Dishwashers- oh and showers!

I will agree with most of what's been said. Dishwashers are move common in newer houses for sure, and sometimes they are even installed in a utility room, not the kitchen. Our house was built in 2004, so we have a DW. Our first house (built in the 60's) did not.

Actually it is cheaper to run a DW than wash by hand; the water usage is much less. I too thought the opposite many years ago, but much research proved me wrong in the US and here in the UK.

It's about space; 1BR flats in the US these days average 650-750 sq. ft.; a 3BR semi-detached here in the UK may only be 800 SF, and an average detached house may come in around 1000 SF. This doesn't allow much space for things we took for granted in the US.

Showers...now THAT I still don't understand after all these years. Our 3BR has a downstairs toilet (cloakroom), a family bath, and an en-suite with a shower upstairs. The family bath was only part-tiled, and while it had a mixer tap with hand held shower, it's not like you could actually use it for a shower. DH tiled to the ceiling, I found a tension type shower rod, and now we use that BR to the exclusion of the small shower cubicle. But assume you have teenagers....where would they shower?? In the parent's en-suite, I suppose. You will see electric showers as a retro, but bath only (along with separate hot and cold water taps) is still far more common, even in a new build.

I've lived in 3 places and moving to a fourth. 3/4 have had dishwashers, all have had showers and only one had a tiny fridge.

I asked my current landlord for the dishwasher and he was happy to install one as there was room for it. But I was very lucky with him as he has been an excellent landlord.

I think you have to decide what you can't live without and only go for properties that have those or have room to install those. Personally, I will not live without a dishwasher. I loathe dishes with a passion but I love to cook so for me it's a must have. I take care of the environment in many other ways.  

My DH and I house-hunted while I was still in the States. He sent me the links, plus when he went to view the houses, he sent additional photos and info. So I truly felt we were making the decision together.

I, too, was amazed at the lack of a dishwasher and the fact that the clothes washing machine was in the kitchen in most of the houses we looked at. I thought it was because they were older houses.

However, we ended up buying a new house. It is 3 full floors, with 3 bedrooms, a study/office, and 2.5 baths.  No dishwasher. Our "American style" fridge sits in what should be the dining room.  No laundry room.  We are fortunate that there is ONE large storage cupboard on the 3rd floor.

There is a freestanding shower in the ensuite bedroom on the 3rd floor. The bathroom on the second floor has a bath, no shower. We thought about putting a shower in there, but we'll also have to tile the walls to the ceiling, since the tile only is about waist-high around the tub. So we all (DH, me, step-son) just use the 3rd floor shower.  The tub is for the dog.

We do have a dryer, but rarely use it.

So even new houses usually lack what we are used to in the States, unless you are *very* lucky, or have a boatload of money.

I don't really understand the need for a giant Fridge I guess. I don't like the idea of things that last *too* long and like to clear out fairly often. Our fridge is quite large but because I do small shops and markets etc it never gets that full.

We have a dishwasher in my current place, you may have trouble spotting them on photographs because they can be built into cupboards. In 3/4 places I was in, in Brighton we had a dishwasher but only 1/4 in London, although I could have bought one for our last place, I just never bothered

Washing machines in the kitchen are pretty common, yes. I think there's rarely the space for a utility room which is a shame.

Shower thing, no idea, it's a weird thing, the mixer tap showers are AWFUL. We had one family bathroom and another WC growing up, it had an electric shower over the bath, that's been common in most places I've lived in, including now. My last 3 flats in London just had a shower stall, no tub.

The last flat I lived in, in Brighton was two bed, two bath, my bathroom wasn't ensuite and had an AMAZING huge shower cubicle with multiple jets, the big en-suite had a bath and power shower above it.

I admit, I was dreading going back to a small fridge after having our big Samsung fridge, but the kitchen we have in our house now is pretty well-designed. We have a separate under-counter fridge and freezer, and I never seem to have a problem finding places to put things.

In fact, I would go so far that despite the fact that I no longer have my big, open-plan kitchen with a massive island like I did in the US, I have more counter and cabinet space here -- I have all of the same stuff in the kitchen, but I still have empty cabinets. I can only put that down to the efficient design.

The only drawback is that the nice, fitted oven is very small, too small for my cupcake tins, baking sheets and all but the smaller baking pans.

We are lucky enough to have our washing machine not in the kitchen and a dishwasher instead.  We also have a decent size fridge and full freezer which is nice.  I think its down to the way the house was remodeled and it is a good use of space.

The only downside to the place is the tiny oven- I can't stand it but what can you do

We don't have a dryer, although it would be nice.   When does it ever get cold enough here to freeze the clothes though?  I did that at home, but I don't think it would work here.

Our old house only had the gas fired panel in the living room and the bathroom heater was broken. There was a gas fired panel in the bedroom, but it was so cloase to the bed it would have caused a fire.  

We have a narrow but long oven, so I always have to turn the cookie trays.  

We do have a dishwaser that is in a little lean to connected to the house.  I love it and dishwashers are better as long as you have 2 or more people and run it when full.

