I'm having an issue with cooking as well. My sims cannot cook anything that requires the fridge. They can cook on a bbq.
The first time I had this issue, I repaired the game and it worked fine for a little bit, but now I am having to repair the game every time I want to open and play the game because if I don't the issue comes back. I've tried replacing the fridge, all of the benches, the stove. The entire kitchen.
I've not tried playing as a premade family/household, so I will try that later and update.
Edit: This morning I opened the game with out fixing it first and clicked to play the never before played Goth family. I got one of the family members to go to the fridge and cook, they managed perfectly fine. Once that was done, I went back to my original household and they could also cook perfectly fine. After closing the game and re-opening it, again with out repairing, I have gone straight to my original family and they can still cook perfectly fine.
Will update with more information if I find this issue happening again, but for now it seems that it is fixed.