Is it generally allowed to prepare own food in hostels in Vienna, and should I expect them to have a kitchen appropriate for it?
When staying in Berlin, I've met a group of Spaniards who were cooking there their own Spanish dishes. And there was a fridge in each room.
However, I've heard, that in many places, even bringing your own food is not permitted.
Well, yes. Most hostels have guest kitchens, and indeed when I stayed in Vienna at one of the Wombat chain hostels, it had both a bar with food and drink, and a guest kitchen for people to prepare their own meals.
As a comment on the question said, it's very rare that hostels don't have kitchens for guests to use. They may be small, they may be underequipped, but there's usually some pots, pans and dishes. Sometimes you may have to pay a deposit to use them if there's been a history of them disappearing (Nomad hostel in Melbourne, Space Hotel in Melbourne) but there wasn't any problem in Vienna when I was there.
I have seen hostels without a kitchen, but it's pretty rare, and they're usually when I was trying to find the cheapest of the cheap - you get what you pay for, I guess.
Almost every hostel I've checked on hostelbookers had a kitchen on offer (exception: AOHostel). But the kitchen may be far from what you expect.
I was staying in Westend Hostel, a very nice place anyway, but the 'kitchen' there was a microwave and an electric kettle in the common room. There were plates, spoons etc. so you could eat packaged dinners from the supermarket, but it wasn't possible to actually cook anything.
So you need to take into account that 'kitchen' can be a place where you can eat something, not necessarily a place when you can prepare your food. It's better always to ask.
