2026 Rockridge Kitchen Tour – Buy Tickets, Become a Docent
By Star Lightner
Planning for the 2026 Rockridge Kitchen Tour, scheduled for Sunday, Sept. 27, is in full swing. The Kitchen Tour committee has selected the 8 kitchens and 2 ADUs to be featured on this year's Tour, and is now recruiting another great group of Kitchen Tour docents. Docents fulfill a critical role on the Kitchen Tour: they are the people who welcome and guide guests at each house, answer questions about the kitchens, and make the Kitchen Tour fun for attendees and homeowners alike. Whether you’ve been a docent in the past or are new to the Rockridge Kitchen Tour, being a docent is a fun and rewarding experience. It’s also ideal for someone who wants to help the Rockridge community but has limited time. Many people volunteer year after year – it’s that enjoyable!
Here’s what the commitment looks like: sometime in the month before the Tour, all docents attend a 2-3 hour training session. On your training day, you will visit three kitchens and hear from the homeowner, architect, and perhaps the contractor about the unique features and the problem-solving that went into the design and construction of each. The session will also familiarize you with the house layout so you’ll be able to guide the walk-through traffic, educate our Kitchen Tour guests about the house you will be assigned to, and answer questions. We hear that the behind-the-scenes look at the kitchens ahead of the Tour and the opportunity to hear about the kitchens directly from the owner/architect/contractor are among the best parts of being a docent. On the day of the Kitchen Tour, you will be assigned to one three-hour shift (12-3 pm or 3-6 pm) and will have the balance of the day to visit the other kitchens that you did not see in your training.
In addition to docents, we are seeking folks interested in helping put up posters and banners, as well as volunteers to help with tasks the week before the Tour and act as “runners” to troubleshoot on the day of. If you’d like to be part of it, contact kitchentour@rockridge.org.
Lastly, our website is now live (www.rockridgekitchentour.com), and you can buy tickets! Prices remain the same as last time: $50 in advance, $55 beginning Sept. 20, and including the day of the Tour. As always, we have a very diverse assortment of kitchens, both aesthetically and in terms of budget, so there’s something for everyone.
