Cooking

Cooking and Kitchens

The House has public kitchens on the first and third floors of Van Pelt and the first and second floors in Class of 1925. We try to keep them available to our residents as often as possible to allow for differing schedules, lifestyles, etc. That said, cooking conditions in dormitory environments can become undesirable quite quickly... especially when hundreds of students are in the mix. Regular access to kitchens is best ensured --and fines avoided! -- if our residents follow these simple guidelines for using cooking spaces:

  1. Clean up after yourselves. Thoroughly. We can't stress this enough. We try to keep some cleaning supplies available in these areas (you can check with the House Office if there aren't any).  
  2. Do not leave any dirty pots, pans, dishes, and glasses in the sinks; any unclean items found will be thrown away.
  3. We strongly suggest that residents use the micro-fridges in their apartments for food storage. Do not take anyone else’s food/drink from the refrigerators. Please mark your own items, and be sure to remove them before they spoil. The House is not responsible for materials left in the public fridges, and we will be disposing of them on a regular basis. 
  4. Please do not store your cooking utensils, pots, ingredients, spices, etc in the kitchens. Keep them in your room. We suggest you bring Tupperware or another container to transport your supplies to and from the kitchen.  
  5. Avoid excess smoke—be sure to open windows so that it can escape. If the room is smoky and you open the door to the hallway, the building’s fire alarms will sound and everyone needs to evacuate. So keep doors shut and windows open.
  6. Frying bacon is prohibited, due to numerous fire alarms throughout the years.
  7. Note that Gregory is a heavily programmatic community and our kitchens (particularly those on the first floors) are often used for House events, whether on a regular schedule or a one-time basis. These events are always advertised via email or the lobby event boards. You will need to use a different public kitchen during those events and event prep. Don't give staff members a hard time-- those first-floor kitchens, in particular, exist primarily for programmatic purposes.
  8. Our kitchens are for Gregory resident use. Of course, you can have a friend present with you. But they are not to be used by your fraternity/sorority, performing arts troupe, team, student group etc. We need to keep the spaces available to as many Gregorians as possible. If we find that you are abusing our spaces in this way, we will shut off your kitchen access altogether.
  9. Note that Penn's residential policies prohibit the consumption of alcohol in public spaces, even if students are of legal drinking age. This means that you cannot have wine or beer with dinner in the kitchens, even if you and your friends are 21.  If you are, please do your (legal) drinking in your apartments.