UK Kitchens

[launderess]

Ed's House Is Hard To Figure Out

Mostly because the outside shots in no way resemble how the house is staged indoors.

IIRC when Ed's had dinner parties they either ate downstairs in the kitchen, or table was set up in the living room.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/comedy/abfab/house/groundfloor/livingroom/

 

[launderess]

California Kitchens

IIRC that quote sprang out of the Arts and Crafts movement on both sides of the pond. It was a rejection of the former Victorian cluttered and cramped idea of home design.

" The middle-class housewife of the era would not have domestic servants (at least not live-in ones) and would be doing much if not all of the housework herself, as well as watching the children. These added roles made it important that the kitchen be integrated into the main house with easy sight lines to the common areas of the main floor (the dining and living rooms) as well as to the back yard. Commonly, the butler's pantry of the Victorian Era was replaced with dining room cabinetry that often consisted of "built-ins", which gave home designers the opportunity to incorporate wood and glass craftsmanship into the public aspects of the home.

Another common design development arising from the class-shift of the time was the built-in "breakfast nook" in the kitchen. The Victorian kitchen of the previous era was separated from the family view and daily routine. It typically had a work table (having the equivalent purpose of the modern countertop) at which the servants would eat after the family meal was served and the kitchen tidied. The Victorian kitchen had no "proper" place for a family member to sit, eat, or do anything else. Again, as the housewife of the Craftsman era was now preparing the family meals, the Victorian kitchen gave way to one designed as the heart of the family's daily life. The breakfast nook often placed under a window or in its own bay provided a place for the family to gather at any time of the day or evening, particularly while food was being prepared"

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_Craftsman

 

[launderess]

Forget the kitchen

Would die to have Ed's bedroom and bath!

That huge bathroom with room for a bidet, shower, tub, massage or as Ed's used it mud bandaging table. Which gave rise to some of the funniest moments between Ed's and the black nurse. The latter always had Ed's number.

Ed's: I thought you were a nurse, why aren't you nursing?
Nurse: This pays better!

 

[davey7]

California Kitchen & Flipper's Funhouse

Interesting link, but I mean specifically English 60's reference - not to be pedantic or anything.

Edina's bathroom was so big she had a Dolphin Tank there during the last shout!

 

[launderess]

OIC

Then I'll bow out and wait for a more educated source! *LOL*

If Ed's had her own bathroom wonder what Saffy used? Serge's bedroom didn't have one so perhaps there was another upstairs as well. There does seem to be another full bathroom on the ground foor, though may have it confused. When Patsy's sister visits and needs the loo Ed's sends her upstairs where she actually uses the one in master bedroom.

 

[davey7]

Hope I didn't put you off - this is a fun thread

Perhaps Saffy used a washbasin in her bedroom? I'm sure that there were more bathrooms in that house. Dunno if the ground floor had a full bath or only a loo (mostly for Pats and Eds to get high in).

 

[xanx22]

British Fridge

First things, Margot Leadbetter's kitchen in the Good Life I am pretty sure was an Elizabeth Ann kitchen dating from around 1976. Not only remembering very similar being fitted for my parents in our house then, but recently I have removed an almost identical to Margot's, in great kitchen from a house bought recently by friends. Turns out I also know the relatives of the previous owners and they remember the kitchen being fitted when an extension was built in 1976. I have taken a number of the units for storage in my garage. The wood is beautiful highly polished and not unlike the German kitchens currently popular in the U.K., it was more the laminate work top and aged fitted appliances that had dated this kitchen. Some nice extras such as the ironing board in a kitchen drawer! The old split level Creda cooker with 900mm hob was very similar to my mothers fitted also in 1976, Creda also however my mother had a ceramic hob instead of the radiant ring hob. I am guessing that mother had opted for the more expensive option at that time as that was always the way my parents did things!

Fridge
Growing up the fridge we had originally was as described previously as a small ice box fridge made by English Electric. This fridge was small but mother had a tomb of a Hoover chest freezer in the garage. Mother would order a cow, a pig, half a lamb and some chicken from the butcher. I can remember the butchers van arriving and all the crates of meat being put in the garage for mother to sort and freeze. I still have some of her butcher receipts complete with her workings out of all the cuts of meat she had and then a menu worked out for next few months! Amazingly we only had chicken about once a fortnight but umpteen roasts or steaks in a week!

The picture below shows the English Electric fridge in the kitchen of the house the parents built in 1972 complete with the tangerine hygena kitchen and Junkers pine flooring!

