Why do British Flats have washing machines in the kitchen?

[enlisted person]

I lived in England about 20 years ago. Most of the british homes are small compared to ours and they have front loaders because they save water and power. There timers on the washer are unnecessarily complicated. There were setting from A to double P on those damn things. I was a sears appliance repairman at one time. Our washers hold a whole lot more than theirs. Its about the space and the power. They are greener over there because they hang clothes out a lot (which says a lot for them as much as it rains). Here in the US people talk about being green, but tell someone they can't have a dryer and have to hang their clothes out and you will see how green they are. Same with riding a small motorcycle instead of a car, people won't do it, I am one of the few. I ride a 200cc motorcycle most days to work and back. It will run 70 if I need to and gets right at 80mpg. Instead they have cars with one person in them most of the time.

 

[Angela 0077]

I only use my dryer when it it is the last resort of trying to get my work clothes dry.

In Aus it is very expensive to have the dryer going all the time and if it rains it goes on the clothes hoist inside next to the heater..

 

[JiNX-01]

I've been watching a lot of British TV for a while and I've noticed something that I just now figured out what it is, British kitchens seem to have their washing machines built into their kitchens under the counter. They seem to be side loaded and smaller than what we have. Why is this? Do flats not have a "laundry room" like we do in America? Where is the dryer?

My house has the washer and dryer in the kitchen. No basement and no space for a laundry room. No problem for me.

 

[enlisted person]

Every house should have a basement. Its very cheap extra space. Most US houses already have a crawl space so just a few extra rows of blocks and you have a full basement. I like it because its mostly under ground and it was near 90 outside and just 70 down there and in the winter when it 20 degrees outside its about 50 down there. Mine is a garage basement and So I can work on the vehicles in relative comfort.

 

[enlisted person]

I only use my dryer when it it is the last resort of trying to get my work clothes dry.

In Aus it is very expensive to have the dryer going all the time and if it rains it goes on the clothes hoist inside next to the heater..

Its expensive here too. The clothes dryer is one of the most power consuming appliances there is. Pure resistive heat that makes the meter spin. People don't care and will pay extra for the convenience here. Many places it is actually illegal to hang out clothes, that is how bad it is.

 

[Miss Chicken]

Australian homes don't usually have basements, maybe because Australian houses are usually built on decent size blocks and if a bigger house is needed people usually span out or up. Also flooding is quite common in Australia so maybe that is why we don't traditionally favour basements.

 

[enlisted person]

Australian homes don't usually have basements, maybe because Australian houses are usually built on decent size blocks and if a bigger house is needed people usually span out or up. Also flooding is quite common in Australia so maybe that is why we don't traditionally favour basements.

I would think that a basement would help in case of flooding by giving the living quarters of the house more above ground clearance. Maybe the basement would fill with those Aussie creepy crawlies ?

 

[thestrangequark]

^Naw, basements are terrible for flooding -- nothing like all that water damage to the foundation of your house. You don't find many basements on the west coast either.

 

[Angela 0077]

Australian homes don't usually have basements, maybe because Australian houses are usually built on decent size blocks and if a bigger house is needed people usually span out or up. Also flooding is quite common in Australia so maybe that is why we don't traditionally favour basements.

Well l have to disagree with you here Miss Chicken.

In Australia there is alot of land around a houses which were built in the 1970s and 80s but now space is limited with alot of houses which are being bulit very close to each other

The backyards are only huge if you have the money to have that much land

 

[Miss Chicken]

Australian homes don't usually have basements, maybe because Australian houses are usually built on decent size blocks and if a bigger house is needed people usually span out or up. Also flooding is quite common in Australia so maybe that is why we don't traditionally favour basements.

Well l have to disagree with you here Miss Chicken.

In Australia there is alot of land around a houses which were built in the 1970s and 80s but now space is limited with alot of houses which are being bulit very close to each other

The backyards are only huge if you have the money to have that much land

But the majority of those houses being built today on smaller parcels of land are two storied, unlike those built in the 1970s and 80s and before which more commonly were only one story.

But basements are still not usual even in new houses.

In my council area many people are subdividing their blocks and building units in what used to be their backyards. Also Hobart still has a lot of land people can still buy and be within a 30-60 minute drive into the city.

 

[Angela 0077]

I have noticed as l drive around in my car that there is also single storey houses being built in this way.

These are mostly new houses Miss Chicken.

You have to have the money to have more space.

Maybe it is diffrent in Tasmania but l know what l have seen.

Have you travelled to Aus lately.

 

[scotpens]

Every house should have a basement. Its very cheap extra space. Most US houses already have a crawl space so just a few extra rows of blocks and you have a full basement.

Many modern American homes are built on a solid concrete slab foundation. Older houses with a post-and-pier foundation have a crawlspace two or three feet high at the most. No way to add a basement without tearing the house apart.

In most of the houses I've been in, there's a “laundry room” or “utility room” adjacent to the kitchen for the washer/dryer. Usually at or near the back door of the house.

This is the set up in nearly every Australian house.

That's what most suburban single-family homes in the U.S. have as well, at least those built after World War II. The laundry or utility room off the kitchen has space for a full-size washer and dryer, storage cabinets, and often a fold-down ironing board built into the wall. For some reason, my mother used to call this room the “service porch,” even though it's a room, not a porch. And the half-bath (toilet and washbasin only) directly off it was always the “little” bathroom.

