"My kitchen is not a place to live in. I made it white so I can tell instantly if it's not clean-and I like it clean enough to be able to eat off the floors-or the tables, for that matter"
About this Quote
Lynde’s comic intent is to inflate a familiar mid-century anxiety - the pressure to present a perfect home - until it becomes absurd. “Eat off the floors” is already a culturally recognized exaggeration; he sharpens it by adding “or the tables, for that matter,” as if floors and tables are competing surfaces in a hygiene Olympics. That little tag is classic Lynde: arch, fussy, and slightly contemptuous of the very standard he’s performing.
There’s also a sly social subtext. In an era when kitchens were coded as women’s domain and domestic order doubled as respectability, Lynde weaponizes fastidiousness as a kind of camp authority: he’s not nurturing anyone, he’s running quality control. The whiteness signals purity, but also sterility, a refusal of mess, bodies, and everyday life. The laugh comes from recognizing how perfection, pushed just a notch too far, starts to sound like a person trying to scrub away more than crumbs.
Quote Details
| Topic | Witty One-Liners |
|---|---|
| Source | Help us find the source |
| Cite |
Citation Formats
APA Style (7th ed.)
Lynde, Paul. (2026, January 16). My kitchen is not a place to live in. I made it white so I can tell instantly if it's not clean-and I like it clean enough to be able to eat off the floors-or the tables, for that matter. FixQuotes. https://fixquotes.com/quotes/my-kitchen-is-not-a-place-to-live-in-i-made-it-128530/
Chicago Style
Lynde, Paul. "My kitchen is not a place to live in. I made it white so I can tell instantly if it's not clean-and I like it clean enough to be able to eat off the floors-or the tables, for that matter." FixQuotes. January 16, 2026. https://fixquotes.com/quotes/my-kitchen-is-not-a-place-to-live-in-i-made-it-128530/.
MLA Style (9th ed.)
"My kitchen is not a place to live in. I made it white so I can tell instantly if it's not clean-and I like it clean enough to be able to eat off the floors-or the tables, for that matter." FixQuotes, 16 Jan. 2026, https://fixquotes.com/quotes/my-kitchen-is-not-a-place-to-live-in-i-made-it-128530/. Accessed 12 Feb. 2026.








