Merlin,
I'm from out of town, you could say.
Personally I would like to see smoke detectors in as many rooms as possible, all linked together, because you can't smell when you are asleep.
Having said that, installing a smoke detector in a kitchen is asking for trouble, if someone burns the toast, the whole house gets woken up.
Steam will also set off a smoke detector, because of the vapour, so it is best not to protect laundries with a dryer unless it is vented outside.
A note to installers of stand-alone smoke detectors, I have struck a few dodgy installs as a Fire Officer, by handymen that would negate their effectiveness.
There is a dead-air space that extends 1' from the corner of a ceiling, both horizontally out from a wall and vertically down that wall.
NEVER install a smoke detector in that space, in a fire, smoke never gets near this zone in the earlier stages.
In houses with a stairway, there should be a detector at the top ceiling above that stairway, in the centre of it, not off to one side or anything silly like that.
