10 Things In European Homes Americans Think Are Weird

Every culture is different but these are ten things that I, at least, as an American, find pretty odd about homes of different countries in Europe. Europe is home to an amazing history and culture so I'm glad to have had the chance to spend some more time there. None of these things are negatives - just different from what I'm used to so it was fun to explore them. #europe #italy #travel

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[gerrygm]

I live in Germany, near the French and Luxembourg border. I would agree with most of your statements but in Europe are a lot of different cultures and different habits & languages on a very small area, as you mentioned also. Ocasionally I visit Switzerland, France, Belgium, Netherlands and visited UK three times. I can't remember to see a door knob in the middle. Bidets were common in my grandma's generation (at least here in my area). I'm really glad that most of the european countries teach english as a common language, but I really like the local languages and cultural things, especially food, wine and beer ;-). The washing machine is usually in the basement here (countryside). And air conditioners gets common here more and more. That was the reason why I found this channel :-) Most of the existing walls are made of concrete and bricks but we also use "Trockenbau" for room seperation inside. I really like this channel to see american crafting... Keep it going, have fun!

[moirai]

One thing I noticed in a lot of countries in Europe is the roller shutters (Rolladen). They offer nice room darkening, and they have a mode where the shutters are down but have small holes to allow air flow.

[drbobjohnson]

When we stayed in a rented house in Italy, the kitchen counters were stainless steel with slope to drain into sink. The bottom of the cabinets above counter were wire draining racks, some to hold plates other general stuff. That way you put them on rack to dry at same time you are storing them in cabinet. Saves a Step.

[stevesideris]

If you think Europe is small and heavily populated, you should avoid travel to Asia.

[type]

Having travelled and lived for short periods around both Europe and the US, when we were remodelling our new (to us, 40 years old) house this year, we made some unusual (for Ireland) choices, to get the best of all worlds: It’s a big house (bungalow) in a rural area - 210 m2/2, 260 ft2, so way bigger than the Irish average. It also has concrete walls throughout (although internal walls of wood-framing & drywall are more common in newer houses). We converted the smallest bedroom into a laundry room (with a dryer). There aren’t window screens, but we fitted Mechanical Heat-Recovery Ventilation, to prevent the improved airtightness being an issue, so we never need to open the windows anyway. We kept the lovely type G electrical sockets and plugs of course, but we added a ledge around the edge of the ceilings and ran hidden LED strip lights on them (pendant lights in the centre of the ceiling give poor lighting with horrible shadows). We now have aircon by default, as we didn’t replace the typical/default boiler with radiators and a hot water tank with electric immersion element with new versions - we chose an air-to-air heat-pump with central air ducting in the attic, so we can have heating in winter and cooling in summer. There’s a separate hot water cylinder with the water heated by a small heat-pump built in to the top of it. After hearing about how great bidets are from their many online fans, we fitted a bidet in the bathroom (unusual for Ireland), and we are now also fans of them. All our taps (faucets) are lever-operated mixer taps, thanks to our US experience. Although we’ve used US-style waste disposals, we didn’t choose one, as they seemed hard to keep clean and odour-free, and we have a separate organic refuse (trash) collection for food waste anyway. Our previous (110 year-old) house in the city had a central door knob on its original front door, but you don’t turn them to operate the latch, most of them are just something to pull on as you close the door when you go out. Our new doors do have the dimple-lock keys that you showed in the video, with multiple locking bolts all around the frame. Our friends and neighbours think it’s very good, but they do think some of our choices were a bit weird…

[MILGEO]

As an American plumber I would say that Bidet's were quite common in new construction during the 80's as well as some older homes that were from the 40's-50's but never required. Wall hung WC's are rarely used outside of commercial rest rooms where they can easily be mopped underneath.
Those split AC/heat pumps are common in Motels but are becoming popular with homeowners who don't want to go through all the trouble of duct work! At least in area's that have more moderate climates.

