someone you are connected to through a shared partner rather than romantically.
Parallel polyamory, where a person's different relationships are deliberately kept separate from one another.