I'm really happy in my kitchen. It's an independently owned restaurant, been open for about 5 years, and is quite popular. The management is incredibly supportive of us not getting burned out, so taking extended periods of time off to pursue our own stuff is not an issue. I take anywhere from one to six weeks off every two months or so! And I'm not the only one, two of our staff (our lead prep cook and and FOH manager) are in bands that tour and record, so one or the other of them might be gone for up to six months at a time. There's one guy at work who is burning out, and is miserable to work with, and he's the guy who hasn't taken a decent amount of time off since he started.
We also get extended medical and dental! This is offered to every staff member after they've been there six months, regardless of whether they work one day a week, or every day. For the dental, they cover 80% of the cost, and as it happens, we have a regular customer who is a dentist, and he offers our staff a 20% discount. Yep, free dental.
We are paid higher than the standard pay for kitchens in our city, tip-out to the kitchen includes alcohol sales, staff prices on drinks are good, and we don't have to ring in our staff meals, nor do we have to stick to the menu.
In terms of the food, we make everything in-house, including gluten-free bread, and we have a gluten-free station. Our meats are locally sourced, our breads come from a local bakery, and as much as possible, we use organic ingredients, and local suppliers. The menu focuses on modern comfort/diner food, and we have a lot of freedom around specials, if we want to order ingredients not usually in stock to make something, we can.
Overtime is rare, some weeks I've had eight-day runs, but I typically work four or five days a week, with the occasional six day week in there. Days off are always consecutive, and if I do a long stretch (six-eight days in a row), I'll get two or three days off, three days on, two off, then back to a four or five day week.
I lead about 80% of the time when I work, which I love, but it also means I get to be second or support at least twice a week, which is always a treat. It's nice to not be running the show every day, and to have those chill days.
When I started there, I was shocked to discover that the majority of the kitchen staff had been there for at least three years, that's unheard of! Now I know why. I am the oldest person in the whole restaurant, but only by a couple of years. Everyone is a lifer, with at least ten years experience, which means the flow is pretty smooth, we all know what we're doing.
I am a firm believer that if I have to work and spend a good chunk of my time doing something, then I better damn well enjoy it! I won't stay in a kitchen if I don't like the vibe. As a result, I've had some pretty short-lived jobs, but I'm good at what I do and never have trouble finding another one.
There are good kitchens out there, you just never know if you've found one until you spend some time in one.