Locked Kitchen Cupboard reactions

[LockedAndLoaded1]

Is it considered strange to have a lock on one of your kitchen cupboards?

So as a single person, I have been dating, and on three occasions now, when I’ve brought a date home, they have had surprising (to me) reactions to my locked kitchen cupboard.

This is not a lock I have put on there myself, I moved into the property and it was already this way, it is built almost seamlessly as part of the kitchen design, and there is a turn key on one of the units… I do use this to place my more personal items.

When someone tries to open it, it resists, of course. And then I am questioned about it… I find that wrong and intrusive! First you shouldn’t try to open something that has a turn key on it, and second, you shouldn’t question me about it!

The most serious occasion was when I was dating someone, and after the second time she’d stayed over, we both found whatever was between us wasn’t working out for either of us… at the end when she wanted to list the ways it hadn’t worked out, one of them was that my kitchen cupboard was locked! Does that have anything to do with anything at all?? Really?

And only last night, after having a date stay over her first time, I came into the kitchen to witness her staring and really frowning at it! I’m not sure I would have even noticed if it was me let alone frown at it.

Is it weird to have a kitchen cupboard with a lock and to actually use that lock?

I wouldn’t care.

[quote LockedAndLoaded1]@Bridezillamaybe, what is wrong with sentimental letters? Is my home supposed to be a Spartan camp with no evidence of any history of a life led? The notes and letters were intended for me only and that’s why they they are in the cupboard. There is nothing sordid or to be ashamed of in them.

My former partner had her own ideas of what privacy entailed which I fully respected. We were matched in this and it was never an issue, if anything it was something we enjoyed in each other.[/quote]
As long as you mean sentimental letters from friends/family and not old love letters...

I have a locked kitchen cupboard with my electricity meter in, the gas cupboard downstairs in the shared hallway is also similarly locked.

I have the keys.

I live in council housing and apparently all the meters in their family homes are locked in cupboards in a similar way due to them not wanting small children to mess with them. So I’d probably just assume it was similar.

Yeah I took it to be old love letters. I'm not saying you're wrong to keep them but maybe she didn't like it. Also I find it strange that you've stated you and your ex partner were matched with regards to boundaries around privacy - is this not the person who cited the locked cupboard as a problem.

I think what I don't really understand still is why you wouldn't just reply "oh yeah, it is a bit random! It was there when I moved in and I just use it as a filling cabinet now - it's actually pretty handy."

Curiosity satisfied, weirdness allayed, no need for any relationships, burgeoning or otherwise to damaged by it...

It's because it's in the kitchen. If you had a locked filing cabinet or locked desk drawer etc I'm sure it would cause less surprise and fewer questions.

I'd automatically wonder what kitchen items or food stuffs need to be locked away it wouldn't occur to me that it was being used for security like a filing cabinet.

I'd assume it's where you kept the 'good booze' or the pot brownies!

As long as you mean sentimental letters from friends/family and not old love letters...

Why not? Not all previous relationships are bad. I think its perfectly acceptable to hold on to memorabilia of old relationships, if you want to.

Honestly this is like reading about another specie. So odd!

I would not think it was unusual and also I just wouldnt care! I would just assume that there might be medications or that it is the junk food cupboard that can only be accessed once a week! People are so hung up on stuff. I mean if there was a basement with a locked door and smells of rotting flesh then yea I would be a bit worried but it is just a locked cupboard!

I think the last housing association property I was in had a lockable cupboard. Lord knows why but I think they designated one for each kitchen. Means you can lock medicines up and those tablets that are so irresistible to children you have to lock them up with a click clack (God I hate those adverts) though I suppose.

I haven’t come across a lockable kitchen cupboard, but I think it’s a great idea. So useful for medication, bleach, money etc! I have never understood curiosity with other people’s cupboards and drawers and behaviour like that of some of your visitors, would really put me off the person.

No, they're quite common nowadays, especially suited for medication when children and animals or nosy people are around.

I live in a new build (2 years old) and they all have a small cupboard in the kitchen with a lock on it. It's supposed to be for medicine and a safety thing. I was confused about it too when we first moved in.

Not weird. Its been a meds cupboard at one time. Controlled drugs maybe

What's on your locked kitchen cupboard? Asking for a friend.

If it’s the cupboard under the sink not really that weird, maybe the previous owners had young kids and wanted to lock the bleach etc away?

I live in a new build. Bovis specifically. And we have a locked cupboard in the kitchen that came with the house. I use it to store medicines

Always handy to have a safe place to keep things, don't see a problem at all. Bloody good idea in fact! X

For people with small children or a childminder it would be useful, as they could keep all their cleaning products and medicines etc inside. I don't think it is weird at all.

One of our kitchen cupboards has a lovk on it I think that it's supposed to be used as a medicine cabinet and tbh it's where we keep all our medicines

If you'd installed it, I'd find that odd. But I don't see the issue with keeping stuff locked in there seeing as you have the convenience of it being there for your use. People shouldn't be so nosy

It's a cupboard for medication. Nothing weird about it at all.

It's a legal requirement that all new builds have a lockable cupboard for storing medicines. It's very simple health and safety to prevent children or vulnerable having access to dangerous medicines. It's been in place 10 years now.

@Strikemepink

I don’t think it’s that weird, my parents installed one for their medicines to keep them out of reach / access from youngsters.

My mother put a lock on one of her kitchen cupboards to store her sweets and biscuits to keep my sister and I out of them!

I work for a very large Housing Association and it is common to have one base and one wall unit with a lock in new builds and properties that have a new kitchen on a regeneration scheme. They are there for cleaning products and medicines to stored securely