[jaydogg]

Also in Europe: relatively sparse use of carpeting. Hard wood and vinyl flooring is much more common (in homes).

[PatriotCoder]

I got an add on bidet last year. It's life changing, and you'll wonder why they are so loathed here in the USA. Ladies, NO MORE SKID MARKS!!!

[alvarner]

I installed bidet attachments to the two main bathrooms in our house during the Covid toilet paper scarcity. Now I wouldn't consider living without them.

[NaomiBFox]

Window screens are actually quite common in Hungary, some windows are even sold with built in screen and rollershutter. Windows are usually opening to the inside, so fixed screens are okay too. In the UK however, windows are opening to the outside and I had to custom make window screens with hinges, opening to the inside.

[milk-it]

Australia is a bit of a mixture of Europe and the US. We often have solid brick, concrete homes like in Europe, but many of us have reverse cycle ducted air conditioning, like in the US, not split systems. We also have separate laundry rooms for washers and dryers, and the option to hang clothes outside to dry, since many of us have backyards still. We also use fly screens religiously, but we run on 240 V AC. Roller shutters are very popular here because of the heat. I would like to see more bidets here, but at least we use proper air con systems!

[sheilaweir]

Regarding door design (#9) - you may not have noticed but the frame on the right side of the door generally can be opened with an allen wrench type thing to expand the door opening. Particularly useful for moving furniture in/out.

[ninogaggi]

As a European, I find US public toilet cubicles (stalls) creepy af. What’s the point of a door that only hides 60% of your dignity 🫣

[Mixwell]

I got 2 toilet seat bidets and it's sooo much better. You wipe a lot less and it feels cleaner. I thought it was odd at first but you get used to it quickly in fact i hate no having one since i got soo used to not hving to wipe everything.

A few wipes to dry your bottom and you're good and the tp os usually pretty clean.

[JimfromIndy]

Integrated bidet is a game-changer. I love it.

[MANSHED]

We have a separate bidet in our house. 😂 Lauren originally hated the idea of having it in our master bathroom when we bought the house eight years ago and now she can’t live without it.

[JCWren]

In the US, garbage disposals are far less common in houses that are on septic systems. In Germany, DIY house wiring is verboten, and can only be done by a licensed electrician. I'm not sure about plumbing. Europe has some really cool plumbing and wiring systems, like the way the handle manifolds, plates for mounting sinks and toilets, etc. We have some of that when you're using PEX, but I'm not sure how common it is in residential new construction. I've seen it in some upper end townhomes I've been through.

[wilbertvandenberg]

The best European plug is the CEE 7/7 which works with all type C, type E and type F sockets all over Europe except the UK, Italy and Switserland. But even in Italy and Switserland they are catching up. What you showed was the Schuko plug which doesn't work everywhere. (BTW Schuko means Schutzkontakt = protected contact).

[mststgt]

I watch a lot of American YT Videos, and I'm often stunned by how big the differences are between the US and Germany, especially plumbing, electrical systems and building techniques in general.
In Germany, bidets are not very common. Garbage disposals are not allowed, as we try to keep food waste out of the sewer system to not feed the rats (has something to do with the black plague, I guess). Furthermore, there are considerable differences in Europe regarding all the items you listed. For example, ACs are also quite uncommon in Germany, as we not really need them in our climate. But some newer heat pumps which are used to heat the houses in winter can also cool in summer - but not by air, but by running cool water through the heating system in the floors or walls.

According to some American friends, one of the worst things about Germany is the size of the car parking spaces and garages: Sometimes you have to squeeze out of your properly parked, mid-size car not to damage your car or the car next to it. They told me, the parking spaces in the US are sized like ours for the disabled, about 10 ft wide. A typical parking space in Germany is only about 8.5 ft wide and often only 15 ft long.

[twinwankel]

I've traveled to many European cities and I have never seen a center door knob. I prefer US plugs because they are not bulky.