27-year-old roommate, Jess, demands $50 fee to use “her” kitchen, pushing her 25-year-old flatmate to move out: ‘Jess started dating a chef, She told me she doesn’t want me “messing up” the equipment because he “cooks professionally”’

A 27-year-old woman began charging her roommate a $50 "kitchen use fee" after deciding that shared counters and cookware had suddenly transformed into her private culinary lab. The inspiration? A new boyfriend who happens to be a chef and has apparently convinced her that pasta water is sacred and only the professionally enlightened are worthy to boil it.

Some roommates fight over noise. Some scrap over chores. And then there are the truly ambitious ones, who invent bold new ways to monetize areas you both already pay for.

This roommate, who also happens to be on the lease and paying half the rent, cooked a normal meal, got hit with a Venmo request, and was told she should be grateful for the privilege of being schooled in "proper" use of cookware. Equal rent, shared lease, mutual agreement? None of that mattered next to the towering prestige of dating someone with knives in a roll-up case.

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  • AIO for moving out after my roommate started charging me to use “her” kitchen?

    two women standing in a kitchen when has her back to the camera and the other is looking at her with a concerned facial expression, as if saying "I've had enough." below them is a quote that reads: "She said I'm overreacting and being petty. I've already started packing"
    via vgajic

    Image is representative only and does not depict the actual subjects of the story.

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  • Predictably, the response was not compliance but luggage. Moving out became easier than subsidizing an imaginary franchise kitchen inside a two-bedroom apartment.

  • I (25F) have been living with my roommate "Jess" (27F) for about a year. Rent is split evenly, and all shared spaces, kitchen, living room, laundry, are part of the lease.
    via CEO-Soul-Collectorx
  • Last month, Jess started dating a guy who's a chef. Ever since, she's been super possessive about the kitchen.
    via CEO-Soul-Collectorx
  • woman standing in a kitchen next to a stove top oven with her back to the camera
    via mora carini

    Image is representative only and does not depict the actual subjects of the story.

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  • She told me she doesn't want me "messing up" the equipment because he "cooks professionally" and has been "teaching her the right way to use the space."
    via CEO-Soul-Collectorx
  • Then last week, she actually sent me a Venmo request for $50 labeled "kitchen use fee" after I cooked pasta. I thought it was a joke, but she said she's serious,
    via CEO-Soul-Collectorx
  • woman standing in front of freestanding oven, cracking an egg in too a pan
    via Le Creuset

    Image is representative only and does not depict the actual subjects of the story.a

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  • that it's "only fair" since she spends more time cleaning it and I “don't know how to handle high-quality cookware."
    via CEO-Soul-Collectorx

  • The broader point here is that every roommate arrangement is a gamble. Some people cover the paper towels. Others start believing shared spaces become theirs the moment a love interest validates their superiority. When faced with being nickel-and-dimed in your own home, there’s only one recipe that works. Pack up. Move out. Let them enjoy their private restaurant, with no one left to split the check

  • I told her that's absurd, and if she keeps this up, I'll find another place. She said I'm overreacting and being petty.
    via CEO-Soul-Collectorx
  • I've already started packing. Am I wrong here?
    via CEO-Soul-Collectorx
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