<p>Those of you who roll your eyes and groan at silly mom questions can skip this thread.</p>
<p>Do the rooms have refrigerators? If not, do the houses have common refrigerators? Do common refrigerators have sufficient space or are they generally crammed full of moldy, unidentified objects?</p>
<p>What sort of stoves are available? Gas? Electric? (It just occurred to me that my son has never cooked on an electric stove. There's still time for a few quick lessons.) Do the stoves have ovens, or just burners? </p>
<p>Do the houses have any standard cooking things, such as wooden spoons, tongs, kitchen knives, cutting boards, measuring cups and spoons, etc.? </p>
<p>Does each house have a laundry or is there a central laundry?</p>
<p>Rooms do not have refrigerators but many people will buy small ones. I have had no trouble with finding space in house common fridges and keeping stuff there. They will often contain stuff that's been there for a while, but I've never noticed anything moldy.</p>
<p>Stoves are electric and they also have ovens. There are standard cooking utensils along with standard cooking items such as salt, sugar, etc.</p>
<p>The north houses share a laundry room. It's in the basement, not that far. It can be hard to find an open dryer sometimes as there are more washers than dryers, but otherwise it's fine.</p>
<p>I don't know anything about what the situation is with the south houses/mods.</p>
<p>Here's a follow-up question about refrigerators. We're planning to arrive early to have a few days to purchase items that can't be crammed into a couple of suitcases. Refrigerators fit this category. Will there be a place to store a mini refrigerator until my son has his final room assignment? If not, I'm sure he can make do for a while.</p>
<p>He will be able to keep his mini refrigerator in his rotation room (which he will have access to upon arriving, even if it's a few days early -- though double check with housing just to be absolutely sure), and then just move it when he gets his final assignment.</p>
<p>Housing charges something like $20 per day if you arrive early (though they are pretty lenient with when they start charging, often giving you about a week grace period, depending on whim). However, if you just want to use the room for storage (and live in a hotel, say) then you can arrange that with housing and it will be free.</p>
<p>Since I'll be staying in a hotel (no room in the luggage for my tent), it will be cheaper for my son to stay with me. Besides, we're planning on doing some sightseeing in addition to making purchases. </p>
<p>Talk about charges, several months ago I read that Caltech was considering charging students for staying in the houses over holidays. Have any of you heard anything about this or was it just a rumor?</p>
<p>I'm sorta picky about the kitchens. There do exist at least one or two gas stoves that I know of, but most of them are electric. That makes them easier to use and clean. :D I haven't had trouble with refrigerator space (there's always room in the common fridges, and if not... make room!), and my house at the least doesn't have problems with keeping the fridges clean.</p>
<p>However, I've found some of the house kitchens to be lacking in kitchenware. Seeing how I don't have my own stuff, it makes it pretty difficult for me to cook up stuff... sometimes I go to a better-equipped house to cook, but mostly I just ended up raiding my girlfriend's apartment. :D All in all, I rarely cooked during term.</p>
<p>I've never heard that before. Considering how much every department is trying to cut corners, I wouldn't be surprised if the idea was proposed in a meeting at one point. However, I doubt the idea would ever make it far enough to be proposed to the students. This is the type of idea which would provoke enough outrage that it would shot down pretty quickly.</p>
<p>Housing gave some (one House at least) Houses new cookware during the summer this year.</p>
<p>Also, I've heard rumors that some of the refrigerators and microwaves from the mods will be kept and be made available to students once the renovations are done.</p>
<p>Craig: they did? Where is it? What was it? You're not talking about the "no booze allowed" blenders, are you?</p>
<p>Most Houses have hoards of public cookware, held in common, usually including forks, plates, and a couple of beat-up skillets. Some kitchens are better equipped than others. For example, Mod 8 was fairly well equipped last year because people kept stealing my equipment. Between Target, the local grocery stores, and the Williams-Sonoma on Lake, it's easy to find whatever you need within walking distance.</p>