Mouldy plates, burning pans, clouds of vape smoke: how to survive the horrors of the shared kitchen

Whether it’s your first day at uni or your 10th year in a flatshare, there’s no telling what awaits you whenever you enter the communal kitchen. Here’s how to cook and eat with the minimum of squalor – and the maximum of safetyThe communal kitchen is the beating heart of a houseshare. In the sitcom Friends, it’s where Monica gets a turkey stuck on her head; in New Girl, it’s where Nick repeatedly fixes the kitchen sink whenever he’s “going through stuff”. It’s the natural place for drunken deep and meaningful chats, first kisses and epic fallouts. It’s also where many people discover how truly disgusting having housemates can be. It can often feel like you’re taking your health into your own hands when you cook in a shared kitchen.It’s something the rising number of seasoned house-sharers among us know too well. While the exact number of house-sharers in the UK is hard to quantify precisely, Spare Room report the number of people in the UK looking to rent via the flat-sharing platform has tripled between 2013 and 2023, and further reports indicate 11.5% of house sharers are over 40. It’s also something this year’s fresher students who are opting to live in university halls are about to find out. Continue reading...Weiter zum vollständigen Artikel bei TheGuardian Weiter zum vollständigen Artikel bei TheGuardian