 

[xanx22]

British Fridge

The English Electric icebox fridge, was probably purchased around 1967, I am sure it was considered to be very modern then being compact and streamlined. You see in the Uk fridges before this used be large, in fact very large, I still remember my grandparents in a soft English cream colour and rounded corners and a pull down handle that would make opening the door possible by levering against the body of the fridge. The fridges were big and would create a vacuum seal that made it difficult to open if the handle didn't exist. That said the size was greatly contributed to by the thickness of insulation which was considerably more than modern day equivalent. Anyhow in the uk it used to be common to have a larder which would have a flagstone floor and a zinc meshed window to allow the cold from outside in but no flies. We average a much cooler temperature in the uk a lot of food could safely be stored in the larder.

My parents replaced the English Electric ice box fridge in 1980 for an Electrolux larder fridge which was about 5.5 ft high and had much thinner insulation so actually held a lot.

In 1996 I purchased myself my own Larder fridge. The truth is I was wanting an American side by side fridge freezer with ice dispenser ( I thought it would make gin preparation so much easier), however at that time the Uk, got genuine American side by side fridge freezers. They were so big John Lewis (departmental store) would send an assessor out first to assess if they could deliver one to the property. Needless to say it was not going to be possible for one to be installed in my property so I opted for the next best thing, a German built Bosch Larder fridge and have had no regrets since. As the American side by side fridges became more popular a smaller version was being marketed to the UK and therefore much easier to be fitted in our properties, so it is more an American STYLE side by side fridge that we get here.

Below picture of my Bosch Fridge 17+ yrs on

 

[xanx22]

British Fridge

please excuse the state of the utility room in the previous picture, I just haven't got round to finish fitting it and so it has become an undecorated dumping ground.

The picture below is of the inside of the fridge, this is it very bare, having not gone shopping for 9 days as we are off out for Burns Supper tonight and then away to Edinburgh for a mini break Sunday, but it will give you an idea of the size of it. I am glad now I never actually got the side by side I so wanted as in recent years friends have purchased and replaced a side by side which I found held a lot less in the fridge and a pathetic amount in the freezer. I have a Bosch freezer similar to the fridge and a second undercounter built in freezer in the utility. This arrangement works well for me.

 

[NYCWriter]

Like so many things ...

... SOUNDS like a good idea: "Personally like the European way better. Nothing is better to my mind's eye than going to market early in the AM with one's basket or shopping bag and seeing all the fresh produce and so forth. Then it is off to the butcher's for whatever that will make up dinner."

Yeah.

Until there's a storm or an unexpected emergency that prevents you from getting to the store (or worse, prevents the FOOD from getting to the store).

This is what drives so much run-to-the-market hysteria during crises: not having more than two days' worth of food in the house.

 

[paulc]

Xanx22

Lovely AEG set you have there! I lived in Aberdeen between 1991 and 1999 before I moved to Edinburgh.

NYCWriter, in general it is exceptionally unusual for us to have such extreme weather that we can't get groceries. However, my parents live in the Highlands of Scotland where it is not uncommon for them to get snowed in for a week at a time. Mum always has her huge chest freezer full for the winter.

 

[petek]

As lovely as the big old side by sides are to look at they are/were terribly impracticable. Usable space is abysmal and the novelty of trying to find stuff in the back let alone retrieve it a nuisance. Still in all we have fond memories of our old 3 door model.
About them not fitting or being able to get into the house.. that happens over here as well more than you'd think

Here's a beauty of a new fridge from Samsung. Either of the two lower compartments can be a freezer or refrigerator. It's huge.. I was looking at them yesterday in Lowes.. the price is huge as well. Something like $3600

http://www.samsung.com/ca/consumer/home-appliances/refrigerators/four-door/RF32FMQDBSR/AA

 

[xanx22]

Paulc

That's in my day, I came to Aberdeen in 1989 to go to Uni and stuck! Our paths could have crossed - the 90's were my heyday!

Yes I love my AEG, it he set started with having to replace a proper German built AEG washing machine when it got frazzled by a power surge during parking meters being installed in the street. The original was 1600rpm spin so I had to get the same so got a high spec model. Once that was installed I decided I should upgrade my AEG built but John Lewis branded condenser dryer to AEG matching the washing machine so got the heat pump model. But it didn't end there I then decided I should also get the dishwasher to match. All were bought from John Lewis and each one cost the same at £800 each but they all came with 5yr warranty so I reckoned worth it and I have no complaints. All three machines give superior results!

 

[xanx22]

Interior pic

Even has a light

 

[xanx22]

Top basket

Not a normal load more a chuck it in out of sight job

 

[xanx22]

Petek

That Samsung is a Beast!

That one would suit me fine come the day I have to replace the Bosch Larder!

 

[NYCWriter]

Side - by - side ...

