I'm making an apartment house with a lot (48) of tiny, 1-Sim apartments, all identical. Here's their layout:

The tiny kitchens will only have a small refrigerator and microwave, so the meal-making possibilities are limited.

My question is, what would be the best way to allow Sims to get a good meal in the common area of the building?
I know, or am pretty sure, I can't put a dorm-style kitchen, complete with chef, into an apartment building, right? At least not without using Mods, right? I'm trying to avoid having to use Mods.

So that leaves a self-serve kitchen, with refrigerator(s) and stove(s), right?

What about barbeques, but without a common area kitchen, so they still have to get the meat from their own mini-fridges? Will mini-fridges provide meat for barbecues?

Note that practically all activity for residents would be in the well-apportioned common areas, from skilling to recreation to simply interacting with neighbors. The only thing I'd expect them to do in their apartments is sleep, poop, shower and maybe eat a light snack or two.
Are apartments like this viable? Are there people who would play a Lot like this?
Or would tiny apartments like this be better suited for dorms?

(BTW, I know I've come to this forum asking for building advice before, specifically with this one and this one.
The former is a modern mansion, Concrete House #04, that is basically done, except for a little bit of testing and a couple of minor odds and ends. It will be uploaded in the not-too-distant future.
The latter continues to be a project I'm procrastinating over. It too will get done - eventually.
I know this forum is only for projects that will be uploaded, and both of those, as well as my current apartment building, will be.)

If you put a full kitchen in the common area, sims will be able to use it as a full kitchen. It will share food points with the active family; i.e., the sim you're currently playing can't get a meal from the mini-fridge, he won't be able to get one from the big one in the common area, too. The next household you play that just bought groceries will be fine, however.

A common area barbeque with no refrigerator should logically have the same meals available to it as one on a community lot. I've never tried this, so suggest you experiment to be sure.

Enough people want to play non-standard apartment set-ups with common area amenities that Inge found it worthwhile to make a mod that spawns the dorm cook on an apartment lot, and for Icad to make a mod that suppresses the wants to buy things like stoves and refrigerators that will constantly spawn if they have none in their apartments. I'm sure this would have takers.

Right, I knew that.

Quote:

It will share food points with the active family; i.e., the sim you're currently playing can't get a meal from the mini-fridge, he won't be able to get one from the big one in the common area, too.

Wut?

Right, I knew that too.


OK.


Yeah, I'd heard about the dorm cook Mod, but I've never used it and I'd forgotten about their wants & needs.
I like building apartments, but don't know enough about them.

So, build and play with them more. Best way to learn.

I'm not sure how to be more clear about the food points. I have an apartment house in Drama Acres which has a party room with a fully-stocked kitchen, as well as kitchens in the apartments. A family ran out of food at a time when I didn't feel like sending them to the grocery store, so I went to see if they could make one in the party room. Nope; same message. After they went to the grocery store, though, they were able to make meals in either kitchen. So it would appear that the game tracks how many food points are available to the family, regardless of which refrigerator they get food out of.

OK, got it now.