Why do so many L.A. apartments come without fridges? Inside the chilling mystery

[Pedestrian]

Originally Posted by 10023

^ Same. It’s always setting off the silent smoke alarm for the whole building. The 3rd time the landlord messaged to tell me this I just said look, it’s going to keep happening a few times per week unless you install a better extractor hood or remove the smoke detector in the kitchen, but there’s nothing I can do.

I have a monitored ADT burgler alarm system that includes smoke detectors and they gave me simple little plastic shields that fit over the smoke detectors to use when I know in advance I’m likely to set it off. I actually have an externally vented hood that works pretty well but if I’m “blackening” something it can set off the alarm so I slip the shield on first.

Electric is absolute garbage. It needs time to heat up, and then it needs time to cool down, which makes it completely useless for any type of precise cooking. If you have an electric stove, and you own your place, tear it out now and at least replace it with induction.

I used to agree but I recently replaced the stoves in both homes, niether of which have gas (in SF the building code doesn’t allow it in highrises) and they heat water remarkably fast. Both stoves have a special high heat burner that may be quicker even than gas. They do take time to cool down, though, but in the rare cases where you want to rapidly go from very high to very low heat, just switch burners. And both stoves have a 5th burner just for keeping pots warm, something a gas stove really can’t do. The longer I have them, the more I like them.

[10023]

^ what if you don’t have a free burner because you’re cooking multiple things at once? What if it’s a full pot or pan that can’t be moved easily without sloshing liquid all over the place?

The best pans are very heavy and liable to break a ceramic glass surface, and some cooking techniques require shaking or moving the pan quickly. There’s just no way around gas being better for cooking.

I know induction heats water quickly but in the rare case when this is necessary (I don’t cook a lot of pasta) I have a countertop induction unit that plugs in. That’s what a lot of professional kitchens that primarily use gas do as well.

Originally Posted by Pedestrian

Which is not the point. Gas wells contribute methane which is a worse greenhouse gas by far than CO2. The idea is to replace use of oil and gas wherever it’s easiest so as to be able to reduce its production where a lot of the damage is actually done. Some uses of these fuels are hard to replace like aviation fuel but cooking and home heating fuel is easy.

Except it’s not “easy” if the replacement technology is inferior.

But to answer the original question, the quantity is small compared to other sources. You and I breathe out CO2, livestock produce methane (and no we shouldn’t get rid of those either, vegans can go fuck themselves).

I live car-free in the city and cycle everywhere. Let me at least cook properly with cast iron pans on a gas range.

[Steely Dan]

Originally Posted by Pedestrian

Makes more sense than putting them in the garage which is a common US thing.

that must be common in regions without basements because i can't recall ever seeing a home with the laundry appliances in the garage.

here in the upper midwest (where the overwhelming majority of homes have basements due to deeper frost lines), the washer and dryer can usually be found down in the basement of older homes that don't have a dedicated laundry room, not out in the garage.

[woodrow]

I don't know if it is still true, but all you had in Chicago was gas stoves. I have had only had gas stoves for 32 years. They are so superior for cooking. I just can't imagine not having one, and I have had some pretty shitty stoves. Every old apartment still had gas stove/oven combos and even the cheap ones are better than electric or induction. Whenever I visit my mother I am thrown for a loop with her electric stove. There is so little control over temperature. Slow to heat, slow to cool.

[10023]

^ Correct.

Electronic ovens are of course fine, I guess (even though the broiler is still vastly inferior to one that has, you know, fire). I suspect that given the longer cooking times generally involved with baking or roasting as opposed to searing or frying, having an electric oven and gas range probably saves the vast majority of emissions versus gas alone, without sacrificing actual cooking.

[Steely Dan]

Originally Posted by woodrow

I don't know if it is still true, but all you had in Chicago was gas stoves. I have had only had gas stoves for 32 years.

chicago has to be one of the most thoroughly gas-piped cities in the country.

everything here is gas.

the only time in chicago i ever had electric heat and stove was when i lived in marina city. it was built in the '60s back when people thought nuclear power was going to make the future 100% electric, so the building never got piped for gas. i've heard similar situations for other highrises around town of that era.

my mom and dad live in a similar vintage highrise up in edgewater that doesn't have gas pipe. my mom, who's an avid and quite good cook, said after moving in several years ago "I love everything about our new highrise home except that damn electric cook top. there's no control!"

