New Kitchen Library location launched near Regent Park

Appliances at The Kitchen Library | Photo: Aliona Kuts / The Dialog

It started with a juicer.

“All of my friends kept telling me ‘don’t buy it, it’s just going to sit under your counter and collect dust;’ That was a crucial moment,” said Dayna Boyer the executive director of The Kitchen Library.

Following the juicer, Boyer started to squeeze out ideas. Then she came across the Toronto Tool Library, a membership-based tool sharing space, and everything fell into place.

The Kitchen Library aims to be an option for those who want to try appliances before buying them, and for foodies stuck with tiny downtown condo kitchens.

For $9 a month or $15 for a one-time loan, you can borrow any of more than 50 appliances the library has in stock. The loan period is seven days and the only requirement is to wash the item before returning it.

Boyer, a former senior web and copy editor at George Brown College, said there are a lot of transferable skills between what she learned in journalism school and running her own business. Public speaking and knowledge of creating media releases are just a few of them.

The Kitchen Library also holds Soup Swaps, an event where attendees exchange recipes, which Boyar said have been quite popular.

The opening of the second library took place on Nov. 5 at the Centre for Social Innovation Regent Park. Its manager Shilbee Kim said they always search for opportunities to cluster around food and The Kitchen Library is a bright example of their success.

Olivia Scobie chairs the board of the library, “the boring side of it” as she puts it, Scobie was with the library from the beginning and was the one who bought the juicer that Boyer borrowed.

With two locations in Toronto, Boyer is negotiating expansion to Vancouver. And she finally has a chance to borrow and use a juicer as often as she wants.