# European housing - what's with all the doors and corridors? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [January 14, 2019, 1:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/european-housing-whats-with-all-the-doors-and-corridors/827713 "2019-01-14T01:16:19Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![PatrickLondon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/patricklondon/32/4422_2.png) [@PatrickLondon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PatrickLondon)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2019, 10:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/european-housing-whats-with-all-the-doors-and-corridors/827713/21 "2019-01-14T10:48:10Z")
There’s locking and locking. In the UK, I’m used to a Yale (spring) lock, that will automatically lock behind you, requiring a key to open from outside, but opens from inside by turning a handle (there is also a snib so it can be deadlocked from the inside as well if you wish). External doors will usually have an additional mortice/deadlock (insurance companies insist, but I’ve never used mine). On the Continent, I’m familiar with combination locks that act both on a spring as above, and with an extra turn or two of the key, from inside or outside, act also as a deadlock. It comes to much the same thing in the end. One advantage of the continental type is that, once inside, you can keep the keys in the lock - then you always know where they are! ---
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2019, 11:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/european-housing-whats-with-all-the-doors-and-corridors/827713/22 "2019-01-14T11:17:16Z")
> [@UDS](#): > > I would guess that up until the 1940s or 1950s, American house design was much more likely to involve separate rooms connected by doors, and to involve a central hall or corridor. Open-plan and interconnected house design then became fashionable, but it was a generation or more before the fashion was taken up in Europe and, even then, not to anything like the same extent. My last three residences—a one-bedroom apartment and two houses of approx 1,000 sq ft—were all built in the 1940s and 1950s. They are all open in the kitchen/dining/living areas. The front doors open into the living areas. Corridors and doors are only in the bedroom and bathroom section. In fact, of all the residences I’ve lived in in my life I have never lived in a place where the kitchen or living room have doors. The only places with an entrance hall have been my parents’ large suburban houses where there’s no need to use space efficiently. > [@](#): > > Front doors opening directly into living rooms may be convenient for dramatic purposes, or simply for ease of set design/construction. But where do you hang up your wet coat and leave your dirty boots and dripping umbrella? You have a coat closet off the living room. Even in my parents’ houses, if your umbrella or boots were excessively wet or dirty, you left them outside. ---
**Author:** ![Arrogance\_Ex\_Machina](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/arrogance_ex_machina/32/192_2.png) [@Arrogance\_Ex\_Machina](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Arrogance_Ex_Machina)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2019, 1:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/european-housing-whats-with-all-the-doors-and-corridors/827713/23 "2019-01-14T13:29:04Z")
As an “European” (a Finn, in my case) I find this thread funny because almost all of those points sound like Germany-specific things. Out of the first 5, only 4th might be true here as well (not sure what counts as a low bed) and our new apartments and houses don’t really have any more doors and corridors than US houses. For things like cash use we probably use less cash than people in US and in our neighbor Sweden they are getting really close to a cashless society, to a point where many places do not even accept cash any more. ---
**Author:** ![JacobSwan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/a6a055/32.png) [@JacobSwan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JacobSwan)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2019, 1:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/european-housing-whats-with-all-the-doors-and-corridors/827713/24 "2019-01-14T13:30:48Z")
There is a UK building regulation that says you have to have a minimum of 2 doors between a kitchen and a bathroom/toilet. I have friends who live in a tiny 1 bedroom studio flat with a combined living room, bedroom and kitchen. There’s a tiny corridor no more than 2 foot long with a door at each end to satisfy this reg. The doors have to open outwards as the corridor isn’t long enough for them to open inward. ---
**Author:** ![SanVito](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sanvito/32/2805_2.png) [@SanVito](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SanVito)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2019, 1:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/european-housing-whats-with-all-the-doors-and-corridors/827713/25 "2019-01-14T13:44:48Z")
coupla things… first being the obvious. There is no ‘European’ way with these things, and what seems strange about German style homes would be just as strange to a Brit or an Italian as an American. Secondly, on the kitchen doors things, one thing to consider is local building regulations. For example, in homes in the UK, you must have a fire door between the kitchen and the ‘fire exit’, which in apartments frequently means the hallway. I’m not up on the intricacies of building regs, but it certainly applies to multi residential properties (ie apartment blocks). Building regs obviously vary wildly, but that may be one explanation. ---
**Author:** ![Lord\_Feldon](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lord_feldon/32/341_2.png) [@Lord\_Feldon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lord_Feldon)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2019, 2:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/european-housing-whats-with-all-the-doors-and-corridors/827713/26 "2019-01-14T14:33:05Z")
> [@Acsenray](#): > > Germans use cash for a lot of things that say Americans and British people use cards. Switzerland is the same way. There are people who actually use the 1000 franc note (roughly the same in USD) for personal transactions. ---
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2019, 2:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/european-housing-whats-with-all-the-doors-and-corridors/827713/27 "2019-01-14T14:56:20Z")