[SIGSEGV]

Originally Posted by 10023

^ Same. It’s always setting off the silent smoke alarm for the whole building.

The previous owner of my unit installed a Nest smoke detector, which has the decency to alert me on my phone that smoke is building up and I can dismiss it.

[10023]

Originally Posted by SIGSEGV

The previous owner of my unit installed a Nest smoke detector, which has the decency to alert me on my phone that smoke is building up and I can dismiss it.

Yeah, this sort of technology isn’t exactly prevalent in London. Most apartments don’t even have thermostats (heat is on or it is off; air conditioning is not a thing).

[Easy]

Originally Posted by Crawford

Yeah, the only references to icebox in the U.S. were among really elderly people in my childhood. Not sure I've heard it in decades.

Same for me and even then not so much. If you ever watch the TV show The Honeymooners, they sometimes mention that Norton has a refrigerator, but Ralph still has an icebox. The show was made in the 1950's and even then calling it an icebox wasn't typical. Ralph has a true icebox though and still had large blocks of ice delivered to keep his food cold.

[Easy]

Originally Posted by Crawford

Wait, what? So people are cooking by hot plate and toaster oven?

No, you buy a stove (range actually). I moved into an apartment 8 years ago where I had to buy both a stove and a fridge. When I moved out, I had to sell them both or leave them and pay for disposal. Selling the fridge was hard.

Oh and toasters were actually problematic at that place. I think that it was built in the 1940's or 50's and the electrical power was adequate for that time, but not now. Things like toasters and hair dryers would trip circuits.

[cabasse]

Originally Posted by Acajack

When did Americans start saying "fridge"? I always thought that was a Britishicism (one that has always been in use in Canada), and that Americans said "re-fri-ge-ra-tor" out in full. Or "icebox", colloquially?

always, including my folks. the only person i've heard call it an icebox was probably my grandmother

[cabasse]

Originally Posted by 10023

If we can broaden this thread into appliances in rentals generally, what do you guys think of the British habit of putting a washer/dryer (for clothes) in the kitchen?

we did it for a few years in a condo, where i'd swapped one of those cheap stacked units out for a combo W/D condenser-type. took a bit of time to get used to but we loved it in the end, as long as you kept loads small - and the added space was perfect for a pantry+storage.

[sopas ej]

Americans have been saying "fridge" for a long time.

The funny thing is, in the Philippines, their shortened word for refrigerator is "ref." I assume most other English speakers would think that "ref" means "referee."

"I put the pancit in the ref."

[Comrade]

Originally Posted by sopas ej

"I put the pancit in the ref."

Yeah. You do that here and that's a technical foul.

[homebucket]

Originally Posted by 10023

Which, as an avid home cook, really pisses me off.

Unfortunately the cooking lobby doesn’t seem to be as strong here as others. As you might have heard the British aren’t really known for their cooking.

Why is that? I've never been to England but I've heard this time and time again. Is it the quality of the ingredients or they just don't know how to cook?

My colleagues just got back from England and said the food there was horrible. Only the fish & chips were good, but they got tired of it quick. But then, everything else was so awful, so they went back to fish & chips the rest of the trip.

[Crawford]

Originally Posted by homebucket

Why is that? I've never been to England but I've heard this time and time again. Is it the quality of the ingredients or they just don't know how to cook?

Northern Europe, in general, has bad cooking. The Dutch, the British, Irish, the Nordics, Northern Germany. All pretty bad. I think the Dutch are actually the worst. Even their bread is terrible. Have you ever seen a Dutch restaurant outside Netherlands?

Historically, probably has something to do with short growing seasons, bad soil and Protestant norms against indulgence.

[JManc]

My grandfather was from England and the shit he used to eat....

So grateful my other half of the family came from Italy.

[bilbao58]

“But the idea of moving the one they had in Palms across town when they weren’t sure it would fit in the new place was a nonstarter.”

Do they not have tape measures in Los Angeles, either?

[dchan]

Originally Posted by Crawford

All pretty bad. I think the Dutch are actually the worst. Even their bread is terrible. Have you ever seen a Dutch restaurant outside Netherlands?

I think their most well-known contribution is the stroopwafel, which is basically two waffle cookies held together with caramel between.

[JManc]

Originally Posted by dchan

I think their most well-known contribution is the stroopwafel, which is basically two waffle cookies held together with caramel between.

Plus the Dutch know a thing or two about good beer.