<p>I know this has been discussed on here previously, but before D rules this dorm out entirely, I wanted to confirm with someone who (or whose child) has actually lived in Riverside. Is it correct that there are no stovetops or ovens in the Riverside community kitchens? So the kids could not bake a tray of cookies or fry an egg if the mood struck? My D isn’t much of a cook, but she finds the idea of being able to bake goodies or cook a real meal on occasion to be appealing. Other than the pool (which I assume is available for use by kids in other dorms) does Riverside have anything special that the other honors dorms don’t?</p>
<p>Correct, there is no stovetop in Riverside. There is a convection/microwave combo oven in the community kitchen, but D hasn’t used it to “bake” anything.</p>
<p>Nothing special about Riverside except the shared space in the suites is bigger/better arranged than that of Ridgecrest South. There’s no oven/stove, and the convection oven is REALLY difficult to use.</p>
<p>^^ As I understand it, the shared space at Riverside is the same as Lakeside and Ridgecrest WEST (not South). And Lakeside and Ridgecrest West have the stovetop and oven, right? Anyone know why they didn’t put the stovetop and oven in Riverside? It seems like a really nice amenity, and one the kids would use from time to time.</p>
<p>Riverside doesn’t have a stovetop. </p>
<p>My son was in Riverside his first year, but he’s not one to cook, so no biggie for him.</p>
<p>If my child wanted to “fry an egg”, I’d have him bring an electric skillet and use that in the common kitchen. </p>
<p>As for baking, I know that there is some kind of convection oven in Riverside, but I don’t remember size/ease of use.</p>
<p>If it’s a normal convection oven, those aren’t really hard to use, you just need to reduce temp by 25 degrees and cut cook time by about 1/4 - 1/3. So, if you’re baking cookies that would normally cook at 375 for 15 mins…then you’d cook them at 350 for about 10 minutes. Once you’ve tried it a time or two, you learn whether an oven runs hotter or not.</p>
<p>^^ So are all those “forbidden appliances” (the electric frying pan, the hot plate, the crock pot, the George Foreman, etc.) permitted in the common kitchens? Not that my D would lug that stuff to school; I’m just curious.</p>
<p>I don’t think grills and crockpots are allowed. Crockpots probably not because you leave them to cook for long periods of time. </p>
<p>Electric skillets may be a no no in the common kitchens, but I really don’t see why. You’d use it quickly and be done.</p>
<p>We’ve been using this list on the UA housing website to determine what is allowed and what is prohibited. D was very happy to see that crockpots are supposedly allowed. </p>
<p><a href=“http://housing.ua.edu/pdfs/GlossaryofHRCpolicies.pdf[/url]”>http://housing.ua.edu/pdfs/GlossaryofHRCpolicies.pdf</a></p>
<p>^^ I was pleasantly surprised to see crock pot on that list of allowed appliances. I could have sworn I’d previously seen a list that prohibited it, so maybe this is new. I could never figure out what the problem was with a crock pot, since they’re made to be left for hours at a time.</p>
<p>Too bad that an electric skillet is not allowed. I see that they can bring a toaster, but the news often has stories about a fire being started by a toaster. You can bake a cake in a crockpot, so maybe your D would be okay living in Riverside. I don’t know why my D has chosen Riverside. We visit in 2 weeks, so we are going to look closer at the dorms. I know that she does not want to live in Ridgecrest South- North Tower.</p>
<p>Just curious, how did she rule out Ridgecrest South-North Tower?</p>
<p>Son is attending in the fall, he has no idea which dorm just knows he wants a suite syle dorm. Do certain dorms attract certain types of students? greek, non-greek, studiers, partiers, etc.?</p>
<p>Linnylu - LOL at the thought of my D making a cake in a crockpot. Actually, it might be an improvement, because she’s never successfully made a cake in the oven. She’s made many cake attempts, each one more comical and disastrous than the one before. Her talents lie more with cookies and brownies, although she can make excellent frosting if someone else provides the cake, and she made a really good cherry pie for pi day a couple weeks ago. She also can heat up a frozen pizza with the best of them, and loves to make homemade pizza from scratch. </p>
<p>I really want to know why they’d put ovens and stovetops in the other honors dorms and not in this one.</p>
<p>If I’m not mistaken, the Riverside dorms were the first of the suite style dorms. Maybe the developers underestimated the student’s desire to cook in the dorms. Until then it probably wasn’t an option except in apartments. My D lived in Riverside her freshman year, and is returning for her Junior year. The location is the best for access to central campus.
Hope this helps.</p>
<p>Son has a rarely-used crockpot which is programmable with an automatic shut-off. He has used it to cook vegetable chicken soups and vegetable beef soups.</p>
<p>Is a pizzazz allowed? It’s not specifically stated on either list. I’m guessing it’s closest to a toaster so it would be ok?</p>
<p>Catfan - good to know Riverside has the best access to the central campus. I haven’t been on campus yet (D visited with my husband). Would the English building and the Business school be considered central campus?</p>
<p>I’m not sure which building is English, but my D has class frequently in Ten Hoor, and it’s central campus. Business bldgs. are an easy walk too. But my family dosn’t mind walking, so what is easy for us, may not be for someone else. You can check it out when you are on campus. It’s an easy campus to navigate. Riverside West is the dorm my D prefers. It it on the front side of the Riverside complex, just behind the Ferg. parking lot. She had a first floor room, near the front door, it was really convenient.
You’ll enjoy your visit, the flowers should be in bloom, and the wisteria along the river walk should be gorgeous in April.</p>
<p>The Ridgecrest community is MUCH closer to the Ferg, Library, & Quad (& ferg parking lot) than Riverside. Ridgecrest is also the closest to ten Hoor and Morgan (location of many English classes)</p>
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<p>I had to google this to see what it was. I’d never heard of a Pizzazz, but what a cool little appliance! If I had to guess, I’d guess it was a no-no - seems more like a toaster oven (forbidden) than a toaster, but of course I have no idea. if this thing works as advertised, it’d be great for those who love pizza. Do you actually have one?</p>
<p>My D ruled out Ridgecrest South- North Tower (that sounds so confusing to me) because she read 1X on here that it is the “rowdiest” of the honors suites and that fire alarms are pulled there. Her older sister is in college now and complained often about how the fire alarms are pulled during the night. That seems to have died down 2nd semester in her honors dorm of all freshman. Plus, D wants a C or D room that is further away from the common area in the Riverside or Lakeside setup. </p>
<p>As for the kitchen with stove, older daughter really wanted a certain honors dorm because it had a kitchen on the floor that everyone could use. She lucked out in the lottery and got that dorm. Well, she’s used the kitchen 2X total. Once they made a spaghetti dinner and never did that again because of the work of gathering ingredients, cooking, and cleaning up without a dishwasher. She made cookies the 2nd time and had other complaints about that. She sounds spoiled, but she really isn’t! She is so busy with her classes she said she just doesn’t have the time to cook. She cooked/baked a ton over Christmas break and her recent spring break.</p>