Of all the inconveniences I face living in a college dormitory, none rivals the absence of a well-equipped kitchen. I feel uncomfortably confined knowing that I cannot make a lasagna bolognese from scratch given a quick trip to the grocery store and ten or eleven hours of uninterrupted time with various kitchen gadgets. Not that I regularly make lasagna from scratch, even when I'm at home. (After going through the whole process last December, including the manufacture of the noodles, I've concluded it's something one ought to do about once a year, at the very most.) There's just something immensely comforting in knowing I could make profiteroles on a whim.

More pressingly, I find not having a kitchen at my disposal prevents me from following my desired food consumption path. Namely, I can't have a nice, relaxing mug of well-made hot chocolate on a whim. (Anyone who claims I can walk to the dining commons and have a mug of hot chocolate there must have desensitized taste buds. Their hot chocolate is better described as a hot chocolate-like beverage.) Principally, this inconvenience stems from my distaste for small refrigerators, which makes it difficult to keep the requisite milk on hand. But I have my reasons. First, storing something as large and bulky as a small refrigerator over the summer would be an inconvenience. Second, it seems really unnecessary for me to buy an appliance to chill milk, bottled water and the occasional bar of exotic chocolate. Third, for less than $2000, it's impossible to find an undercounter-style refrigerator with any kind of soundproofing. I would not welcome the drone of a dorm refrigerator's compressor humming all night.

A few minutes ago, however, it occurred to me that some companies sell aseptic single-serving containers of milk that don't require refrigeration. (Why it took two-and-a-half years for me to make this link, I don't know.) Though convenience does come at a steep price. From everything I've been able to glean online, this super-convenient milk runs about $30 a gallon, or at least ten times the price of a conventionally packaged gallon of milk. I would probably come out ahead in the long run if I bought a small, inexpensive refrigerator.

Yet another bizarre tradeoff only I will ever face.