Odd UK questions

[CdnCarrie]

Because I’ve been reading lots of British mysteries and watching House Hunters lately

1) do people really eat biscuits (cookies) with tea as often as in books? And why always packaged biscuits? Why not homemade cookies? Biscuits are cookies right?
2) What is up with doors on your kitchen and lounge? Do new builds have kitchen doors or is this an older house thing? We don’t have doors on kitchens and living rooms even in older homes.
How often do you close your kitchen door?
3) isn’t having the laundry in the kitchen annoying? How do you dump out and separate loads in the kitchen?

 

[lanejudy]

Well, I'm in the US and my childhood home had the laundry in the kitchen. I'm sure the plumbing was added long after built. It was basically the only space for a washer, other than the unfinished dirt-floor cellar. We had a very large kitchen, there was a counter next to the washer but the laundry loads were separated upstairs near the hamper before bringing to the washer; no dryer just a clothes line.

My childhood home also had doors into the living room -- glass French doors connecting into the playroom and a regular wooden door into the hallway. My previous house had a swinging door between kitchen and dining room, though we never closed it. Both were old houses, around the turn of the century (1900). My current house had a door at the foot of the stairway, but we removed it.

 

[fla4fun]

I have never understood the laundry in the kitchen. I don’t want piles of dirty clothes in the same room where I prepare food. We have had laundry in a hallway nook next to the bedrooms, in a basement, and in a separate laundry room. The hallway nook made the most sense, as the clothes generally came right from the bedroom or bathroom right next to it, and went back to those rooms once cleaned. My current house has a laundry room between the garage and primary bedroom.

I have wondered if all the doors were due to houses being drafty in the past. When using fireplaces to heat a home, closing off rooms that weren’t being used would have made sense. I have seen homes being remodeled to more open floor plans the past few years (I like to browse UK real estate online). We did have the ability to close off the living room and dining room, plus the foyer, in our last house, which was built in the late 70’s in Florida. I think that was more about separating the public entertaining areas of the house from the family only parts.

I have seen British tv programs where they served homemade biscuits/cookies with tea. It’s probably a convenience thing. I often accompany my tea with a couple lemon cookies, if I have tea in the afternoon. They are not homemade, as I am not a cookie baker. I can only drink tea until about 1:00 in the afternoon or the caffeine keeps me awake. When I traveled to the UK, my hotels always had tea and cookies/biscuits available in the afternoon. One hotel had more substantial offerings during certain times, and the cookies available at other times.

I am interested in reading all the responses from people who live there . . . and I want a cup of tea.

 

[NotUrsula]

I can only tell you based on my relative's homes, but ...

Because I’ve been reading lots of British mysteries and watching House Hunters lately

1) do people really eat biscuits (cookies) with tea as often as in books? And why always packaged biscuits? Why not homemade cookies? Biscuits are cookies right?

Yes, biscuits are cookies. I believe that buying the packaged kind is a bit of a holdover from the War, when the ingredients for baking were very strictly rationed, and UK residents rather got out of the habit of baking except for special-occasion cakes. Older members of my family still have the habit of hoarding biscuits; they stock up on the packaged ones and keep them carefully sealed and stashed in tins in the cupboard where it takes a bit of effort to get to them. IME, at least one biscuit a day is pretty common, again, after going totally without sweets for years they got rather into the habit of savoring them.

2) What is up with doors on your kitchen and lounge? Do new builds have kitchen doors or is this an older house thing? We don’t have doors on kitchens and living rooms even in older homes.
How often do you close your kitchen door?

I can't speak for new builds in suburbia, as none of my family live in anything newer than the early 1970's, but a few of them have remodeled their homes, and the kitchen doors stayed in place. Mostly I think it is for HVAC reasons, to isolate the heat of the kitchen, as it is a damp climate & heating/cooling is expensive. My relatives tend to spend a good part of the day hanging out in the kitchen in wintertime, and usually keep the door closed to keep the heat in.

3) isn’t having the laundry in the kitchen annoying? How do you dump out and separate loads in the kitchen?

Their machines tend to be smaller capacity than those found in North America, and in my experience they just dig through the basket to grab the colours they wish to wash. Line drying is the norm in my family's homes, so clean clothes are sorted and stacked into the basket by room as they come off the line.

 

[CdnCarrie]

Heating and doors makes sense.

 

[godders]

I'm British so here's my opinions, although I'm sure many Brits will think differently.

Because I’ve been reading lots of British mysteries and watching House Hunters lately

1) do people really eat biscuits (cookies) with tea as often as in books? And why always packaged biscuits? Why not homemade cookies? Biscuits are cookies right?

