American kitchen?

[rain_gryphon]

You British people - what does the phrase "American kitchen" mean in a real estate listing? It came up in a novel I was reading ('By the Pricking of my Thumbs', Agatha Christie, 1968) when the heroine was looking to rent a house.

Comments

[xolo.livejournal.com]

I don't see anything particularly American about those kitchens, but then again I might not. It's out of fashion these days to have washers and dryers in the kitchen, but that was common here when I was growing up. The basement was the most common place for them, but people lacking finished basements usually had them in the kitchen. (There was, in fact, a washer sold in the 50s which would wash both clothes and dishes, although it did neither job very well).

I was speculating along the lines of appliances too. That was just after the post-war austerity had ended, so 'American' probably still equated to 'extravagent' in a lot of peoples' minds.

[loganberrybunny.livejournal.com]

I'm trying to remember what kitchens usually contained in my childhood. I can remember back to the very late 1970s, and I think then I would have expected: gas/electric cooker with grill (=US broiler, not barbecue!), sink with draining board, electric kettle, maybe toaster, washing machine, fridge (with small internal freezer compartment) and not a lot else. Tumble dryers would have been rare, I think. I'm pretty sure most washing machines were automatic front-loading models, looking superficially like the modern sorts, by then, but I'm less sure about 1968.