[mmcnl]

You're right, "technical debt" doesn't raise any sense of urgency. What people actually mean by technical debt is that there is a trade-off to be made: short-term gains at the expense of long-term costs. Your kitchen metaphor works beter because it conveys that message. But still metaphors usually end up in discussions about the metaphor and not the actual topic itself. It doesn't propel the discussion forward. I'd much rather prefer to discuss specifics instead of metaphors.