2) What is up with doors on your kitchen and lounge? Do new builds have kitchen doors or is this an older house thing? We don’t have doors on kitchens and living rooms even in older homes.
How often do you close your kitchen door?



3) isn’t having the laundry in the kitchen annoying? How do you dump out and separate loads in the kitchen?

1) Yes, especially when you have guests. Cookies and biscuits are not the same thing. Biscuits might have chocolate or some other topping on them where as cookies will tend to have things in them (like chocolate chips). Cookies tend to be larger, softer and more moist whereas british biscuits have a snap to them. Packaged biscuits are very much a part of our culture I think because they are tied into being social. Making them from scratch is something you tend to do with little kids, although baking them at home has become more popular with the Great British Bake Off.

2) A lot of our buildings stem from old to VERY old and from the time of housemaids and cooks so the owners wouldn't necessarily be in those spaces very often when they were built, hence why you would have doors. Because of age, lots of houses aren't particularly energy efficient so they have closed off rooms to help keep them warm. Open plans are relatively new and increasingly popular but no one likes a cold, drafty house.

3)We've never had a washing machine in the kitchen but at lot of my friends do and we just do laundry on the kitchen table or bedrooms or wherever their putting their washing out to dry. Many properties are WAAAY smaller than your average home in the US, with limited outdoor space so you have to efficient with the space.

 

[kanerf]

One thought to kitchens with doors. In some cases the kitchen may have been added on at a later date, thus the door. In older colonial homes in the US, the kitchen was in a separate building due to fire concerns.

 

[mjkacmom]

Our home is 100 years old, it was built by a developer who built many homes in town. We removed the heavy chestnut doors from the kitchen/living room and kitchen/dining room, and turned the butlers pantry into a 1/2 bath (house only had one bathroom on the second floor). The split staircase that went into the kitchen had been turned into a closet on the landing and blocked by the fridge in the kitchen years before we bought it. There is still a door at the base of the attic stairs that leads to the maids quarters. There is a working fireplace in the living room. The funny thing is our house is only 1800 square feet, so it’s odd to think there were things in place for domestic help, especially with one bathroom.

 

[PaulaSB12]

Because I’ve been reading lots of British mysteries and watching House Hunters lately

1) do people really eat biscuits (cookies) with tea as often as in books? And why always packaged biscuits? Why not homemade cookies? Biscuits are cookies right?
2) What is up with doors on your kitchen and lounge? Do new builds have kitchen doors or is this an older house thing? We don’t have doors on kitchens and living rooms even in older homes.
How often do you close your kitchen door?
3) isn’t having the laundry in the kitchen annoying? How do you dump out and separate loads in the kitchen?

1 digestive biscuits dunked in tea is my favourite (well apart from chocolate flake dunked in hot chocolate)
2 the room as separated which I prefer
3 have used the washing machine in the kitchen for decades without a problem. Having said that I converted the room behind the kitchen into a utility room with the fridge/freezer (American style fridge freezer) washing machine and tumble dryer in it and so really like it now. as for why the washing machine in the kitchen most houses don't have the capacity to have a washing machine anywhere else. You can't have sockets in a bathroom unless its at least 3 metres from a bath so that isn't practical my bathroom is only 3.5 metres long so the kitchen is The only room (unless you have a utility room) that has both water and electricity. The rules on electricity is why instead of the usual light switch in the bathroom you have a ceiling switch with a string pull to turn the light on and off.

 

[BadPinkTink]

I'm from Ireland but all of these are the same in Ireland .

1) do people really eat biscuits (cookies) with tea as often as in books? And why always packaged biscuits? Why not homemade cookies? Biscuits are cookies right?

Yes Irish people drink just as much hot tea with milk as UK people. Dunking biscuits into tea is a very normal thing. yes biscuits are cookies but we dont really make home made ones. There are many varieties of store bought packaged biscuits and its just more normal to buy them and not make them at home.

The most common types of biscuits eaten or dunked in tea are digestive biscuits, which are plain biscuits kinda like Graeme Crackers.

They can be plain or chocolate covered

2) What is up with doors on your kitchen and lounge? Do new builds have kitchen doors or is this an older house thing? We don’t have doors on kitchens and living rooms even in older homes.
How often do you close your kitchen door?

See I find it strange to watch American shows and movies and see houses which don't have doors in the kitchen or lounge. Its normal for all types of houses both new and old to have kitchen and lounge doors. Its really because of our weather, which is cold, damp and draughty. Having doors on all the rooms means that in the winter you can conserve heat. My grandparents house did not have central heating, only a fire in the lounge and a fire range cooker in the kitchen. In the winter in their house, the lounge door and the kitchen was always closed so that the heat could build up during the day. We only were in the bedrooms at night to sleep , daytime the family was either in the kitchen or lounge.

