Photo by Ash Wednesday on Unsplash
Today’s post is a continuation of our last post about kitchen supplies, except this week, we’re getting more specific and talking about what we ourselves use in our dorm room on a regular basis. Read on to discover what appliances we get the most use out of, and what we recommend to build your own dorm kitchen!
Microwave
We knew we would use our microwave pretty heavily, so during our freshman year we invested about $70 in a microwave from Target. However, lots of times you can find decent microwaves used or cheap, and depending on your school, you might even be able to rent one for the semester/year. A microwave is a great appliance for a dorm room – there’s lots of recipes online for microwave meals that are easy to make in a small space, and of course it’s nice to heat up your leftovers or the tea you forgot about!
Mini fridge
A mini fridge is another appliance that’s great to have in a dorm room – it’s super helpful to be able to store cold food and leftovers, and fresh foods like fruit and veggies tend to stay fresh longer if kept in the fridge. If you have space, it’s a good idea to get a large one with a decent-sized freezer – it might not seem necessary at the time, but having freezer space is helpful when planning meals and grocery shopping in advance! Like microwaves, some schools have the option to rent a mini fridge for the semester/year, which is a great cost-effective option.
Coffee pot
If you don’t want to pay for school coffee, a coffee maker is essential! We love ours because (let’s face it) who wants to go anywhere on campus before your daily caffeine fix? As a high school graduation gift-to-ourselves, we invested in a $100 Hamilton Beach coffee maker with a single serving attachment; however, if you’re not planning on using it heavily, there’s plenty of inexpensive coffee makers that will get you through school! There are also lots of hacks for cooking with your coffee makers, such as steaming veggies and making ramen. If you’re only an occasional coffee drinker, you could consider a French press or single serving coffee maker, such as Keruig (or a Keruig-like off-brand).
Electric kettle
An electric kettle is another essential appliance in our dorm. Both of us regularly drink tea, and not a day goes by when one of us doesn’t switch the kettle on in the morning (or afternoon… or evening…). We found ours for pretty cheap on Amazon, but you can check stores like Target or Ikea as well. Like coffee makers, there are a lot of hacks and creative ways to use an electric kettle that you can find online (check out Pinterest for some ideas!)
Crock pot
We bought a 2qt slow cooker from Target for about $12, and we use it all the time during the school year! We usually make soups or stews, but slow cookers are also great for dips, fondue, and hot drinks. If you’re comfortable cooking meat, you can use a slow cooker for dishes with chicken, pork, beef, sausage, or whatever else your recipe calls for. As you can tell from this blog, we love to cook a lot of our own food, but other responsibilities tend to take time away from our meal prep. It’s a wonderful feeling to throw ingredients into our slow cooker in the morning and come home after a busy day to a hot, delicious meal!
Sandwich maker, waffle maker
These were items we owned before college; we don’t use them super often in our dorm, but every now and again we break them out for a pancake night! If you’re not a fan of pancakes, waffles, or sandwiches, there’s lots of recipes online for different dishes you can make with these appliances, such as calzones or mountain pies.
Bread machine
We bought a bread machine for the spring semester of our sophomore year, after we had gotten our feet thoroughly soaked in the world of college cooking. It was a big investment, but by that time we knew cooking was going to be a constant in our dorm lives, and fresh baked bread was exactly what we wanted to add to our tiny kitchen. Bread machines can get pricey, and they can take up a lot of space in a cramped dorm room, but if you like to cook and bake a lot we definitely recommend looking into buying one! If you take care of it, it will last for years, and fresh bread is a surefire way to win your roommates’ affection.
Pots and pans
We found a great set of nice pots and pans at Target for $44.99; it came with 4 sizes of pots/pans along with 5 cooking utensils and 3 lids. It was perfect for us, but depending on your personal cooking style and storage options, a different set of pots and pans might be better for you. If you only need one or two, you can also buy individual pots and pans; however, it often ends up being cheaper in the long run to buy them in a set.
Set of knives
Good kitchen knives are another worthwhile investment for up and coming chefs. We found a set on Amazon that came with 6 knives for $25. Again, buying a whole set of knives isn’t always necessary, but it can be cheaper to buy them in a collection rather than individually. We have different sizes of paring knives and serrated knives (good for cutting/chopping veggies), as well as a bread knife (which has gotten a lot of use since we brought home a bread machine!). Similar to pots and pans, your style of cooking and cooking needs might differ from ours, so do some research before investing in kitchen knives to see what best fits your needs!
Silverware and dishes
Buying paper products is unsustainable and can get expensive, so we recommend some basic silverware and dishes for your dorm! Make sure the dishes are microwave safe (because you’re a college student, and we know you’re cooking more in your microwave than you care to admit…). We have a collection of various plates, bowls, and mugs that we’ve bought from places like Target, Ikea, and thrift stores; we’ve also received some from families “cleaning out” their kitchens (no one is above nicking a few spoons and forks from home!).
Cooking utensils
Most of our utensils came in a set with our pots and pans, but there’s a few others we picked up when we needed them. These are what we currently own and use: spatulas (silicone mixing spatula and flat plastic spatula), various serving/stirring spoons, whisk, ladle, and various knives. Kitchen utensils are the kind of thing we’ve collected gradually over time – they’re pretty inexpensive on their own, so we’ve never bothered to buy a set of them.
Hot pads/oven mitts
These are often overlooked, but they’re absolutely essential if you’re planning on cooking with an oven! Check stores like Target and Ikea, and make sure to pick up more than one; we have four or five hot pads between the two of us, and use all of them constantly.
There are a few additional cooking/baking supplies we’ve picked up: sheet pans (various sizes), 9×13 cake pan (good for cakes, casseroles, and desserts like fruit crisps or brownies), bread pan (we use this for quick breads when getting the bread machine out is too much of a hassle), pie plate (bought used from a thrift store), and a set of measuring cups and spoons. These are just odds and ends that we’ve collected along our cooking journey, but we’ve gotten tons of use out of all of them!
We hope this list has inspired you and given you some ideas for you own dorm kitchen! As always, feel free to let us know if you have any questions, comments, or suggestions.
❤ Juliana and Sarah
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