For households using gas for cooking and heating and with no A/C (i.e. 99% of British homes)
Excuse me for quoting myself, but I thought I should clarify that my 99% reference was meant to apply just to A/C, not cooking & heating.
It would actually be quite interesting to know the overall proportions of homes using electric vs. other fuels for cooking and heating in different countries.
In my local area, the choices are also restrained by the fact that we have no mains gas available (despite being only a few miles from Bacton, a major terminal bringing in North Sea gas!).
So for cooking, electric is the natural choice for the majority, although a few people use bottled LPG.
For heating, it's not quite so clear-cut. Wet (radiator) systems are pretty much the norm for British central-heat installations, with oil-fired burners being the natural choice where gas is unavailable.
Electric storage heaters run second-place here, but as you say for Ireland they seem to be losing ground. A few people use wood/coal-burning stoves, which can also be plumbed for hot water and radiators as well.
It's all rather different to 50 years ago, when central-heating was an expensive luxury and many households relied on coal fires and/or individual gas or electric heaters.
However, other kitchen appliences are pretty power hungry too.
Washing machines: ~2.2-3kW
Dryers: up to 3kW
Dishwashers: 2.2-3kW
Aside from electric ranges, the kitchen has certainly accounted for a lot of the increased modern-day loads, although as you say, the traditional 2 - 3kW British/Irish kettle has been with us a long time!
How many old kitchens had just the single 13 or 15A outlet on the cooker unit available? (Plus maybe another socket hidden behind a cupboard for a fridge.) I certainly remember a lot of places that were still like that in the early 1970s, so even if somebody had other heavy appliances in there, they could only use one at a time.
Again, it would be interesting to see ownership figures, but 30 years ago the washing machine was becoming more commonplace in Britain, but dryers and dishwashers were still relatively unusual. (In fact I don't have a dishwasher myself even now.)