In my parents house, we close the kitchen and lounge doors every day, depending on what we are doing. During the day, we often close the kitchen door if we are cooking. We often close the lounge door to conserve heat in the winter. At night time, all the doors are closed as a fire precaution.

3) isn’t having the laundry in the kitchen annoying? How do you dump out and separate loads in the kitchen?

No, its very normal. Again our houses are smaller and most houses did not have space for a separate laundry area. You use the kitchen floor or you bring the laundry to a bedroom and use the bed. and do laundry when the kitchen is not being used for food preparation. Also we don't store dirty laundry in the kitchen. People either have laundry baskets in their bedrooms or a family one in the bathroom. Air drying clothes is normal, either outside or on clothes racks inside. Most houses don't have the space for a separate dryer, so will either get a washer / dryer which is more expensive than just a washer. Our washers are also smaller, with a small load capacity, so we wash less clothes more frequently.

 

[mmouse37]

All very interesting!!! I am from the US and I am all about afternoon tea with cookies....packaged or homemade!

MJ

 

[Selket]

I'm in (and from) the USA but my house growing up in Kentucky also had the laundry in the kitchen (full size washer and dryer) and I agree with others who say it was convenient to fold laundry on the kitchen table. It's actually super convenient compared to mine now which is in the basement. We still bring the clothes upstairs to the kitchen table to fold them though - haha!

 

[mamamia2005]

I'm in the UK, and agree with everything that has already been said!
A McVities Chocolate digestive biscuits dunked in a nice hot cup of tea is just bliss!

Open plan living (i.e no doors on the kitchen etc) is becoming more popular here but most homes are still the very traditional style of seperate rooms.

Some homes (usually larger homes) do have what we would call a utility room that would have the washing machine and tumble dryer in, but tumble dryers are not the absolute norm here. I much prefer drying my washing outside in the garden on the washing line. I don't like it in winter when I have to dry washing inside on clothes airers.

 

[BadPinkTink]

Just to put some context into things

Most washing machines in UK / Ireland have a wash capacity of around 9 kg / 19 pounds with a drum volume of 62 litres / 16 gallons and are around 600mm / 2 feet wide and 900mm / 3 feet high

 

[TippyThomas]

Now I'm going to have to find a store that sells these digestive biscuits so I can try this with my tea. The only option I see so far is being overcharged through Amazon for them. Maybe I'll get lucky and find a store around me that might have them because I'd really like to give it a try.

 

[Feralpeg]

Now I'm going to have to find a store that sells these digestive biscuits so I can try this with my tea. The only option I see so far is being overcharged through Amazon for them. Maybe I'll get lucky and find a store around me that might have them because I'd really like to give it a try.

You can buy them from the UK Pavilion at Epcot!

 

[TippyThomas]

You can buy them from the UK Pavilion at Epcot!

I appreciate that but I'm not sure when or if I'll get there to purchase them. I'll look around local and hopefully get lucky with a source.

 

[Welsh_Dragon]

I think that most small houses built before the 1980s (and not altered since) have doors to each room. Small Victorian houses were traditionally built with an entrance hall, a dining room or ‘front’ room to one side and a living room/parlour to the other and a kitchen at the rear. Most were built with outside loos and so it is quite common to find a loo/family bathroom downstairs or people sacrifice a bedroom to have a bathroom/loo upstairs.
It is still quite normal for people to hang their washing ( even their undies) on an outside line. Many people don’t have tumble dryers and some just prefer wind/air dried clothing.

 

[mjkacmom]

I appreciate that but I'm not sure when or if I'll get there to purchase them. I'll look around local and hopefully get lucky with a source.

I can get them at local Scottish food shops.

 

[Bianca and Bernard]

Because I’ve been reading lots of British mysteries and watching House Hunters lately

1) do people really eat biscuits (cookies) with tea as often as in books? And why always packaged biscuits? Why not homemade cookies? Biscuits are cookies right?
2) What is up with doors on your kitchen and lounge? Do new builds have kitchen doors or is this an older house thing? We don’t have doors on kitchens and living rooms even in older homes.
How often do you close your kitchen door?
3) isn’t having the laundry in the kitchen annoying? How do you dump out and separate loads in the kitchen?

I'm in FL, and my laundry is off the kitchen. It sucks. I can either separate clothes, and move them a load of a time from my bathroom, or I can haul them all into the kitchen, and separate them into piles there.