8 Super Useful Dorm Kitchen Essentials That Will Make Your Life So Much Easier

Want to know the dorm kitchen essentials you need to get to make cooking in your dorm a breeze? Here are some kitchen products I used all the time when living in the dorms that you need to know about.

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Moving into a dorm with very little space to cook can be a really scary experience, especially if you’re like me and have dietary restrictions that make eating in the dining hall really unfulfilling. As someone who had to cook in the dorm a lot, I’m going to tell you all about the dorm kitchen essentials that made my dorm life so much easier.

You’re going to learn about all of the kitchen essentials for college students that will help you to be able to make food in your dorm despite the small amount of space.

After you read this post, you’ll be prepared to be a chef within the confines of your dorm room! (Sidenote: Some dorms do have rules against certain kinds of appliances, so make sure you know what your college allows and doesn’t. These were all things that were allowed in my dorm, though.)

This post is all about dorm kitchen essentials that every college student should know about.

Best Dorm Kitchen Essentials

1. Electric Skillet

My freshman year roommate bought an electric skillet for our dorm, and it was so useful. I love to cook pasta, and it was perfect for that. You can also use it for cooking pancakes, grilled cheese, eggs, and just about anything else. This is probably the most useful appliance that I had in my dorm.

I can’t remember what the exact one we had was, but this one is reasonably priced and has really good reviews on amazon.

2. Toaster oven

This is another thing that my roommate got for our dorm. It’s really awesome because you can not only toast things, but you can also make things like pizza, muffins, etc. I never really thought about getting a toaster oven for my dorm because I had no clue that you could use it to cook so many things, but I was super glad to have one in my dorm.

Again, I can’t remember what brand of toaster oven we had, but the one I linked is reasonably priced and has good reviews!

3. Crock pot

Okay, crock pots are super useful in dorms. They’re especially nice because you can put the food in before you go to class, and then when you come back the food will be done cooking!

I think my favorite thing that I have made in my crock put was a peach dump cake. *insert drooling emoji* We’ve also made dumplings, taco soup, chili, and other things like that.

4. Rice Cooker

I got this rice cooker for my birthday last year and I LOVE it. It is so cute and dainty and perfect for making rice for one person. I also use mine for simmer pots to make my house smell nice.

I know there are some colleges that are super strict with what appliances they will allow, but I’ve heard that rice cookers are usually allowed. So if you’re dorm is super strict at least check and see if you can have a rice cooker!

5. Blender

This isn’t the blender that I had when I was in the dorms, I think I just had a dinky little $10 one that I got at Walmart. But this one is a best seller on Amazon and is SO cute!

A blender is super nice to have in your dorm because you can make smoothies, milkshakes, soup, etc.

6. Electric Kettle

An electric kettle is another thing that most dorms will allow, and it is awesome to have because it boils water. That means even if you don’t have a microwave, you can make ramen noodles, tea, mac and cheese, and anything else that needs boiling water.

7. Coffee Maker

This isn’t the coffee maker that I had when I lived in the dorms but I have a Keurig I use now and I love it so much. The water tank is just so convenient and it heats up in like .2 seconds, so making coffee is so quick in the morning. I know a lot of college students go with the mini version like this one so it won’t take up too much space in the dorm room.

Even though I love Keurigs, they can be out of most college students’ budgets. The one I used in the dorms was this one from Walmart.

8. Little pancake griddle

When I lived in the dorms I had a mini pancake griddle like this, and I loved to make pancakes in it. It’s cool because you can also make other things in it too. I made grilled cheeses and stuff in it a few times.

This post was all about dorm kitchen essentials to help you be super prepared when moving into your new college dorm room.

I hope this gives you some ideas of appliances that you can get for your dorm room! I definitely wish I would have known about all of these when I first moved into my dorm.

8 Super Useful Dorm Kitchen Essentials That Will Make Your Life So Much Easier