ECN Forum Forums General Topics of the Trade General Discussion Area Euro outlet in US kitchen

It's not 100% true that all European countries use 230/400V, but you can most definitely expect some form of 230V 50Hz (accepted voltage tolerance +/- 10%) at a Schuko socket, either live and grounded conductor from a 230/400V 4 wire Y transformer or two live conductors from a 133/230V Y (grounded conductor not supplied to customer). Supposedly there are even 115/230V 1ph 3w transformers used in some remote areas of Germany. To make it short, all appliances have to be designed to work on either 230V hot to neutral or 230V hot to hot, however, regulations don't necessarily require the appliance to be totally isolated when switched off, e.g. single pole light switches are perfectly legal on a 133/230V system, even though one terminal of the Edison socket is always hot (needs to be the tip, not the screw shell though).

Edit: on washing machines I heard that the pump motors (split pole motors) are the biggest issue as they want exactly their specified frequency. Now that Euro style front loaders are sold regularly in the US I can't really see any reason to import a European machine.