Emmy-nominated show The Kitchen has been cancelled. The Food Network announced that the show’s final episode will air on December 13, 2025, bringing to an end an iconic 11-year run spanning 40 seasons and over 500 episodes.
The Kitchen is a popular show that combines a talk show format with cooking instruction. It was hosted by famous culinary personalities, including Sunny Anderson, Katie Lee Biegel, and Jeff Mauro, and featured several celebrity guests and culinary experts.
The Food Network has not revealed the official reason for pulling the plug on The Kitchen. However, below are some of the top factors that could have led to the cancellation of the beloved TV show:
A reorganization of the programming lineup
The Kitchen could have been cancelled due to Food Network’s reorganization of its programming lineup.
According to Variety, a source close to The Kitchen’s production revealed the show was cancelled because Food Network was evaluating its resources and content priorities for the upcoming year’s programming lineup.
There are already rumors of a new show to replace The Kitchen, but the Food Network has yet to announce a replacement.
However, a new show, Guy’s Flavortown Games, hosted by celebrity chef Guy Fieri, has been in the works since May 2025 and is set to premiere on the network in early 2026.
Besides The Kitchen, Food Network has already cancelled several other seasonal cooking shows as part of a major programming overhaul.
In August 2025, the cable network quietly cancelled three Halloween shows, The Outrageous Pumpkins, Halloween Cookie Challenge, and Last Bite Hotel.
In October 2025, Food Network again quietly and suddenly cancelled two Christmas shows, The Christmas Cookie Challenge and Holiday Wars. Both were long-running shows that had aired for eight and seven years, respectively.
If the Variety source is to be believed, The Kitchen and other season shows might not be the only victims of the programming overhaul. Therefore, there could be more cancellations in the coming weeks or months.
Internal restructuring
Food Network’s parent company, Warner Bros. Discovery (WBD), is undergoing an internal reorganization, with the company set to be split into two public companies.
One of the companies will be a streaming and studios company, which will include WBD film studio assets and streaming services like HBO, DC Studios, and Max. he other WBD company will be comprised of cable TV channels like Food Network, CNN, TNT Sports, and Discovery.
The ongoing restructuring has resulted in significant changes, including staff layoffs, channel closures, and TV show cancellations, as WBD seeks to streamline its services ahead of the planned split.
Therefore, The Kitchen could have been cancelled due to the ongoing WBD restructuring, especially given the company’s apparent prioritization of streaming services over cable networks.
Financial considerations
Financial factors are another potential reason why The Kitchen was cancelled. Warner Bros. Discovery is hemorrhaging money; the company posted a net loss of $11.5 billion in 2024.
In a press release announcing plans to split the company into two, WBD hinted that profitability would be a primary focus going forward.
“Linear Networks will focus on maximizing profitability and free cash flow to continue deleveraging, while Streaming & Studios will focus on driving growth and strong returns on increasing invested capital.”
Therefore, the decision to cancel or renew The Kitchen could have come down to financial considerations, especially if the show was not bringing in enough revenue.
Another financial aspect that could have affected the future cooking-themed talk show is the potential sale of Warner Bros. Discovery.
One Reddit user has suggested that the company could be “trimming the fat” by cancelling shows to make it appear more financially lucrative in readiness for a sale.
A shift in programming focus
Food Network’s shift in programming focus may have spelled doom for The Kitchen.
The TV is one of the several cooking instructional shows that are famous on the network. And while they have a vast, loyal following, they have often been criticized for lacking viral appeal, leading to slow uptake among new audiences.
Over the past several years, Food Network has been changing its programming strategy, moving away from instructional show formats and toward competition-based shows.
The change in programming focus is thus likely one of a slew of factors that could have led to The Kitchen’s cancellation. Other Food Network shows have also been cancelled due to the shift in focus, with the cable network axing the hit show Restaurant: Impossible in 2024.
Food Network’s shift in programming focus is driven by changing viewer behavior and the cable network’s desire to acquire new audiences.
The strategy has faced backlash from long-time fans of the network. However, it is working as planned, with Variety reporting that the network saw a 50 million-viewer increase in the summer of 2023.
A broader issue affecting the cable TV industry
The cancellation of the Kitchen may not be just a Food Network issue; it might also reflect a wider problem affecting the cable industry.
Over the past several years, cable TV has experienced a rapid decline in audience due to factors such as the rise of the cord-cutting movement and viewers shifting to streaming services.
On top of the declining audience, advertisers have been abandoning cable TV networks in favor of streaming platforms. The net effect has been a substantial decline in revenues, leading to a rise in the number of cable TV shows being cancelled.
A good example is Food Network’s sister channel, HGTV, which has cancelled several shows in recent months due to a host of issues, including declining viewership and rising production costs.
Reactions to The Kitchen being cancelled
There have been many reactions to the news that The Kitchen was cancelled, which is not surprising given the show’s popularity.
Many loyal fans of The Kitchen reacted with surprise and disappointment on Instagram when they learnt that the show would be coming to an end. A few fans even suggested that Food Network was making a mistake by cancelling the show, given how popular it was.
Betsy Ayala, Warner Bros. Discovery head of food content, also chimed in, thanking the show’s host for their fantastic work:
“For over a decade, Sunny, Katie, Jeff, Geoffrey, and more recently Alex have engaged audiences with their individual and distinct food sensibilities and sense of humor that together make ‘The Kitchen’ a delicious way to spend an hour.”
Several stars of The Kitchen also took to social media to share their thoughts on the show’s cancellation.
Katie Lee Biegel, one of the show’s hosts, revealed on her podcast that she was sad the show was ending:
“I have been on The Kitchen on Food Network for the last, gosh, almost 12 years, and it’s time for The Kitchen to close. To be perfectly honest: I’m sad.”
She also thanked loyal fans of the show for their support throughout the years:
“Because of all of you, I got to have my dream job, and I thank you from the bottom of my heart.”
Jeff Mauro, another of The Kitchen’s hosts, also paid tribute to the show via an Instagram post:
“I always knew what we had was special — rare, a unicorn, an anomaly. Shows don’t last this long… and ours did. I’ve prayed and given thanks every night for that fact.”