Is this true....????

[GoldenTouch]

I couldn’t imagine life with out a kettle.
I boil it several times a day but rarely for a hot drink (twice a day max).
I boil it when I am washing up to make the sink water hotter, put in pots etc to soak while we eat dinner, pour it down the sink if I’ve washed up something greasy, add to hot water when washing the floor. Many times, many uses.
I like that I can flick it on & it turns its self off & if forget about it nothing boils over or dry.

 

[Daisys and Diamonds]

Glad to hear it @LilAlex I thought it was too odd to be true!

I have asked this question before anoung my American Bruce Springsteen fan buddies and none of those ladies used an electric jug
One got one for her wedding many moons ago but never used it

 

[Daisys and Diamonds]

I couldn’t imagine life with out a kettle.
I boil it several times a day but rarely for a hot drink (twice a day max).
I boil it when I am washing up to make the sink water hotter, put in pots etc to soak while we eat dinner, pour it down the sink if I’ve washed up something greasy, add to hot water when washing the floor. Many times, many uses.
I like that I can flick it on & it turns its self off & if forget about it nothing boils over or dry.

Yes !
Im boiling the jug all day long and once a day i pour a jug full of boiling water down the sink

 

[foxinsox]

Maybe the difference isn’t so much whether or not you have a kettle but whether it’s electric or not? There’s lots of mention from US PSers of stove top kettles but I don’t know anyone in the U.K. who has a stove kettle. Here electric kettles are ubiquitous - I’d almost hazard a guess that every house nationwide has one.

Same in NZ - just about everyone has an electric kettle if they drink tea/coffee. We drink pour-over coffee and have a stove-top gooseneck kettle.
Electric goosenecks aren’t a thing here although we have debated getting a fancy specialist electric one for the coffee.

 

[chemgirl]

@seaurchin I think Aussies, like the Poms, are a nation of tea drinkers and that's probably where the difference is. If you don't drink tea then I guess you don't need a kettle. Which is fair enough.

I don’t drink tea, but I don’t understand how people can drink coffee out of a plastic coffee maker. It’s so gross to me.

Kettle and French press until I invest in a legit coffee setup. Maybe I’m just a hipster, but everyone in my friend group does similar with locally roasted coffee beans (we all swear by our respective roaster).

 

[Daisys and Diamonds]

Same in NZ - just about everyone has an electric kettle if they drink tea/coffee. We drink pour-over coffee and have a stove-top gooseneck kettle.
Electric goosenecks aren’t a thing here although we have debated getting a fancy specialist electric one for the coffee.

What's a gooseneck ?
Gary has a fancy Italian coffee machine (and a 25kg grinder) - im not allowed to touch either

 

[chrono]

I grew up with line hung clothes and hated all the leaves, dust and pollen that blew onto my clothes. Sometimes they also get super stiff. And the rush outside when it starts to drizzle. I'll take my lazy dryer any day. Family suffers from all year long seasonal allergies to dust, pollen, ragweed, etc so we have to limit our exposure.

 

[Asscherhalo_lover]

We don't drink hot tea. We drink iced tea and I make it cold brew style and add lemon but no sugar. It's a mix of black and green loose leaf tea. If I ever HAVE to make it I just boil some water in a pot. We don't drink drip coffee either, only cold brew which we make on our own or espresso/latte. For that we have a Nespresso but we're looking to upgrade to a fully automatic machine the next time Costco puts a good one on sale.

 

[YadaYadaYada]

I’ve never thought of the microwave for heating water since we have the Keurig (or had, need to get a new one). I do heat water in the microwave for jewelry cleaning though.

Didn’t even know electric kettles existed until this thread. The only kettle I knew of was the ones you put on the stove that whistle.

 

[pinkjewel]

My Dad was British. Needless to say I grew up as a tea drinker. If something was bothering one of us or we were upset- a cup of tea was always offered to make us feel better. LOL- I always laugh when I watch Big Bang Theory and Sheldon's answer is the same - offer a hot beverage (usually tea). Anyway, I have 3 electric tea kettles as I seem to like to collect them (and I have 2 homes) for all my tea drinking. I still enjoy 3-4pm tea time.

 

[ItsMainelyYou]

I read this just the other day

US woman baffled by Aussie laundry method - and Kiwis do it too

Woman goes viral after asking for a "please explain" from our Aussie neighbours.

www.nzherald.co.nz

Sad just too sad
missing out on all those lovelly sunshine smells
I actually had to use the dryer last week and felt so quilty
Im not sure if id call this Aussie's greatest invention but as we have the pav and the flat white ...

That's a summer luxury up my way!

 

[elizat]

I grew up hanging up clothes to dry outside (US), in rural Pennsylvania. I'd still do it, but it's just not a "thing" here. In Florida, it could be dicey. We get a lot of intermittent rain bursts throughout the day, depending on the season, so you could have soaked clothes. I think my other half would be horrified by the idea of it and object to the scratchy hard feeling that items get when they are put outside to dry. I remember using towels and sheets dried outside was like sandpaper growing up.

 

[jeweln]

Have an electric kettle and make tea in a tea pot so it brews there . sometimes I make chai tea in a pot on the stove .

 

[YadaYadaYada]

We had a clothesline! Our apartment was on the third floor so that meant our clothes were high up on the pole. Nothing like having all your underwear hanging as high as a flag for all the neighborhood to see.

 

[MagpieMama]

I’m in the US, and I think it is odd not to have a kettle. I’m not even a big tea drinker and my copper kettle stays out on the stove all the time. I think it looks charming and I can’t imagine not offering hot and cold beverage options when someone stops by. My mom and grandmother do the same, maybe that’s why?
Call it southern mama guilt

 

[meely]

Love this thread. UK here. A kettle is very culturally important. We have a hot water tap but IMO it doesn’t taste the same. Got to have it from the kettle.

