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Joined: Aug 2001
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pauluk Offline OP
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A selection of regional TV commercials for our electricity boards from past years (Real format):


Yorkshire Electricity Board, 1983 (970KB)

Northern Ireland Electricity, 1982 (347KB)

North Eastern Electricity Board, 1990 (952KB)


Looking at the 1983 YEB commercial, isn't it funny to think that you can now go and buy a microwave oven in Asda for £29.95?




[This message has been edited by pauluk (edited 11-23-2005).]

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ASDA, now part of Wal-Mart. We used to shop there in the eighties. In the YEB ad. you could have no- deposit credit. The APR was 37%!!!!

Alan


Wood work but can't!
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Apart from the prices -isn't it simply amazing how the prices of microwaves, DVD players, and the like have dropped- on this side of the pond, most of our appliances are quite a bit larger than those pictured in the ads.

As an example, one ad shoes a "large" refrigerator that looks to be only slightly larger than the hand-cart that delivered it. Contrast this to what folks here are buying...400 Kg behemoths that have two doors, a freezer drawer big enough to wash the dog in, 1 meter wide, two meters tall, and 80 cm deep.

Likewise, the typical clothes washer looks to be about double the capacity of those shown.
The cooker shown is about 2/3 the size of our "usual". I have one that size- and had the devils' own time finding it!

Joined: Dec 2001
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T
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Yep - that's what makes people in Europe believe everything is big in the US! I mean, what meal could you cook needing 6 burners? Or let alone the vintage 1920ies gas range (residential) I once saw, with 16 burners and two(!) ovens!
We managed to get two grown turkeys in our European oven, so I guess that should be enough...
Standard refrigerators are about 32" tall and 24" wide, small ones are even narrower. The freezer part usually takes 3 pizzas. Ours is twice as tall because the top is refrigerator and the bottom is freezer, but that's it. We have two though, but after all 7 people are a big family I think.

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pauluk Offline OP
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Appliances have certainly been smaller over here on the whole. There does seem to be a trend for larger washers and fridges in some homes though, and "American-style" appliances are now much more widely available than just a few years ago.

Quite a lot of places now sell U.K. versions of Whirlpool, Maytag, etc. For example:
http://www.ogormans.co.uk/whirlpoo1.htm
http://www.ogormans.co.uk/american1.htm

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C-H Offline
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Reminds me of a large fridge in the Electrolux catalogue. I don't remember the exact wording, but it went something like:

"Please note that this product is designed for the North American market. It is therefore noisier and less energy efficient than other products" [Linked Image]

(I usually detest the bashing of American stuff, but if the manufacturer puts it in the catalogue...)

[This message has been edited by C-H (edited 11-24-2005).]

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Not that common here.
The only slightly American-looking appliance I've ever seen here was a 1950ies gas range, surprisingly made by Austria Email. Still it was narrow for a US range. Some weird people import US refrigerators here and complain on boards how to hook them up... we've gotten along fine with our own stuff all the time and the US have too with theirs, why mix now??? That big stuff simply doesn't belong here IMHO.

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I can see the attraction in big freezers and fridges. Only us two here, and both of our 'conventional uk size' machines are always crammed to bursting. Wouldn't it be nice to have room for another litre of farm milk or a big block of Double Gloucester imported from Blighty? Or be able to freeze all the garden produce without worriting about space? 'Er indoors might even find space for my jar of 'Cascamite' occasionally!

Alan
syntax

[This message has been edited by Alan Belson (edited 11-24-2005).]


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Well, ok our freezers aren't that small either. People who have the space usually put big dedicated freezers in the basement, they open at the top like an old trunk and hold 150 or 200l, making them huge. Like 80cm tall, 120cm wide and 80cm deep. Searching for something at the bottom of those can become a challenge... smaller freezers are the size of the refrigerators mentioned above but have drawers instead of open space.

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pauluk Offline OP
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The large, chest freezers are fairly common here as well. As they tend to get used mostly for longer term storage though, they often end up in the back of the garage due to the sheer amount of space they occupy.

Of course, given the size of the average modern garage here, by the time you get a freezer in the back there's no room for anything bigger than a Pinto in there......

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