The 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.
