He seems to have had no qualms about the breach with Rome under Henry VIII, the Protestant Reformation under Edward VI and though reconciled as a Catholic under Mary I, accepted to serve when Protestantism returned under Elizabeth I. Kitchin was a monk under the monastic name Dunstan at Westminster Abbey, before becoming Prior of Gloucester Hall, Oxford.
He was appointed Abbot of Eynsham in 1530, but lost the post at his abbey's dissolution in 1539, receiving an unusually large pension of £133-6s-8d pa. Six years later, in 1545, Kitchin was made Bishop of Llandaff.
His willingness to follow the opinion of whichever monarch reigned has led many to accuse Kitchin of being spineless.
Indeed, one historian has written of Kitchin that he was a 'timeserver who would doubtless have become a Hindu if required, provided he was allowed to hold on to the See of Llandaff' (Eamon Duffy, 'Fires of Faith', p. 23).
However, he showed some backbone in opposing Elizabeth's appointment of Matthew Parker to the See of Canterbury (cf.