On saveral British shows I have noticed that the people have these tiny refridgeraters, is this really common over there? I couldn't even fit all my mustards jams etc in one of those! The only British show I can recall seeing a big fridge on was Ab Fab and it was stocked with champagne so it may not be "the norm."
shareYeah, we've noticed that too. "Keeping Up Appearances" is another example. One of us did a semester at a college near London, but she stayed in a dorm, so doesn't know about private homes.
----------------------
Getting You Satisfied
(One way or another)
I've notice the tiny fridge in ATGB, along with One foot in the Grave and Keeping up Appearances too, I've always wonder the same.
We're in the eye of a sh_tacane ~Mr.Lahey
I love the comments on this board. Yes, that would be a normal size fridge in the UK - the tall, US-style fridge/freezers that you can stand in are a recent trend, as, I suppose, is consuming the necessary amount of food required to fill them.
This is why I love ATGB - apart from when it descends into pantomime/slapstick territory, it is a very reassuring, familiar look at everyday life here. Lionel and Jean perhaps have more money than most, but the little quirks and tastes they have - Lionel's custard tarts - are easily identifiable to a certain generation of Britons.
"Tony, if you talk that rubbish, I shall be forced to punch your head" - Lord Tony's Wife, Orczy
Oh thats right! On "My Family" they had a U.S. style refrigerator/freezer because "Nick" (Kris Marshall) could be standing almost upright while scrounging for food.
----------------------
Getting You Satisfied
(One way or another)
I've always wondered about that too. It seems like you'd have to go to the grocery store alot,since they can't hold much.
shareOf course her house is in a more urban area whwere there are small shops etc not like the majority of US homes in the suburbs where you have to drive to Costco or whatever and you only want to go once a week.
share[deleted]
Not really...Having been there, the nearest real shop was a Tesco Express about .4 miles away.
shareI think the difference is that they don't drive as much in the big city . . . too much trouble . . . probably can't carry that much on public transportation . . . here in all but the very large hard to drive cities you have to have a car to get anything to eat and retailers market for that fact . . . fill up the car everytime you go grocery shopping to make the expenditure for gas worth the trip. Anybody who lives alone or uses the bus most of the time can't carry that many bags . . . no need for a big fridge if you have close by shops and use the bus or walk. That way in San Francisco where I lived for many years.
shareIt depends how much you eat! Those fridges hold a weekly shop - milk, butter, veg, whatever else goes in fridges. Bigger fridges = more food, that's all.
Sorry, I just had to add another comment to this discussion, it's so quaint!
"Tony, if you talk that rubbish, I shall be forced to punch your head" - Lord Tony's Wife, Orczy
Yeah, I always found it unusual that they have one of those tiny fridges. They live in a proper nice house so you would think they would have a big standing refrigerator. I live in a studio apartment in Manhattan and have a full-size refrigerator - just for the beer and leftover Chinese food alone!
shareWhen I went to England I went to a store I think it was Harods and they sell those small fridges and even smaller stoves.
shareWow ... stereotype much?
As I recall, Britain has an obesity problem on the same par with North America's, if not more so. Chip Butty or fried Mars bar, anyone? Obviously it has nothing to do with the size of the appliances. It has more to do with shopping habits I would think. The European habit is to shop frequently for just enough food for that day or two, whereas in North America it's more typical to shop on a weekly basis at most. If you're buying food for a week -- or more -- then you need more storage space. I don't know anything about this history of the size of refrigerators, but I can say that long before either continent struggled with weight issues, NA refrigerators were typically larger than those in Europe.
So please, before you call us "quaint" and piggish for asking an innocent question, how about thinking first, eh?
It's like that in many cities here in the U.S. too. In New York city, for example, people don't shop for a week's worth of groceries like they do here in Alabama. It's an entirely different world where there are large amounts of food and ready made fresh meals within walking distance of one's dwelling. Spending more on these meals versus buying groceries for a whole week...it all equals out. I imagine that living in London would be very similar.
