How Much REFRIGERATOR Does a Home Need

[launderess]

Early on American kitchens were like those in Europe. Storage was usually planks or some sort of shelving suspended by rope or whatever.

Arrival of Hoosier cabinets in 1890 changed all this. These were medium to large sized pieces of furniture for kitchens. They offered storage and some work surface area. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hoosier_cabinet

By 1930's or 1940's wide spread arrival of electricity along with refrigerators and other appliances began to influence design of American kitchens.



Modular cabinets began to appear though not always mounted to walls. They were made usually of metal and often had porcelain tops.

Post WWII if not bit before you started to see modular cabinets (usually made from metal) both mounted high on walls well as along floor what created counter space. Post war era in USA saw a surplus of various metals which manufactures quickly put to use in kitchens with all those cabinets.

Modern NSW kitchen circa 1950-55



Housing supply being what it was post WWII USA no small number of married women found themselves saddle with older homes with kitchens from another era.

Note this place as noted above has minimal cabinets, thus also very little counter space. You do have that huge area in center of kitchen for a decent sized table, so that's something anyway.

 

[cfz2882]

Italy,~ 1980 fridge size

Italy had a bad earthquake about 1980,and refrigerators could often be seen in the rubble of wrecked buildings-was impressed the fridges were small vs what I was used to in the US.

 

[beehiveboy]

#37 Touring houses for sale is the best fun! But whilst in the UK you must have looked around properties that were quite early in the build process because it is virtually unheard of for a property to be sold without a kitchen. In fact in the UK a house is not legally mortgageable without a functional kitchen and bathroom so on the rare occasions these are not present the house would only be available to a cash buyer. Buyers of new builds are able to choose their own cabinetry, worktops and tiling if they purchase the house “off plan” or early in the build.

 

[bradfordwhite]

#42

See I was wondering if things have changed.  I think the first time I saw a Brit house plan for a new build was about 15 years back.  Back then the kitchen might have shown a sink but there were no cabinets.  Also the electrical plans were sparse.  There wasn't always a bathroom on every floor and the garage rarely had a door into the house.

 

This is a current plan being offered by Barratt homes.  Still no door from the garage but it's got cabinets.  I wonder when that started becoming  "a thing".

Look at how thick those exterior walls are.  I think it's a code requirement that all homes have a masonry exterior in the UK, am I correct?

 

I really want to see a house in the UK with vynil dutch lap siding, maybe a subdivision of double and triple wide mobile homes, on 3 acre lots.   Any chance of that?   LOL

https://www.barratthomes.co.uk/new-homes/dev001449-the-brooks,-barrow/plot-165-h7863165/

 

[seedub]

Reply #31

I had guessed that the other white box was a second refrigerator exactly like the other one. It messes with my head that the set decorators and props master gave the Buckets this luxury kitchen and then didn't give them one upsize fridge-freezer a la "Ab Fab" or "Notting Hill."

 

[foraloysius]

Hyacinth's kitchen

I have only seen just a part of it. It looked different than the fridge in the corner. But I was unable to identify it.

 

[launderess]

Mr. and Mrs. Richard Bucket were decidedly middle class and their home in Coventry reflected this rather well. Richard Bucket was a civil servant (on local council) but didn't have a title nor was in same league (or pay grade) as say Sir Humphrey Applebee.

House used for outdoor next door location shots in KUA was recently for sale and we can see how place is laid out.

In keeping with often dear housing costs in UK the home might seem compact by American standards, but many in England make do. In this instance owners took down wall between dining area and kitchen to make an open floor plan. Notice they do have a cooker (range) but fridge still is compact under counter model.

Hyacinths' house differs in that it was single floor with all bedrooms on same ground floor level. This would be another reason why home (and that kitchen) seems cramped by American standards. To fit two bedrooms (assuming Sheridan had one of his own), sitting room, dining room and kitchen all on one floor in a comparatively small home takes work.

Whole joke about Hyacinth Bucket was her being decidedly middle class (from a low or working class background) desperately trying to be something she wasn't; upper class. To her credit (and that of set designers) Mrs. Bucket did her best to create some sort of illusion of upper class via furniture and furnishings, but that's far as things went.

