First question: Are the sources that you are trying to listen to in the kitchen connected to the 950 with a digital audio cable? The 950's tape output and second zone output are both analog, and both are separate from the digital audio signal path. If the sources you are trying to pass on to the kitchen are connected with a digital audio cable (coaxial or optical) only, try running a set of analog audio cables from the source to the 950 and see if that gets you on track.

Second question: you don't want to force the DVD player to PCM - it needs to be able to output a bitstream signal in order to carry the Dolby Digital or DTS soundtrack to the 950. Setting the player's digital output to PCM (the digital audio signal format used for CD's) will cause it to downconvert the DD signal.

Let us know if either of these issues are still causing you trouble, or if anything else crops up.