[Akhong]

Is there absolutely NO room in your kitchen? Even if you only have a small amount of space, you can adjust the size of your ex-pen and use it either as a gate or as a small version of your ex-pen.
And I've noticed that my Tobi does the digging and scratching thing too. After reading some other threads here, I realized that I needed to "wear-out" some of his energy by taking him on looong walks and making him do some energy releasing tasks (going up stairs). That's worked for me in the past few days..hopefully it'll stay this way :P
I hope everything works out for you!