I haven't used a dryer since my youngest child was out of nappies (diapers). Using cloth nappies, rather than disposables, meant I had lots of washing to do back then.

My condolences! My brother and I grew up in the pre-disposable diaper era. Like most middle-class suburban families, we used a commercial diaper laundering service. Was that not an available option, or was it a budgetary consideration?

I have been hanging out clothes all my life and I can't remember them that ever being shitted on. There is no more chance of them being shitted on by birds then I have being shitted on while I am walking along the street.

That's only because you're a moving target!

 

[Miss Chicken]

My condolences! My brother and I grew up in the pre-disposable diaper era. Like most middle-class suburban families, we used a commercial diaper laundering service. Was that not an available option, or was it a budgetary consideration?

I don't know of anyone who used a commercial diaper laundry service in the pre-disposable era maybe such a service just wasn't available where I lived. Even if there was one I doubt I would have used it.

Disposable diapers were available when my sons were little but were considered by most young mothers as too expensive to use.

 

[Miss Chicken]

I have noticed as l drive around in my car that there is also single storey houses being built in this way.

These are mostly new houses Miss Chicken.

You have to have the money to have more space.

Maybe it is diffrent in Tasmania but l know what l have seen.

Have you travelled to Aus lately.

I live in Aus. But, as far as the Mainland goes, I generally only travel to Adelaide and my nephew's new house there is single story with a reasonably large garden, as is my sister's older house.

I imagine that Adelaide still has land enough for larger blocks to be viable, whereas Melbourne and Sydney might not.

 

[scotpens]

The clothes dryer is one of the most power consuming appliances there is. Pure resistive heat that makes the meter spin. People don't care and will pay extra for the convenience here. Many places it is actually illegal to hang out clothes, that is how bad it is.

They also make gas clothes dryers, you know. The heat comes from gas. The only electricity consumed is used to run the motor. I don't know the cost of gas vs. electric clothes drying, but I assume there's a significant difference.

What a tedious thread.

Tedious? Nonsense. What could be more fascinating than how people do their laundry?

 

[Captain Ice]

^Yep. Every time I've moved, I have not needed to call the Salvation Army. Just put it out on the sidewalk with a sign saying "free" and it disappears in a couple of hours.

 

[Captain Ice]

The clothes dryer is one of the most power consuming appliances there is. Pure resistive heat that makes the meter spin. People don't care and will pay extra for the convenience here. Many places it is actually illegal to hang out clothes, that is how bad it is.

They also make gas clothes dryers, you know. The heat comes from gas. The only electricity consumed is used to run the motor. I don't know the cost of gas vs. electric clothes drying, but I assume there's a significant difference.

If you have gas already piped into your home, then there is a significant cost savings. Gas bills for a three bedroom home in winter here run $25 with an electric bill about $100 or so. Electric bills for the equivalent all-electric home run $150 or more in winter.

In summer, a gas home runs $20 for hot water and about $200 for electricity. An all electric home of similar size can run $300 to $350 a month.

However, you don't want to install a gas line into a home. I have no idea what that runs, but to run a gas line from a home with an existing gas line in the home out to the patio for the grill got me estimates in the $2000 to $3000 range.

 

[Miss Chicken]

Either I use a lot less electricity or my electricity rates are a lot cheaper than yours.

We get billed quarterly. My winter bill last year was $AUD497.11 (about $US425). My summer bill was $AUD277.85 (about $US237). All up for 12 months my bills came to $AUD1482.12 (about $US1266). So I am spending just over $US100 a month on power bills for an all electric home.

I do not have a dryer, dishwasher, central heating or air conditioning and I wash nearly all clothes in cold water. There are three people living in the house.

 

[Captain Ice]

The difference is probably in the central heating and air conditioning (a must have here). We probably could do without the central heating, but once you have an a/c unit it's not hard to get one that heats as well.

But the damned things are expensive as hell to run.

 

[T'Bonz]

I love my big washer and dryer. In my house, they are in the garage. Slightly annoying as it's hotter'n'hell in the summer (now, I know, but when it's over 90 every day, it's summer nevermind what the calendar says!) and I'd prefer a utility room.

Ours are regular top-loaders. Never saw the other type 'til I was in Europe where that's all they had. I prefer our kind. However, now it seems like the front loaders are taking over.

While line-dried sheets are nice, no way would I do without my dryer. Drying time < hour. Try that on a line. When we rented flats in Europe for vacation, laundry was a pain in the ass with no dryer. We had clothes on the balcony, over chairs. Then they dry stiff as boards and one must iron them. No.

Europeans are all "it's so expensive!" but last trip over, they all had their cellphones and electronic gadgets. I think it's that they're used to not having the dryers and don't miss them.

I would.

Next house, priority is for a bigger kitchen and a real utility room INSIDE the house, and no washer/dryer in the garage!

Some apartments here don't have washers and dryers. Then you must fight with other tenants to get dryer time. My Mom is in a senior's development and she swears some of them wait 'til she steps out with her basket to do laundry. And some of them will do itty-bitty loads, like 4 items. She wants to kill them.