How about if everytime you cooked you had to return the wares to your room ?

Maybe it is a way for all to keep their own things! No "he ate my food" or "who used my skillet and didn't wash it?". Also, probably keeps the landlord from doing so much work to clean up after others. some never learned how to wipe the counter or clean up after themselves. WIth all the gadgets and things out there today, you could probably find a cool little travel tote thingy on wheels where you could keep your main things that you use all the time and then just add extras as you need it. Wheel it to the kitchen, and when finished, wheel it back to your room. Will be interesting to hear how you discover to handle it! Could be something fun for you to work on!

I've lived in student housing before; I know first-hand that it is best to keep one's things locked away from other residents. Regardless of your landlord's rationale for the policy, it is a good practice. Otherwise, things tend to "grow legs."

I have actually been in this situation before...i rented a room in an apartment building that had two or three kitchens throughout the facility for everyone to use... I admit it was a pain in the rear to cook, do the dishes and carry all the stuff back and forth immediately when cooking a meal, but I guess sometimes you just do what you have to do... I know it can be a pain.... maybe your landlord just wants you to keep all of your things in your room so that they ar not mixed with other tenants... We really didn't have that rule where I lived, but we all did it anyway just because we didn't want our things to come up missing and it was a four story building with lots of tenants.... when people wouldn't clean up after themselves immediately and other people needed to come in and cook their food.. but they had to pick up the first persons mess before they could cook their own... so I can kind of see where the landlord is coming from.. but still, like I said before, I know it can be a huge pain.... hopefully you won't have to deal with it for to much longer, and maybe you can move to a different place :)