The Student Room Group

Accomodation Hygiene - Kitchens and bathrooms.

Hi everyone!

I need an ensuite for medical reasons and fortunately my college have made a note of this for me, however they have informed me that en suite rooms have kitchens shared between a larger amount of students (10+.)

Being able to self cater is important to me due to autism and arfid, and the idea of that many people in one area stresses me out a bit from a social perspective. I also struggle with ocd (partly why I can't fo shared bathrooms) and have been told that the kitchens are not cleaned over the weekend. I know its super early to be getting caught up in this, but I know I can get really paranoid about hygiene and getting sick and would like to avoid having a crisis in the first week.

Do you think I will be okay in a kitchen that large?
(edited 2 months ago)

Reply 1

In blunt terms, I couldn't.
I am also autistic and have had arfid suggested to me in terms of my difficulty managing food. I wasn't able to manage with sharing kitchens with many people in my first year, and I was only sharing with 4 (although in a really small kitchen). I majorly struggled with eating and the college nurse eventually got my room changed to one that had cooking facilities in room after christmas (was a wheelchair accessible room which I didn't need but I did need the cooking facilities) and then it got much better.

I could probably share cooking facilities again as I now have better coping mechanisms, but I couldn't share with 10 people. No way.

I'm not saying this to say that you would definitely not manage, but I think it is important to be aware that it may be a challenge. I was not prepared for it being an issue, and as a result it took far longer than it should have for me to notice my spiral.

It might be worth bringing this up with college. It's not impossible they'll have an alternative, and even if not it is good that they're aware so they can help you if you do start to have issues.
Original post by plaguedbyspleen
Hi everyone!
I need an ensuite for medical reasons and fortunately my college have made a note of this for me, however they have informed me that en suite rooms have kitchens shared between a larger amount of students (10+.)
Being able to self cater is important to me due to autism and arfid, and the idea of that many people in one area stresses me out a bit from a social perspective. I also struggle with ocd (partly why I can't fo shared bathrooms) and have been told that the kitchens are not cleaned over the weekend. I know its super early to be getting caught up in this, but I know I can get really paranoid about hygiene and getting sick and would like to avoid having a crisis in the first week.
Do you think I will be okay in a kitchen that large?

Don't panic about things too soon. By all means warn your College Nurse that this may be an issue (once you have a confirmed place), but many students won't use the kitchen at all, and some only rarely for making the odd late night snack. So 'shared between 10' might only mean 'shared between 4' in practical terms.

It's also possible in some Colleges to organise kitchens so that one is kept for those that have specific needs - though this does depend very much on how the buildings are laid out. That's why it is helpful to warn the College of these sorts of things in advance, so they can build it in to the room allocations. It's often very difficult to re-engineer these things once everyone has moved in,

Reply 3

Original post by Fibonacci28
In blunt terms, I couldn't.
I am also autistic and have had arfid suggested to me in terms of my difficulty managing food. I wasn't able to manage with sharing kitchens with many people in my first year, and I was only sharing with 4 (although in a really small kitchen). I majorly struggled with eating and the college nurse eventually got my room changed to one that had cooking facilities in room after christmas (was a wheelchair accessible room which I didn't need but I did need the cooking facilities) and then it got much better.
I could probably share cooking facilities again as I now have better coping mechanisms, but I couldn't share with 10 people. No way.
I'm not saying this to say that you would definitely not manage, but I think it is important to be aware that it may be a challenge. I was not prepared for it being an issue, and as a result it took far longer than it should have for me to notice my spiral.
It might be worth bringing this up with college. It's not impossible they'll have an alternative, and even if not it is good that they're aware so they can help you if you do start to have issues.

Original post by threeportdrift
Don't panic about things too soon. By all means warn your College Nurse that this may be an issue (once you have a confirmed place), but many students won't use the kitchen at all, and some only rarely for making the odd late night snack. So 'shared between 10' might only mean 'shared between 4' in practical terms.
It's also possible in some Colleges to organise kitchens so that one is kept for those that have specific needs - though this does depend very much on how the buildings are laid out. That's why it is helpful to warn the College of these sorts of things in advance, so they can build it in to the room allocations. It's often very difficult to re-engineer these things once everyone has moved in,
The college have gotten in touch with me again and I have the choice between either

A) An en-suite room with a shared kitchen (5-6 people) in a building with possible noise from the bar
B) Sharing a bathroom and kitchen with one other person in a building with possible noise from the staff car park.

I’m not sure if it would be more manageable to only have one person to share with, or if that could be problematic if we don’t get along. If I have an ensuite at least that cleanliness and privacy is guaranteed, but I lose that with the kitchen.

From what I can surmise option A is likely in the Dorothy Garrod building, which seems to have been built quite recently. Option B is either Clough or Peile. If any students could weigh in on what these buildings/living arrangements are like, that would be very helpful

Reply 4

I'd go B personally. The noise is more likely to be in the day rather than the night, and you can at least mostly avoid the other person if you don't get along. Also only one person's mess if they turn out to be messy. But that is just my preference.

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