As a means of making a more efficient kitchen design, a Swedish home science company has sent eighteen of their employees to the Norwegian countryside to study the kitchen routines of single men. One of their employees is Folke, one of their subjects is Isaac. The pairing of these two men ' one a wet-behind-the-ears scientist, the other a farmer whose isolation borders on hermitage ' leads to awkward, formal exchanges at first but as the harsh, Norwegian winter progresses, they gradually form a friendship that serves to protect them from their own loneliness as well as the raging weather outside Isaac's door. 

The subject of science versus human nature has long been dissected throughout the history of cinema. Some have tackled it from an optimistically sterile standpoint whilst others have used it as the basis for more doom-ridden, apocalyptic tales. All in all, there are few films that manage to explore the subject on as humanistic, simple and absurdly humorous a level as Kitchen Stories. As scenes of hilarity at the sake of excessive regimentation ensue, the film subtly highlights the necessity of being able to empathise and relate to your fellow man, if for no other reason than to have someone do the same for you.