He's much better than that.
The 31-year-old forged a useful first-class record with Auckland.
In 51 games for the province, he scored 2893 runs at an average of 36.62, including six 100s.
But after seven seasons with the Aces, Kitchen was ready for a change and was lured south by a ''a great deal''.
''It was more of a fresh start for me and to reinvigorate my career, so to speak,'' he said.
''Auckland had been good to me and given me plenty of opportunities. But I just got to a point where I wanted to try something new and see if that worked.
''And it is good for the family as well to get out of Auckland and have a little holiday.''
Kitchen and wife Hannah have a baby boy Leo (17 months) and are living in Northeast Valley.
They are enjoying the relaxed lifestyle Dunedin offers, but Kitchen is still operating on Auckland time.
''Everything here is about five minutes away. But I find myself still in my Auckland ways and getting ready about hour before and then finding myself sitting down and waiting for 20min when I'm all ready to go.''
Waiting is something Kitchen had to do a lot of shortly after arriving in the city.
He fractured his thumb during the preseason and missed Otago's opening two Plunket Shield fixtures.
He returned in time for Otago's season opening twenty20 match and hit the first three balls he faced for four and took 18 off the over.
''That's my job, to get us off to a good start,'' he said.
It helped the game was played at Pukekura Park where the dimensions of the ground are not exactly huge.
But you still have to strike the ball crisply and Kitchen managed that.
He smashed 47 from 33 balls to help seal a six-wicket win for his new team.
Things did not go so well down the road at Yarrow Stadium against the same opponent two nights later.
Kitchen combined in a valuable first-wicket stand with Neil Broom of 58 but the Volts lost too many wickets in the middle overs and eventually lost by four wickets.
Kitchen has shown another side to his game by bowling some left arm spin.
These days it is almost considered mandatory for someone in the top five to bowl a few overs of spin to help out the team.
The captain Nathan McCullum fills that role for the Volts but Kitchen's ability could prove to be a valuable asset, particularly if Otago get on another slow turner like the drop-in pitch at Yarrow Stadium.
''I see myself really working on my bowling with Nathan down here,'' he said.
''I'm getting opportunities in the twenty20s and being able to bowl and bat in the top order is another string to the bow.''
It was former Otago and Auckland wicketkeeper Gareth Hopkins who encouraged Kitchen to pursue bowling more.
Kitchen would bowl to Hopkins in the nets and Hopkins, who was captain of Auckland at the time, was impressed enough to call on him occasionally during a match.
But it is with the bat that Kitchen is expected to make an impact and he will get another opportunity when Otago plays Canterbury at Hagley Oval today.
Both sides have one win from two games. Otago strike bowler Neil Wagner has joined the Black Caps in Australia and has been replaced by fellow lefty Bradley Scott, while leg spinner Rhys Phillips misses out on a trip north with Otago opting to trim its squad from 13 to 12.
Canterbury was due to name its squad late yesterday evening.