> [@Arrogance\_Ex\_Machina](#): > > As an “European” (a Finn, in my case) I find this thread funny because almost all of those points sound like Germany-specific things. > [@SanVito](#): > > coupla things… first being the obvious. There is no ‘European’ way with these things, and what seems strange about German style homes would be just as strange to a Brit or an Italian as an American. Well, I chose my thread title and OP specifically to get responses like this, so thank you! If this is all just weird German stuff, please, people of Europe, tell me that! ---
**Author:** ![Meurglys](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/258eb7/32.png) [@Meurglys](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Meurglys)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2019, 4:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/european-housing-whats-with-all-the-doors-and-corridors/827713/28 "2019-01-14T16:55:59Z")
Having a separate kitchen keeps all the cooking smells away from the rest of the house. Do you really want your main living area to be smelling of curry, or fish, whatever, a lot of the time? Yes, I know there are extractor fans but they can’t catch everything. And we keep the kitchen door closed while cooking because too much steam sets off the smoke alarm in the corridor outside! ---
**Author:** ![Filbert](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/filbert/32/3433_2.png) [@Filbert](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Filbert)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2019, 5:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/european-housing-whats-with-all-the-doors-and-corridors/827713/29 "2019-01-14T17:51:12Z")
> [@JacobSwan](#): > > There is a UK building regulation that says you have to have a minimum of 2 doors between a kitchen and a bathroom/toilet. I have friends who live in a tiny 1 bedroom studio flat with a combined living room, bedroom and kitchen. There’s a tiny corridor no more than 2 foot long with a door at each end to satisfy this reg. The doors have to open outwards as the corridor isn’t long enough for them to open inward. I was curious about this, as I remembered hearing about that when my Grandpa got a dodgy extension, but my flat, built less than 10 years ago, has only 1 door between the bathroom and the open plan living room/kitchen. Apparently it’s no longer considered to be a strict rule, and can be waived by the local authority, so long as there is a sink for handwashing in the bathroom (and yes, some old houses do have the toilet and the sink in separate rooms, yes, I think that’s bizarre as well). ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2019, 6:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/european-housing-whats-with-all-the-doors-and-corridors/827713/30 "2019-01-14T18:26:16Z")
We visited my father’s sister and her family in Birmingham around 1980 and I remember the bathroom sink being outside the room containing the toilet. I found it weird. But then again, I’ve been in hotel rooms in the US where that was the case. ---
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2019, 6:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/european-housing-whats-with-all-the-doors-and-corridors/827713/31 "2019-01-14T18:33:31Z")
> [@Meurglys](#): > > Having a separate kitchen keeps all the cooking smells away from the rest of the house. > Do you really want your main living area to be smelling of curry, or fish, whatever, a lot of the time? Yes, I know there are extractor fans but they can’t catch everything. Well, if you’re asking my personal opinion—In my nearly 50 years, I’ve lived in a total of 5 houses and 6 apartments (not counting dormitories). Not one of them has had separation between the kitchen, dining, and living areas. So, I guess, no, I don’t care if I smell curry, or fish, whatever, a lot of the time. My entire life, most of the time, I can smell what’s cooking in the kitchen everywhere in the house, even in the bedrooms of my parents’ large suburban houses. My kitchens have fans too, but I only use them to remove smoke from vigorous frying or burnt food. I’ve never used them to remove kitchen smells. So, no, I don’t care if the house smells like what’s cooking, and it seems to me that most people in North America don’t care either. ---
**Author:** ![suranyi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e36b37/32.png) [@suranyi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/suranyi)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2019, 6:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/european-housing-whats-with-all-the-doors-and-corridors/827713/32 "2019-01-14T18:42:41Z")
> [@Arrogance\_Ex\_Machina](#): > > As an “European” (a Finn, in my case) I find this thread funny because almost all of those points sound like Germany-specific things. Out of the first 5, only 4th might be true here as well (not sure what counts as a low bed) and our new apartments and houses don’t really have any more doors and corridors than US houses. > > For things like cash use we probably use less cash than people in US and in our neighbor Sweden they are getting really close to a cashless society, to a point where many places do not even accept cash any more. Interesting how these things vary around the world. As you say Sweden is becoming cashless. Contrast that with Japan and China, which I visited recently, where you still need cash for almost everything. For example: In Japan, the machines to add money to the subway tickets take only cash. In China, the luggage storage at the airport takes only cash. ---
**Author:** ![MichaelEmouse](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/michaelemouse/32/101_2.png) [@MichaelEmouse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MichaelEmouse)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2019, 6:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/european-housing-whats-with-all-the-doors-and-corridors/827713/33 "2019-01-14T18:46:37Z")
> [@Filbert](#): > > You also can lock it from the inside (‘deadlock it’), which might mean you need two keys from outside, and one from inside. What’s the point of that? ---
**Author:** ![Filbert](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/filbert/32/3433_2.png) [@Filbert](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Filbert)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2019, 8:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/european-housing-whats-with-all-the-doors-and-corridors/827713/34 "2019-01-14T20:15:11Z")
> [@MichaelEmouse](#): > > What’s the point of that? Dunno, really, but the place I lived before here had a lock like that. I lived there about 4 years, and no-one ever used the second lock. I guess the idea is it’s harder to pick or break open two locks, or that you can give a key to a neighbour so they can feed the cat, but you can still lock them out if you wanted. ---
