Though for the most part UK furnishings are the same, there are a few differences that it helps to know about, like what the little cap is for at the bottom of the dishwasher, what is teletext, and how about a scart cable. Even changing a lightbulb can be challenge, when it’s not the screw in sort you’re used to.

Furniture is pretty much the same, though some pieces have different names, a china or hutch cabinet may be called a dresser, and the dressers you’d have in your bedroom in the UK are called chests of drawers.

Handmade pine furniture is quite popular, and inexpensive, though one must keep in mind that pine is a soft wood, and scratches very easily.

Make sure that when buying anything that it will fit through your doors and around corners or stairways.

Modern Smart TVs use HDMI and are basically the same globally. Older TVs have different connectors and features.

Older UK Televisions (Telly)

While basically the same operations, there are some differences that may seem annoying or strange. Such as, off/on/standby. This may only be the case on some older TVs, but in order to be able to turn the TV on with the remote, the tv must be turned “off” with the remote, which isn’t really off, it’s in standby mode, indicated by the red light.

Before Smart TVs and HDMI cables, the video connections (vhs, dvd, arial, video games) were done by SCART connectors, which have big rectangular ends with 21 pins, that fit into the slots on the back of the older units. There were usually several slots for various devices.

These are being phased out now, but you may still come across them. If you’re stuck with this for any reason and have many connections, you can get a multi-scart switcher box to manage the connections from most appliance shops that sell TVs.

When hooking up your additional components, it is different to the American way of doing it, in that you tune these in to different channels. It is very complicated, and makes little sense to me, so I’d suggest reading your manuals very carefully.

One of the most interesting older TV features was Teletext. A broadcast text service that functioned like a text based internet. The main 4 free channels, BBC1, BBC2, ITV, and Channel 4, broadcast a teletext signal along with their television signal, in a similar way that subtitles are broadcast. These text based pages, which consist of many pages of news and information, with hundreds of text pages worth.

For more on teletext, see the Teletext page on Wikipedia.

Washers & Dryers

Clothes washers and tumble dryers are often in the kitchen and usually front loading, though some families do without the dryer completely and hang clothes out/up to dry. I prefer to have fluffy towels, unwrinkled clothes and have never been able to get these with a condenser washer/dryer or by hanging them on a line.

They don’t sell laundry bleach to use with white/light clothes, so now and then I use the thick bleach intended for toilet cleaning, other expats have done this as well. Otherwise, they have other washing additives like Calgon to soften the wash water. The dials are a bit confusing at first, like any new appliance, but you’ll soon get the hang of it.

Washing detergent bottles are labeled if they are “Non-bio”, meaning they don’t have the enzymes which are good for stains, proteins and starches. Non-bio is better for sensitive skin. If you don’t have a washer and need to go to the laundrette (laundromat), you can expect to spend a few pounds per load, but the washers are larger capacity than domestic machines, and big enough for duvets.

If you don’t have room in the house for a dryer, putting it in the garage can be another option, there was a point where I had a dryer in a dining room and vented it out the window during use. 

See other UK Kitchens & Appliances for stove, ovens, and refrigerators, and Heating/Utilities for boiler information. Beds & Bedding. xxx