I want to give them the benefit of the doubt and say perhaps it’s a deep freezer that is only opened occasionally, and I guess is pretty well sealed as long as it’s closed.
The kitchen appears to have one of those built-in fridges that matches the cabinets:
Is this that much weirder than the widespread British practice of putting washing machines in kitchens?
Yes, putting an electrical appliance in the bathroom is weirder than putting an appliance that requires both power and plumbing in the room that always has both power and plumbing.
Where else would you put it? Might as well just place it next to all the other appliances. We do it in Germany too, pretty sure it’s just a European thing.
At least in Finland the washing machine (for washing clothes) is usually in the bathroom/shower room, like in the photo in this post.
Finns also have saunas in their home, which is awesome but not really standard anywhere else.
I think in the US we typically prefer for them to be out of sight. Houses here often have a small laundry room specifically for the washer and dryer. Barring that, they are usually tucked away in a closet (apartments or smaller houses) or in the garage or basement.
I wonder if this is one of those things the US benefits from having most of our homes built after indoor plumbing. A not insignificant portion of European homes were built before prolific indoor plumbing, no? So when homes were retrofitted for plumbing, it made sense it keep it all located in one place and then it became the style for all homes.
Kinda have to, if the building is older than widespread home washing machines.
The houses I grew up in were both Victorian so bathrooms were built in only the 80’s or sometime like that, so they were on the ground floor and quite large. Both had the washing machines in the bathroom and not the kitchen due to this. The bathroom acts as part utility room.
More modern places I’ve lived lack any form of utility rooms. In my current flat the washing machine is in the kitchen, there isn’t plumbing and space anywhere else for it.
I’m in the USA in a house built pre-1900s. Our washing machine is in a nook off the kitchen (as in the same room, but in the corner). Growing up our washing machine was in the bathroom. From a plumbing standpoint it makes a lot of sense to have the washing machine in the same area as other plumbing.