Schoolhouse Kitchen + Studio

Schoolhouse Kitchen + Studio offers cooking, baking, and crafting activities for kids. The program includes weekly classes that feature these activities as hands-on creative adventures after school. It also offers specialty parties and classes focused on making memories and learning new skills, along with camps and weekend classes on days off, school breaks, and over the summer.

• Ages: 4–13 years old

Schoolhouse Kitchen + Studio is described as Chicagoland's premiere cooking school for kids and families and as a welcoming community cooking school. It offers camps, classes, and parties at three locations. The program focuses on inspiring people to grow, eat, share, and learn about good food, and it emphasizes learning about culture, economics, food systems, math, science, and art through recipes. It describes the kitchen classroom as a fun and relaxing environment to explore.

Since 2012, Schoolhouse Kitchen + Studio has been inspiring people to grow, eat, share, and learn about good food. Cheryl Knecht founded Schoolhouse Kitchen in 2017 and co-founded Sugar Beet Food Co-op in Oak Park, IL, in 2015. Schoolhouse expanded to Portage Park in 2023. Cheryl’s impact on Chicago’s food scene has earned her the Golden Beet Award and a place on New City Chicago’s “Big Heat” list three times. Schoolhouse Kitchen + Studio was founded by Cheryl Knecht, and during the global pandemic she met Sarah Edgar.

The program’s mission is to offer community cooking classes that spark a lifelong love for cooking and baking, and to be a space where youth and families learn about food together. Schoolhouse Kitchen + Studio partners with schools, community groups, and others who want to bring fun, hands-on culinary programming to their community. In 2015, Cheryl Knecht co-founded Sugar Beet Food Co-op to support local farmers and provide greater access to organic food.

Last updated April 18, 2026.