Edwina Monsoon OTOH was quite well off, this both in her own right due to her businesses and fact she was bleeding both her ex-husbands dry for years in maintenance and child support payments.

Hyacinth Bucket would never have moved to Shepard's Bush (Holland Park) back when it was affordable to do so as area didn't have status and cachet she craved. Eds bought early when prices were low (or as Saffy says "before everyone else moved here), so she got a bargain. But remember again Eds had both of her ex husbands; Marshall and Justin paying for that house. Well until they found out and cut her off.

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/propert...featured-Keeping-Appearances-sale-Zoopla.html

 

[neptunebob]

Bradford...

It sounds like you are eating healthy, but are you getting enough fiber? You seem to be rather cranky.

 

[bradfordwhite]

I don't think we ever saw more than Elizabeth and Emmet's Lounge and front garden.

How many American viewers would view the tuck-under counter refrigerator in this home with a full size inground pool and four bedrooms as Inadequate?

That's how classist refrigerators and perhaps kitchen appliances in general currently are. It doesn't matter if the furniture in the living room is all particle board vs. a solid wood antique Edwardian piece; no it's about the kitchen appliances?
strange. And I'm not playing.

Can we spot the apparently embarrassing dishwasher that needs to be hidden away with a fake cabinet front?

Given how quiet most of todays dishwashers are I would be proud to have one.

 

[combo52]

How much refrigerator space do you need for convenient energy efficient living?

I would recommend about 8 ft.³ per adult maybe another five for each child in the house unless of course like we do you can and freeze a lot of vegetables and fruits and also buy meats etc. in bulk, then you can double the amounts easily. It is far cheaper to run an energy efficient large refrigerator than to drive a car even an electric car to the grocery store very often.

Keep in My It is far cheaper to run an energy efficient large refrigerator then to drive a car even an electric car to the grocery store very often.

Keep in mind that small refrigerators use a lot more energy per cubic foot of space and they generally do not keep is even a temperature.

, that kitchen in reply number 48 would never work for me at 6 feet tall and my partner at 6-4 there’s no way I’m going to bend over every time I want something out of a refrigerator same goes for the oven. The oven needs to be up high . I would like to have a Higher Dishwashers well I haven’t managed to do that yet.

I do like that they put in a wine rack for the children though that’s really cute lol

John

 

[philcobendixduo]

When I buy a new refrigerator....

.....I have these requirements;

Top freezer
No ice maker or water dispenser
Largest capacity top freezer model
Glass shelves
Left hinged doors
Black
Made in U.S. (probably impossible now....)

Not that I buy refrigerators THAT often.
Coldspot (my parents bought) 1968-1987 (coppertone with wire shelves)
GE ran from 1987-2011.
Whirlpool 2011-still going strong.

 

[qsd-dan]

I remember my grandparents going to the grocery store almost every day in the 80's and 90's. It seemed like waste considering they had a full size SXS refrigerator and rather large stand up freezer in the garage along with a 1950's Coldspot that was the back fridge for parties and holidays. Maybe they just wanted to get out of the house or something. I go once a week.

 

[daveamkrayoguy]

Something else you find in old, vintage home-remodeling books, are an extra-wide side by side, ands even an upright freezer placed next to an all-fridge fridge...

 

A garage sale I'd gone to, decades ago, had a very wide RCA Whirlpool side by side in the very garage it was held in, in FAWN, as a matter of fact...

 

I wish I could have created a conversation of what was an unused second fridge that wasn't for sale, only holding up a wall behind the check out table, as it would have been neat to see it open, and lack of humming from it meant that it didn't work...

 

 

 

-- Dave

 

[bpetersxx]

yeah it depends on the circumstances

I have finally a refrigerator that I can use

I can put all my stuff I want to put into it now

Reply 49
hopefully John is right as I am not sure if the refrigerator I have will save energy

I was using an Igloo compact ref

no freezer space and limited refrigerator space

and it leaks all over the place

This GE will defrost automatically into the defrost pan that is on the condenser coils on the bottom