Should I deny access to the kitchen or not?

[Mary696]

Need some input on the use of my kitchen.  I have been a host for about a year and a half.  I have always allowed my guests full access to my kitchen.  I clear space in my fridge.  If they stay for longer than a week I also clear space in my freezer and pantry.  I have no issue with guests storing food.  My issue is that my kitchen is being destroyed.   I  have had pots and pans ruined.  I have very expensive knifes that are being destroyed.  I had to replace a toaster oven because a guest left it on for about 5 hours and melted the power cord.   Then there are the little 'nit picky' things like not putting dishes away after they are used and not wiping down the counters and stove.

Here' where I could use some input.  Should I deny access to those staying a sort time and allow only the long term guests access?  Should I deny access to everyone?  If I make dinner/breakfast, I do invite my guests to join me.  I just don't want my kitchen destroyed anymore. 

Thanks in advance!!

[Linda108]

@Mary696   Early on I decided that I would limit use of my kitchen to "light use".  You can edit your amenities to add the limited use so guests know that before booking.   My listing is in an area with many great restaurants and I now limit the maximum stay to a week.  I also provide a rather substantial breakfast.  

If your target market needs to have full access to the kitchen and has long stays, then perhaps there are some additional steps you can take to limit damage.   You might consider a separate small refridgerator, guest dedicated pots and pans and utensils, guest dedicated cupboard and defined guest kitchen access time period.

[Rachel0]

@Mary696 If I had to share my kitchen with a guest I would have given up hosting a long time ago for the sake of my sanity!  Like you, I rent a private room in my home and allow guests to use the kitchen only to make a tea/coffee or to use the microwave to heat a ready meal.  I also let them have space in the fridge for cold snacks.  I am fortunate in that I live in a "village" area of London where there are several independent coffee shops, a couple of great pubs and some lovely restaurants all within a 5 minute walk of my front door but I noticed that in one of your reviews a guest mentioned that you had left a house manual with ideas for local places to eat so perhaps you are in the same kind of area.  There is absolutely no point in watching your lovely kitchen get destroyed when you don't have to, so my advice would be to withdraw that amenity as soon as possible.  It just isn't worth the grief.

[Pat347]

Ouch, Thank you for sharing. I also list my kitchen including, but luckily nobody has heavily using my kitchen yet. I write the house manual what they need to do while using the share space eg. kitchen need to be clean after use as we sharing kitchen with other tenants...

But I will keep that in mind that my kitchen my be destroy and I will not like that lol 

[Paul154]

@Mary696 

So many of hosts have gone through this dilemma. 

You don't yet have the experience of renting without kitchen usage and discovering you'll make the same exact money with or without a kitchen.

So the business question becomes:

Do I rent a room for $XX without the hassle and expense of kitchen usage 

OR 

Do i rent a room for $XX with the expense and hassle of kitchen usage?

[Mark116]

@Mary696  I would guess you want to do it the other way, deny full use to the guests who are more likely to cook, which is longer term, at least that is my experience, people who come for 2/3 days almost never cook unless it's a family w/young children.  But I'd agree that make it 'light use' as @Linda108  suggests...make coffee, boil water, use the microwave, I would guess the toaster was probably a one off deal, and so you could probably let them use the toaster too.

FYI, my kitchen anecdote, I had bought a set of truly beautiful used pots/pans for the unit--heavy, stainless, riveted with heating coil on the bottom, as one of the periodic upgrades, after we had finally retired the random old stuff we had in there.  At about the 4th time these wonderful pots/pans were burned with food left in them, that was the end of that.  The beautiful set came upstairs to my kitchen and I bought a cheap new set for the guests, at the same cost.  

[Kath9]

@Mary696, I started out allowing cooking but soon realised it was a nightmare. I get a lot of guests from certain neighboring countries that NEVER go out for dinner, despite my place being a 10 minute walk to a wide range of cafes and restaurants. They would literally spend hours in the kitchen cooking every night and I would not even be able to make my own dinner. Not too mention the burnt pots, the burn marks on my nice wooden benches from placing hot pots on them, the grease spattered everywhere, the copious amounts of waste all put in the wrong bins that I would then have to sort out, etc. I hated it. I now limit kitchen to light use only (kettle, toaster, microwave) but guests staying 3 nights or more can 'negotiate' use of the stove/oven for quick meals only. Its so much better. As @Paul154 has pointed out, I make the same amount of money with much less of a headache AND it keeps my costs/work down not having them cook for hours. My recommendation? Ditch the kitchen use - you'll enjoy the experience more! 

[Kath9]

Also @Mary696, I wouldn't be inviting guests to join me for dinner unless you want to charge them extra for it. They are paying guests, not friends. 

[Sarah977 · Accepted solution]

@Mary696  Well, I'm a host who allows full kitchen use and have never had a problem with it. All my guests have been respectful and cleaned up after themselves and haven't ruined anything. But I do only host one guest at a time, so there aren't any elaborate meals being prepared.

One would think that cleaning up after oneself wouldn't need to be mentioned, but if you want to continue to offer kitchen use, considering the type of guests you're getting who aren't respectful, I'd make a list of what needs to be done as far as kitchn clean-up and be quite specific. And definitely get a second set of almost everything for guest use and be adamant that they are only to use those things, not yours.

[Mary696]

Thank you everyone for the feed back.  I did update my listing to 'light use' of the kitchen.  

[Mark4168]

I allow full access to my shared kitchen, but now have a guest who booked for a month and she prepares meals for the week in the morning, an hour and a half in the kitchen. I wait until she is done before I go in to make coffee and oatmeal, but she keeps cutting food, etc. Finally I went into the kitchen area and said good morning, I need to make coffee. I don't think I will let her book another month. I need my space back. I updated my listing to say that to please limit use of the kitchen to a half hour at a time. to save my sanity.

[Huma0]

@Mark4168 

Why could you not just go in and make your coffee and oatmeal while the guest is in there? Do you only use the kitchen when guests are not? That, I can imagine, makes for quite an inconvenient set up. I have a shared space too and it's important to me that the guests understand that it is shared.

So, that means they need to understand that other people might also want to use the kitchen (most people actually get this) or that someone else might be using the laundry facilities, so don't expect them always to be free the minute you decide to do your laundry. You just have to find nice ways to phrase it! 

[Huma0]

@Mark4168 

Also, I have found it hard to put limits on things. I have never tried to limit kitchen access. I host long term guests and some use the kitchen a lot. Others hardly use it at all. However, I think it is an amenity that long term guests want because eating out in London is really expensive. Long termers are looking for a home away from home situation.

I have recently tried limiting laundry, because guests were going crazy with it and my (relatively new) washing machine wore out and broke. That's before you even factor in the high energy costs. So, I specified in the house rules that guests get ONE load of laundry a week, but it's made absolutely no difference. Some will still put on multiple tiny loads every week. I wouldn't mind that if they used the quick wash setting like I asked them to, but some put on tiny amounts on a long wash regardless.

What I'm trying to say is that if you offer an amenity, many guests will expect free use of that amenity. People do not like to read the fine print and, even if they do, they just ignore the bits they don't agree with!

[Mark4168]

Yes, I understand what you're saying. I just think I need a break from sharing my house with guests. It's nice to be able to have your own space.

[Huma0]

@Mark4168 

Yes, we all get 'host fatigue' from time to time. I have certainly experienced it myself a few times this year. 

If you can afford it, it's certainly good to take a break sometimes and just have your space and peace of mind back!