Can you actually cook anything in a goshiwon?

Honestly: simple things, yes. Cooking the way you cook at home in Italy, no. This is one of the genuine costs of a goshiwon and it is worth being clear-eyed about before you commit to a year.

What a shared goshiwon kitchen typically has: two induction or gas hobs, a microwave, a rice cooker, a kettle, a sink, and a shared fridge. Usually no oven — this is true of Korea generally, not just goshiwon. Basic pots and pans, of variable quality.

What is realistic:
- Pasta, absolutely. One pot, 15 minutes, and it is the single most common thing foreign students cook in goshiwon.
- Stir fries, soups, fried eggs, anything one-pan.
- Rice-based meals using the communal rice.

What is not:
- Anything in an oven.
- Anything that takes 90 minutes with three pans while 24 other people want the hob.
- Anything requiring much storage of ingredients.

On keeping your own ingredients: yes, but limited. You get a shelf or a labelled box in the shared fridge, and dry goods live in your room. Space is the constraint, so you shop for two or three days rather than for the week. Olive oil, garlic, tinned tomatoes and pasta all keep in your room without a problem.

The thing that changes this for people who care about cooking: a small induction plate and a pot in your own room, if the building permits it. Many do — ask. You then cook whenever you want without competing for the hob, and the shared kitchen becomes optional.

And the honest recommendation for someone who cooks every day: this is exactly the case where a share house is worth the extra 100,000 a month. A real kitchen, your own cupboard, and no queue. If cooking is part of how you live rather than just how you eat, the goshiwon is the wrong product and you will feel it by month two.