* * * *
If electricity comes from electrons, does morality come from morons?
I was thinking, mainly that large fridge/freezers with the ice machines in the door are a recent trend in the UK, and that most people shop for a week here, too - Peter Kay's 'big shop'. So why should people have suddenly decided that larger fridges are necessary, apart from the aesthetic style - more food to buy!
I found it 'quaint' that there is a thread here about Jean having what is classed as a 'tiny' fridge (which are actually deeper and wider than the tall variety). Although I suppose I was only adding to the random nature of the topic by debating it.
We do have our stereotypes about the US, just as you have yours about us.
"Tony, if you talk that rubbish, I shall be forced to punch your head" - Lord Tony's Wife, Orczy
I was the origional poster of this "random" thread. It seems like some people here are offended by it although I can't understand why. It is just something I noticed on many British shows, most from a few years ago, I don't know how deep they are I'm sure they are great,they're just diffent thus the observation, I don't think Brits are quaint or weird or anything please let's not have such a thin skin. We Americans watch Britcoms because they are different than what we have here that's why we like them.
shareI took no offence, I just come from the other side of the pond and thought such a small difference in .. appliances .. as a topic to be amusing; I like to read the 'Britspeak' threads, too! Sorry for leading your thread astray.
"Tony, if you talk that rubbish, I shall be forced to punch your head" - Lord Tony's Wife, Orczy
RE: "We Americans watch Britcoms because they are different than what we have here that's why we like them."
I watch Britcoms because they're funny
Actually, I also prefer British movies where people, especially we women, are allowed to get older unlike in Hollywood
I always thought they had smaller fridges in the UK because they don't need to keep as many things in there. It is a cool climate, so there would be no need to keep jams etc in the fridge. Even here in Melbourne (Australia) I keep far less in the fridge than I did I when I lived in Townsvile (also Australia, but about 2000 kms closer to the equator!)
shareAfter the "ice chest" it seems people in warmer climes went for the tall free standing fridges. I live in Sydney and it's the humidity that can cause us to have larger fridges. When I was staying in the UK my sister in law had a small fridge but the larder was next to an outside wall, full brick with vents. You could keepyour butter etc there esp in the winter and not have to refrigerate.
SkiesAreBlue
This is why I love ATGB - apart from when it descends into pantomime/slapstick territory, it is a very reassuring, familiar look at everyday life here. Lionel and Jean perhaps have more money than most, but the little quirks and tastes they have - Lionel's custard tarts - are easily identifiable to a certain generation of Britons.
I noticed that as well. On the other hand how often do you see them cooking ?
;-)
The entire contents seem to be coffee cream, a few eggs and sausages.
Custard tarts it seems, require no refrigeration.
Look closely in some British shows and you may catch those unique
front loading clothes washer/dryer units.
Coffee cream? You mean milk? 'Coffee cream' must be an American thing, because it's not done in Britain or the Commonwealth!
And those front-loaders aren't 'unique' to Britain. You'll find them all through Europe, Australia, Mars...
They also have one in "Open All Hours".
share[deleted]
LOL, what an amusing thread.
Here's the real reason Brits tend to have smaller fridges and it has nothing to do with obesity or the amount of shopping one does;
It's a colder climate. Usually butter/marg, jams/conserves, and a whole host of other groceries and vegetables that many assume go in the fridge actually go in the pantry/larder/cupboard... hence the usual irrelevancy of a large fridge.
That's it.. simple :)
"Argue for your limitations, and sure enough, you will get them"
Great explanation, last poster! I stayed in a home in Scotland, btw, that had a full-sized fridge. But it was out a ways from town, so I suppose they didn't go shopping as often as those in bigger UK cities.
myspace.com/brt374
I was just about to send a post pointing out the difference in the North American climate to that of the UK where 70 degrees is considered a heatwave when I saw your post.
