I’m an American living in England – something about my new house just isn’t right

An American woman who recently moved to England has shared four things that have baffled her as she adjusts to her new home.

Molly, her partner and toddler left Texas and moved to an Airbnb across the pond while they waited to find a more permanent home.

In a video on TikTok, she shared four discoveries she made in her new home that she had never seen before but are common in Britain.

“We’re learning all about England in Britain and British culture – we’re having a great time,” Molly told viewers.

The four things Molly noticed in her house were: on and off switches on electrical outlets, no electrical outlets in the bathrooms, a hot and a cold tap on the sink, and three ovens in one.

One thing she noticed was the on and off switches in the electrical outlets in her home, which she says she is unfamiliar with.

She asked, “Good for safety – why do you have an electrical outlet if you’re not using it? Something I’ve honestly never seen before in my life.’

The on and off switch on an electrical function is common in homes in Britain.

Molly was also confused by sockets in the bathroom that did not appear to provide power for any appliances other than specialist razors.

“What about our blow dryers, what about the women’s stuff?” she asked.

Many bathrooms are not equipped with electrical outlets in bathrooms to minimize the risk of fire hazards.

Molly believes the on and off switches on sockets are ‘good for safety’

In Britain there are only sockets in the bathroom for shavers to prevent electrocution

The hot and cold sink faucets also left Molly perplexed as they did not have a medium temperature function as one commonly sees in the US.

“One hot, one cold,” she said, pointing to the water taps on one of her sinks.

She asked: ‘How do you get water to an average temperature? Does it save energy costs?’

‘I would like to know more about this, because I really don’t understand it.’

The two separate water taps Molly noticed in her home actually date back to “a time when hot and cold water were kept separate to prevent cross-connection contamination,” according to Kevin Wellman, who spoke to BBC in 2019.

‘Cold water came from a socket and was suitable for drinking. The hot water would be supplied from a local storage tank, often located in the attic,” he added.

Molly questioned the taps because of the lack of ‘medium temperature water’ and the savings on energy costs

The three ovens she discussed in her kitchen are called an AGA cooker – an appliance invented in Sweden and commonly manufactured in Britain.

All the features mentioned by Molly are common in homes in England and throughout the UK, mainly for safety reasons

Molly’s house seems small, but she didn’t make the size of the English house clear in her video

Molly was also stunned to see three ovens combined into one appliance in her kitchen.

Molly says that because of their size, none of the cookie sheets she shipped from America will fit in them.

Molly believed one of the ovens was a ‘grill’ and she was just going to buy an air fryer.

The three oven setup Molly has in her kitchen is actually an AGA cooker – a kitchen appliance commonly manufactured in Britain.

Food52 listed different ways the AGA cooker can be usedincluding cooling food, a drying rack for clothes and, as Molly predicted, it can be used as a broiler.