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Kitchens in Oxford Colleges

Which colleges have the best kitchen facilities for undergraduates?

I've done quite a bit of research, but am struggling to find anything meaningful.

Thanks. :smile:

Reply 1

hobnob

14

It's difficult to tell, really, because kitchen facilities often vary between different buildings withing the same college. I doubt anybody here will be in a position to really compare them in a "meaningful" way.

Reply 2

TruckBear

OP

15

I guess what I really mean, is, does your college/building/staircase have decent kitchen facilities - i.e. an oven and hobs which are usually free?

Reply 3

Turdburger

16

Brasenose College Staircase 12 has access to a fridge and a microwave, as do most (all?) of the other stairs. Nowhere in main college has an oven or hob.

Reply 4

F1 fanatic

16

IeuanF

Which colleges have the best kitchen facilities for undergraduates?

I've done quite a bit of research, but am struggling to find anything meaningful.

Thanks. :smile:

Keble doesn't. The best it gets is third year, where you get hobs but no oven. Before then it's a microwave if you're lucky.

Reply 5

Greatleysteg

19

Anyone know about the kitchen quality at Hilda's? (Stereotypes aside, it was a girls' college...) The alternative prospectus reckons it's usually shared between 14 people :eek:

- so I hope there are at least ovens.

Reply 6

Cirsium

19

None of the Jesus on site accomodation does. 2nd and 3rd years are housed in flats or houses (all college owned) with full kitchens (ovens, grills, hobs, fridge, freezer etc) but in 1st year you're stuck eating in hall.

Reply 7

Mayfly

Balliol has three kitchenettes with microwaves, oven, hobs and fridges.

They are not, however, great.

Reply 8

The_Lonely_Goatherd

20

Worcester has quite a few kitchens (of varying standards), it's hard to get them in the first year though. I wrote a very nice letter and was very lucky! :biggrin:

Reply 9

tarnishedpenny

John's (first year) is mainly hobs and a fridge for most rooms (shared between a floor). The beehive (other first year bit) has one kitchen for...quite a lot of people....but it has 2 ovens as well as hobs etc...

Reply 10

RawJoh1

14

Corpus on site accomodation (quad rooms or fellows building) only has microwaves. New Building (on Merton Street) has hobs and microwaves. All other off-site accomodation has ovens, as far as I'm aware.

Cooking facilities are important I think when it comes to college choice. I was top of the ballot this year (and so could've gone for the nicest quad room if I wanted), but it's more important for me to be able to cook, so I'm living off site.

Reply 11

Quistis

Greatleysteg

Anyone know about the kitchen quality at Hilda's? (Stereotypes aside, it was a girls' college...) The alternative prospectus reckons it's usually shared between 14 people :eek:

- so I hope there are at least ovens.

Depends on building. The two main first year buildings are Garden and Wolfson. Garden has microwaves, kettles and toasters, but no ovens or hobs. Wolfson has cookers and hobs, and some kitchens have wee dining tables. But as they're the only ovens first years have access to, the kitchens are often very busy! If your surname is at the arse end of the alphabet (I mean really arse end - I'm R--- and still ended up in Garden) then you may live in South, and I'm not sure about the kitchen facilities there, sorry.

As for third year buildings - Christina Barratt has ovens, hobs, dining tables, and 1000W :eek:

microwaves. Milham Ford, where I'm living now, has hobs, microwaves and toasters but no ovens. And I don't know about Hall, but I have a feeling at least one of the kitchens on one of its 5 or so floors has an oven, but if you lived on a different floor it'd be a trek.

Reply 12

Greatleysteg

19

Quistis

Depends on building. The two main first year buildings are Garden and Wolfson. Garden has microwaves, kettles and toasters, but no ovens or hobs. Wolfson has cookers and hobs, and some kitchens have wee dining tables. But as they're the only ovens first years have access to, the kitchens are often very busy! If your surname is at the arse end of the alphabet (I mean really arse end - I'm R--- and still ended up in Garden) then you may live in South, and I'm not sure about the kitchen facilities there, sorry.

As for third year buildings - Christina Barratt has ovens, hobs, dining tables, and 1000W :eek:

microwaves. Milham Ford, where I'm living now, has hobs, microwaves and toasters but no ovens. And I don't know about Hall, but I have a feeling at least one of the kitchens on one of its 5 or so floors has an oven, but if you lived on a different floor it'd be a trek.

Oooh, thanks for letting me know :smile:

Are toasters/sandwich makers banned from rooms? Do (m)any of the first year rooms have fridges in?

I'm a bit gutted - I was hoping I'd be in Milham Ford when I got there! I stayed in room 6 during interviews and thought it was grand! I enjoyed putting my hand out the window and trailing it through the river!