I've been frozen to the bone in Scarborough in June at 40 degrees and the chill winds blowing around the Yorkshire Dales can be daunting in July. So therefore a tiny fridge is about the only size necessary. A daily trip to Skeltons bakery for
pork pies and sausage rolls which commodities are eaten at tea time straight off is a must and such treats don't need refrigeration. Unless one has a small freezer, I don't think that many people stockpile joints of beef etc.
[deleted]
I will never understand Americans who can do nothing but run down thier country and fellow Americans!? I'm American and don't "eat like a hog" and I kind of resent being lumped into a huge catergory like that. The America that some of us live in, the suburbs, is not conducive to the style of shopping the Jean and Lionel or even city dwellers everywhere can enjoy. The idea of popping down to the corner shop for 1 or 2 things isn'r really feasable for me, I have to get in the car and drive so that makes me and many suburbanites think that it makes sense to pick up a weeks worth of food at a time, that's common sense. I'm sitting here looking out my window at a fresh snowfall, yes we made sure we had the essentials in the house so that no one would chance an accident just because we didn't plan properly and ran out of toilet paper, again that's common sense. I think many of my fellow Americans like British comedy because it is diffeent, it is fun to pick up on some of the little things that make us different, not to be critacal or to run down our own country just to enjoy something different. It's not fashionable right now to say you are proud to be American in the opinion of some people, that's not hilarious, just sad.
ps. I don't keep my peanut butter in the fridge though(those people are freaks)!
ps. I don't keep my peanut butter in the fridge though(those people are freaks)!LOL! Made me splutter my coffee all over the monitor dammit.
Exactly how can you know that the poster your responds to does nothing except run down his country and his fellow Americans based on one post? Are you one of those "love it or leave it" people who believes any criticism of one's own country should result in immediate expulsion? Criticism of our country by us has resulted in making many changes for the better and making this a better country than it was before. He plainly presented several possible reasons for the tiny fridge which were his opinion. Get over yourself. I too find it hilarious when a snowflake falls and everyone runs to the store thinking they will die or starve to death if they don't. As for the toilet paper, use the Sears and Roebuck catalog pages like we did when I was a kid.
share[deleted]
[deleted]
I refrigerate most things, even bread. It has nothing to do with being afraid of germs, it is because food lasts much longer when refrigerated. So I can bulk buy food when it is on sale. Refrigerating fruits and vegetables can increase its shelf life by several weeks. Most modern American refrigerators have a capacity of over 20 cubic feet but they only cost less than $100 a year to operate and the more food you store in the refrigerator, the less it costs to run. It is silly to leave food out to rot at room temperature when it costs so little to refrigerate it.
We're on a mission from God.
I'm from the UK and at the time t his series was filmed we had a small fridge, actually a fridge freezer where the fridge and freezer sections were the same size. Kitchens in many older UK houses are quite small especially compared to the ones shown on US TV shows so would only be able to accommodate small appliances. A few years ago we purchased an American style fridge freezer and we now tend to buy things in bulk and shop less often. When we first joined Costco some time ago they used to sell large American style washing machines to but alas the EU have banned these machines for domestic use.
People tell me not to keep bread in the fridge because it goes stale quicker but I have not found that to be the case.
[deleted]
I just posted a remark on the tiny fridge then I found this discussion already started so I deleted mine. I have been to a few English homes and they had regular size refrigerators so I too was wondering if those minibars were prevalent in England. I guess I'm really surprised because Jean's house is a substantial one, not like some of the tiny houses you see in England. By the way I adore Torquay - so beautiful and some of the nicest people I have met in travels around the world. I have been called dearie and luv and been wished cherrio (sp?) and ta. So that is not stereotyping to show English people using such language. Didn't see anyone in riding pink or using a monocle though. I love fish and chips but they also dump mushy peas on the plate which I don't like at all!
share[deleted]
I keep both of those in the fridge
shareI live in the UK and have noticed that the people who tend to have the smaller fridges are those who live alone or as a couple and wouldn't need a large fridge to fill a family. You would think that since there were four of them living there in As Time Goes By once Sandy had moved in they would need a larger fridge, but in the early episodes it was only Jean and Judith living there.
The world is your lobster.