Has anyone mentioned washing up bowls yet? My friend (from Alabama but has lived in UK for 15 years) thinks they are the strangest things ever. Personally I cannot imagine not having one. Now is that just her or are they not a thing either?

 

[TooPatient]

I grew up with line hung clothes and hated all the leaves, dust and pollen that blew onto my clothes. Sometimes they also get super stiff. And the rush outside when it starts to drizzle. I'll take my lazy dryer any day. Family suffers from all year long seasonal allergies to dust, pollen, ragweed, etc so we have to limit our exposure.

The stiff clothes and scratchy towels is what I remember from hanging clothes with Grandma. I was starting to wonder if it was just bad water causing that or something. It was awful! I mean, there was something sort of fun about hanging clothes and being out with the fruit trees... Just the scratchy results were a disappointment.

 

[Matata]

Has anyone mentioned washing up bowls yet?

They're called dish pans in the US. My parents and earlier generations of the family used them. I don't know why they didn't just wash dishes directly in the sink.

 

[Karl_K]

They're called dish pans in the US. My parents and earlier generations of the family used them. I don't know why they didn't just wash dishes directly in the sink.

It scratches up the sink which causes plated sinks to rust out.
Today's stainless sinks it is less of an issue.

 

[Matata]

You Brits are corrupting influences. I just ordered an electric kettle, retiring my stove top kettle to decorative-only status.

 

[smitcompton]

Hi,

I only drink tea, so I have and love tea kettles. Mircro =wave tea isn't hot enough. The water must boil. Then you must let it steep for some minutes in the hot water to get a good cup of tea.

I love a kettle because its homey in the kitchen. And I like when it whistles to tell me "I'm ready". It means a time to relax and refresh is here. Ah, blessed Tea.


Annette

 

[pearlsngems]

We have a single sink. I use a plastic dish pan for dishes and pots that I hand wash, then rinse under running water alongside the basin. I suppose people with double sinks can wash in one sink and rinse in the other sink.

I grew up hanging everything on the line; we didnt get a dryer until my mother delveloped bursitis. When my daughter was young I hung clothes on the line to dry, as it gave me something to do while I watched her play in our unfenced back yard or her kid's pool. However sometimes birds that perched on the line or in the trees pooped on the clothes!

These days I only use the dryer.

 

[YadaYadaYada]

We had a dish pan growing up. Probably to be able to move any dirty dishes quickly but also to keep the dishes from directly touching the sink. Our washing machine drained into the kitchen sink! Strangest setup ever.

Of course with a dish pan you also had dish rag to wash with and dish towel to dry after putting them in the dish drainer. So many items for one task!

 

[lissyflo]

You Brits are corrupting influences. I just ordered an electric kettle, retiring my stove top kettle to decorative-only status.

One down, 328 million to go...

 

[GeorgieQ]

@meely I'm in Australian and agree and I've never seen/heard of a washing up bowl, I just wash my dishes in the sink. A washing up bowl hey, fancy that!

@lissyflo woo hoo!! You're going love your new kettle, I promise you'll never look back!

 

[Yimmers]

Wow, really? There's such a thing as "TikTok stars?"

I read this just the other day

US woman baffled by Aussie laundry method - and Kiwis do it too

Woman goes viral after asking for a "please explain" from our Aussie neighbours.

www.nzherald.co.nz

Sad just too sad
missing out on all those lovelly sunshine smells
I actually had to use the dryer last week and felt so quilty
Im not sure if id call this Aussie's greatest invention but as we have the pav and the flat white ...

Now, as for being baffled about hanging your laundry to dry...she'd probably also be baffled about having to hand wash dishes on a daily basis - doesn't everybody use a dishwasher?!

 

[Daisys and Diamonds]

I grew up with line hung clothes and hated all the leaves, dust and pollen that blew onto my clothes. Sometimes they also get super stiff. And the rush outside when it starts to drizzle. I'll take my lazy dryer any day. Family suffers from all year long seasonal allergies to dust, pollen, ragweed, etc so we have to limit our exposure.

I only recently became aware of the pollen issues with the washing
in Wellington we had plenty of wind so the towels were always soft ...but here they are a bit like my mother's Dunedin towels due to non- hurricane force wind -especially on days with no breeze- sandpaper !
Its invigorating and we don't need to exfoliate !

Today im mad at the met service - i checked the forecast last night but we had a quick shower 4 hours early so ive had to bung my slightly damp towels in the drier as the forcast is now a week of rain

 

[Daisys and Diamonds]

@meely I'm in Australian and agree and I've never seen/heard of a washing up bowl, I just wash my dishes in the sink. A washing up bowl hey, fancy that!

@lissyflo woo hoo!! You're going love your new kettle, I promise you'll never look back!

My English monther in law used one forever
i only think perhaps it came from the lean times she grew up in through and after the war and hot water is a cost

 

[Daisys and Diamonds]

Wow, really? There's such a thing as "TikTok stars?"


Now, as for being baffled about hanging your laundry to dry...she'd probably also be baffled about having to hand wash dishes on a daily basis - doesn't everybody use a dishwasher?!

We put our dishwaher on about twice a week when its full.
It's just the two of us and the cat bowls

 

[GeorgieQ]

My English monther in law used one forever
i only think perhaps it came from the lean times she grew up in through and after the war and hot water is a cost

Yes that would make sense. I asked my mum (whose in her 70's) if she had heard of them and she had, but hadn't seen one for years.
I also told her that a vast number of Americans don't own a kettle and she stopped what she was doing, looked at me with a very confused look on her face and said 'How on earth do they make a cup of tea then?' We are totally tea driven in the Commonwealth!