Our frigde is quite small.  I don't want a huge American sized fridge, but it would be nice to be able to make things in batches and then freeze them.

Having lived in the UK  (for 40 years) I find thst the US essentials are UK luxuries , such as dishes washers, huge fridges, shower cubicles etc.

You won't die for lack of a dishwasher etc. "Rough it" it for a while and then decide what is important to you.

I have lived here a long time, and we have owned our house for years, but we have all the mod cons, washer, tumble dryer, dishwasher, shower, toilet and four slot toaster! Ambassador, with thr ferraro rocher, you are spoiling us.

Reading through this thread, I feel really lucky! 

Started out with just a washing machine in the kitchen of the flat that DH was initially renting when I first moved over, and tiny (think US dorm room) fridge under the kitchen counter.  And a shower over the bath.

Then we bought our house - across the street from the flat where we lived, as you do.  Here we have a little utility porch attached off the kitchen to the rear of our house, that is where the washing machine lives.  And the kitchen had a good-sized (but not American sized) half-fridge, half-freezer that is integrated (integrated appliances a la American/Canadian style is the way that kitchen refits are primarily moving forward in this country, in the main).  Also, we had a dishwasher already here in the kitchen - except it didn't work.  Plus we have an electric shower over the bath.

DH dug his heels in for a long time on getting the dishwasher sorted out - didn't want one, argued the environmental/water thing (which as vadio pointed out isn't valid any longer, although I think it *depends* on how a person hand washes dishes - but that is a whole 'nother argument entirely! ), blah blah blah.  I hate washing dishes with a burning passion - occasionally fine, but everyday in quantity I cannot abide.  Sooooooooooo - since he *loved* not having a dishwasher, washing the dishes became DH's regular/everyday-they-must-get-done-and-not-pile-up household chore, not mine!  And we proceeded this way for several years.  (As a bachelor, he used to let his dishes pile up for like a whole week at a time & then do them...and I more or less did the same when I was on my own...but I wasn't having that in our 'grownup' home & we cook A LOT too!)

And I tell you what - when our friends were redoing their kitchen, and they were trading up from a slimline dishwasher to a fullsize, they asked us if we wanted their old (still working fine) Bosch slimline dishwasher to slot in the space of the 'dead' slimline dishwasher we already had.  DH didn't walk to that offer of a free fully operational dishwasher - he RAN, and has never looked back.  Ahahahahahahahaaaa! 

Now our washing machine broke down about this time last year.  And as it happened, we had done a couple of self-catering holidays in cottages (here in the UK) where they had a combi washer/dryer - not the optimum choice if you have room for both appliances separately, but we don't have the room (unless we were to stack or something - which for our setup wasn't practical either).  So that got me thinking.  When the washing machine broke down, we sprung for a high end combi - which works far better (on the dry cycle) than I ever anticipated it would!  Most of the time, I still use the outdoor washing line, an airing rack and radiators, but push comes to shove - if I want fluffy towels or need to get jeans dry quicker (or if it's one of those 'summer' days when it's not cold enough for heat, but it's damp & nothing is getting dry in a timely fashion) or I have a million loads of laundry to get done in a short period of time available (before/after holidays etc) - it's very nice to have the choice & flexibility! 

And we have an indoor toilet, but only a two slot toaster... 

You won't die from a lack of a dishwasher (although the ezcema it caused on my hands made me wish for death sometimes) but since I cook every night it was always a case of a huge pile of dishes and since our sink was tiny that meant dirty dishes everywhere.  

Mainly because I couldn't wash up due to the ezcema and my dh is home later, so no chance to wash the dishes till later.  Like the weekend later.  

I often joke with new couples that the dishwasher saved our marriage and I am only about 50% serious.

An article from 08 about this subject and dishwashers have only gotten more enviro friendly: http://www.slate.com/articles/health_and_science/the_green_lantern/2008/04/is_a_dishwasher_a_green_machine.html

They do say if you have a two basin sink you can get close, but I certainly don't have that here.

It really does depend on the age of the house and where you are. I wouldn't call our house "luxury" by any stretch of the imagination, but we have a washing machine, a tumble dryer (neither of which is in the kitchen), a dishwasher, an 'American-style' fridge freezer and a shower. It's not really that unusual. I don't know many people who don't have these things.

I do think some depends on whether a person owns (mortgage) or rents though.  If you own your house & you have the space, you can pretty much get/do what you want.  And you could even start from the standpoint of making sure to buy a place that has the stuff or space for the stuff you want.  If you're renting, that's another story...

I do think some depends on whether a person owns (mortgage) or rents though.  If you own your house & you have the space, you can pretty much get/do what you want.  And you could even start from the standpoint of making sure to buy a place that has the stuff or space for the stuff you want.  If you're renting, that's another story...

This.

We looked for a rental that had room for a slimline dishwasher.  The first place we rented had so little space we had to store the clean dishes in the drain tray.

I think we could squeeze a small tumble dryer out with the washing machine and dishwasher, but there is no need right now.  If I had a baby that might be a different story though!

UGH!