Living In America: American Kitchens Vs British Kitchens

(CC BY-SA 2.0)

So an American kitchen differs from a British one in many ways. Perhaps the most notable difference is the lack of a washing machine in an American kitchen. Now, you folks from the US might be going "Wait, what? You have your washing machine in the kitchen and not the laundry room? What kind of crazy kitchen is that?" Well, in most older British homes in the kitchen, a laundry room doesn't exist. The newer builds might make a provision for this, or detached houses might even have the space for a laundry room where you can store a washing machine and a dryer. Me? Well, I grew up in terraced (that's "Row houses" for those not familiar) houses. So space was at a premium. We had the washing machine in the kitchen and we dried our clothes outside on a washing line or inside on a clothes horse or a radiator.

Another difference is the lack of a kettle in the American kitchen, usually replaced by a coffee maker. I've learned that because the voltage in the states is quite low, it takes longer to boil a kettle than it would in Britain, because of the much higher voltage.


Which would you prefer? An American kitchen or a British one?