Basically, I'm a bit screwed if it comes to wanting to cook for myself, then? Which is awful... I'm not going to be to afford to eat in Hall every day, and definitely not going to be able to afford to eat out of a weekend, when there's no hall! :eek:

Reply 13

hobnob

14

Greatleysteg

Oooh, thanks for letting me know :smile:

Are toasters/sandwich makers banned from rooms?

I'm afraid so. But you can still get one and use it in the kitchen, obviously.

Do (m)any of the first year rooms have fridges in?

No, the only rooms with fridges are the nice ones in CBB, but you definitely won't end up there in your first year.

Basically, I'm a bit screwed if it comes to wanting to cook for myself, then? Which is awful... I'm not going to be to afford to eat in Hall every day, and definitely not going to be able to afford to eat out of a weekend, when there's no hall! :eek:

If your kitchen is really awful, make friends with people in other buildings and use their kitchens. Especially if they're third-years who live in CBB. :wink:

Reply 14

Quistis

Greatleysteg

Oooh, thanks for letting me know :smile:

Are toasters/sandwich makers banned from rooms? Do (m)any of the first year rooms have fridges in?

I'm a bit gutted - I was hoping I'd be in Milham Ford when I got there! I stayed in room 6 during interviews and thought it was grand! I enjoyed putting my hand out the window and trailing it through the river!

Basically, I'm a bit screwed if it comes to wanting to cook for myself, then? Which is awful... I'm not going to be to afford to eat in Hall every day, and definitely not going to be able to afford to eat out of a weekend, when there's no hall! :eek:

Milham Ford is great :biggrin:

I live in room 24, which is one of the smallest rooms, and it doesn't quite face the river, but I can see the Hilda's gardens, and out across Christ Church Meadow to Merton. Living near the river's not always rosy, though - I have Finals next week, and when I'm in here revising, I can hear people punting and having fun outside :frown:

The first year rooms don't have fridges, although if you wanted to buy your own mini-fridge I'm sure you'd be allowed to. But each first year kitchen has a fridge, and some have freezers. As for cooking, you're not too screwed - in my first year, Hall food was vile, so I fed myself a lot, and it was fine. A surprising amount of stuff can be microwaved, like pasta and rice. And you may well be in Wolfson, which does have ovens! They allocated rooms alphabetically in my year - your username implies your surname begins with G, is that right? Because if so, you'll almost certainly be on one of the upper floors of Wolfson...

*returns to revision*

Reply 15

Greatleysteg

19

Thanks for the help, guys :biggrin:

Hobnob: Hopefully they'll find me witty and charming in all years!

Quisquis: Yes, my surname begins with 'G', amazing powers of deduction, I didn't realise it was obvious that my username was a clever incorporation of two different nicknames.

I'm guessing these things are banned because of the mess? Or maybe they'll go on fire? Just seems a bit gutting that other colleges might have them, but oh well. It seems a bit pointless asking if we're allowed a kettle in our room, then, if there's no fridge for milk :frown:

Please tell me incense isn't banned from rooms?

Reply 16

hobnob

14

Greatleysteg

I'm guessing these things are banned because of the mess? Or maybe they'll go on fire? Just seems a bit gutting that other colleges might have them, but oh well. It seems a bit pointless asking if we're allowed a kettle in our room, then, if there's no fridge for milk :frown:

They're mainly banned because they can produce smoke and trigger fire alarms. And you really don't want to have to evacuate every time somebody on your corridor burns his toast...
As far as I know, most colleges ban them from rooms for the same reason, though. Nobody wants lots of avoidable fire alarms, after all.

Please tell me incense isn't banned from rooms?

I'm afraid it is. :frown:

And so are candles. (Fairy lights are banned too, but I suppose you won't be so keen on having those, so you won't feel deprived because of that.)

Reply 17

martin101

10

St Hughs has really quite decent kitchens. I share a small kitchen with 8 people on my staircase and we have a fridge, microwave, sink, 2 hobs and an oven. Cant go wrong there really - and Im in the 'not so great' accomodation!

Reply 18

caustic87

3

Exeter has one kitchen on the main site, which is usually in a pretty poor state (although it is getting better). It has oven, hobs, microwave - pretty much all you could want. But yes, one kitchen for the whole JCR - so not great. There is hall food three times a day in the week, and brunch and dinner at weekends.

Living out - most of us take houses so they obviously have kitchen. College accommodation in Stapledon House has kitchens too, but I'm not sure what the person to kitchen ratio is.

Reply 19

Tyraell

13

This is useful: the Mum wouldn't believe me when I told her kitchen facilities are sparse in Oxford. I think she's going to try and make me cook all my meals. ¬_¬

Kitchens in Oxford Colleges

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