... so much more impractical than the over-under, particularly if you do a lot of baking.

Sometimes you want to just slide a whole cookie sheet of something into the fridge. Impossible in a side-by-side.

 

[petek]

You're right on the baking stuff not fitting in let alone a pizza box. Maytag brought out that wide X side model around the time they also brought out that odd dryer cabinet thingamajig and it actually seemed quite practical but neither seemed to be around very long in stores. I was sort of tempted when I began to see them on clearance.

edit; hmm just looking and seems they might still be making those...

 

[thomasortega]

@tom

Thank you very much for creating this thread.
It helped me finding answers for some questions that I still had in mind after my "dishwasher size in US" thread.

Now having Europe as a 3rd comparison region, i could understand much better the factors that can influence the appliances sizes. Well, not only the appliances but everything.

Dishwashers: the habits and the architecture (smaller kitchens) as explained on my thread.

Refrigerators/ freezers: all very well explained above.(thank you guys)

Cars....???????
The whole world knows that US had very cheap fuel and it was great for the muscle cars with very powerful engines, blah, blah blah. I'm not asking about them.

Let's consider a car a middle class family would have: In the US it would probably be a big sedan (or more recently a SUV like a, let's say, Ford Explorer).

The the definition of "compact" is very different for a north american, a south american and an european, did you notice that?

Thanks to a wonderful fact (i don't know if it's just a coincidence or not) South America has the best of both worlds. Let's consider the GM cars. Here they are sold as Chevrolet and we have/had several models based on both american GM and european Opel and even Vauxhall.
A Corsa (NLA since 2012) was a compact car for US. A typical car a middle class family would buy. There was the sedan, a wagon and a pick up version too. But at the same time, we had the Astra (Hatch/Sedan/Wagon) rated as compacts.
Vectra was a medium sedan and Omega was the luxury car.

Paralel to that, there was the Tigra, (made on Corsa's Platform) that was tiny AND CONSIDERED A MUSCLE CAR. (that little thing a muscle car?!?!)

Now (not all models available at the same time but, some were paralel and some with a very small difference) the americans here...

We had the opala (same impala) and now we have the Camaro rated as a MEDIUM SEDAN (medium sedan?) Onix is a compact (filled the gap left by Corsa)
Zafira and Meriva is sold as a SUV (where in this world Zafira is a SUV?) and the HHR is sold as a COMPACT SUV (but the HHR is much bigger than a meriva)

now the oddest things: Montana, a tiny pickup made on Corsa's platform is a medium pick up. S-10 (which is much bigger) is a SMALL pickup.

Cruze is considered a COMPACT sedan (while the Cobalt/Aveo are considered a BIG sedans.)

Now on Ford:

Ka is sold as a compact. But the new Fiesta (exactly the same available in the US) is a "sub compact". (I don't need to say the Fiesta is much bigger than a Ka)

What to say about the US made Focus? Well, it's a compact too, exactly like Ka. The previous version, made in europe was a "big hatchback"

Ford Courrier (a tiny pickup made on the same platform used for the "frog" Fiesta) is a MEDIUM pickup. Ford Ranger is a SMALL pickup. (but one could almost transport a Corrier on the back of a ranger) And the F-250 is considered a truck and one would need to change the driver's license category to drive it. it's also sold on Ford truck dealers. (together with huge 18 wheel trucks)

Do you want something even more strange? Ford Focus Sedan (made in europe) was a BIG sedan. At the same time, we had the Ford Mondeo (made in US) that was a SMALL sedan and the Ford Taurus was rated as "MEDIUM" sedan... Come on. if the Taurus is a medium sedan, what would be a big sedan for the americans?

And if someday you come to Brazil and go to a car dealer, please never ask them to try to explain this discrepancy. You'll see smoke going out of their heads. They will probably stare at you with their mouths open and saying ah... eh.. hum... errr... and you'll listen to crickets sound.

 

[lancethecook]

Fitted kitchens

In the UK fitted kitchens became much more popular in the 70s.
Until the war most kitchens were very basic to say the least.
After the war 120000 prefabricated homes were built to deal with the housing shortage.
Affectionaly know as "Prefabs" they were incredibly popular and indeed some still survive today and their residents love them.
All prefabs were built and owned by the government and they probably had the first fitted kitchens.
The units were made from aluminium which was recycled from air planes no longer needed after the war.
I have posted a picture of my kitchen unit which was removed from a prefab before it was demolished a few years ago.
It is made totally from recycled airplane metal and despite its size is very light but also very strong.
This unit is kept in my garage which is actually used as a second kitchen and storage for the washing machines.
Hope you like it.