**Author:** ![Doctor\_Jackson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/doctor_jackson/32/32_2.png) [@Doctor\_Jackson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Doctor_Jackson)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2019, 8:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/european-housing-whats-with-all-the-doors-and-corridors/827713/35 "2019-01-14T20:20:46Z")
> [@Bear\_Nenno](#): > > It’s not insane. It’s just considered “furniture”. In American, we take our couch, TV, curtains, lamps, and beds with us when we move. The washer and dryer are often owned by the tenant as well. In Germany, in addutuon to those things previously mentioned, cabinets and light fixtures are also considered furniture and our owned by the tenant. You wouldnt expect the previous tenant to leave behind a tv and dressers. Same with kitchen appliances and cabinets. > > Your cousin would not have been buying a new kitchen everytime she moved. Rather, she should have been taking her old kitchen with her and installing it in the new apartment. > > Also consider that in Germany, and probably much of Europe, renting a house is usually a long term thing. Leases are often 10 or 20 year deals. Insane? No. Different? Yes. Inefficient? Highly likely. I have never rented or bought housing in Germany, but in the US there is virtually zero change of your old cabinets fitting the new kitchen/bathrooms. Same for light fixtures - there is not likely going to be the same number and distribution of fixed lighting locations in the new place. Lamps I can see, taking fixtures, though, make no sense to this Yankee brain. The rule of thumb in the US is that if it is bolted, nailed, hard wired or otherwise “permanently” affixed, it stays unless explicitly disclosed. ---
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2019, 10:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/european-housing-whats-with-all-the-doors-and-corridors/827713/36 "2019-01-14T22:12:55Z")
> [@Filbert](#): > > Dunno, really, but the place I lived before here had a lock like that. I lived there about 4 years, and no-one ever used the second lock. > > I guess the idea is it’s harder to pick or break open two locks, or that you can give a key to a neighbour so they can feed the cat, but you can still lock them out if you wanted. It seems to me that any competent robber would just bust through the door rather than bother picking locks. It’s not that hard in most residences, with basically one simple tool. > [@Doctor\_Jackson](#): > > Insane? No. Different? Yes. Inefficient? Highly likely. I have never rented or bought housing in Germany, but in the US there is virtually zero change of your old cabinets fitting the new kitchen/bathrooms. In the Kelly vlog I watched, she pointed out how her kitchen appliances didn’t perfectly fit in the space available. ---
**Author:** ![doreen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/858c86/32.png) [@doreen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/doreen)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2019, 10:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/european-housing-whats-with-all-the-doors-and-corridors/827713/37 "2019-01-14T22:21:31Z")
> [@](#): > > My last three residences—a one-bedroom apartment and two houses of approx 1,000 sq ft—were all built in the 1940s and 1950s. They are all open in the kitchen/dining/living areas. The front doors open into the living areas. Corridors and doors are only in the bedroom and bathroom section. ``` The three places I've lived have had semi-open living room/kitchen/dining areas. And by that, I mean there wasn't necessarily a door between them but there was a either a doorway or a partial wall. But here's the thing - one of those apartments did have the kitchen , living room and dining room connected to each other by doorways without a hallway *inside* the apartment - but there was a hallway *outside* the apartment with doors to the kitchen and two other rooms. The other apartment was built as a one family house and was converted into a 2 family and in the remodeling the hallway ended up outside of the apartment*. And then there's my house , which you can see was originally built with a hallway to the kitchen running alongside the stairs to the second floor. You can tell it was built that way because of the hardwood flooring (which still has the borders that reflect the hallway) , the beam in the living room ( presumably, it replaced a load bearing wall) and by the other houses in the neighborhood that still have either the hallway or parts of that wall. This is kind of long way around to say that just because your apartments that were built in the '40s and '50s had the big open space, it doesn't mean they were built that way. ``` - That apartment did not come with a refrigerator- I had to buy my own. ---
**Author:** ![ThelmaLou](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thelmalou/32/390_2.png) [@ThelmaLou](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ThelmaLou)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2019, 10:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/european-housing-whats-with-all-the-doors-and-corridors/827713/38 "2019-01-14T22:28:41Z")
> [@Acsenray](#): > > Oh, here’s another one that’s true in a lot of places outside of the United States and Canada—people dress nicely just to run errands or go to the store. I just go out in whatever I wear that’s comfortable at home. Why would you bother? Interesting discussion. I’ll tackle this question. I STILL change out of my comfy house clothes to go out and run errands. Maybe it’s just nicer jeans or something, but I would never go out in public what I’m wearing at this moment-- sweatpants and a tank top. I “bother” because I care how I look and care how others see me. When I was a kid in the 50s and 60s you made an effort to look respectable when you left the house. You dressed up for school, for church, to go shopping, and to travel by plane. It was a sign of self-respect and respect for the people who have to look at you. Some places still have those standards. ---
**Author:** ![mixdenny](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mixdenny/32/2962_2.png) [@mixdenny](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mixdenny)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2019, 11:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/european-housing-whats-with-all-the-doors-and-corridors/827713/39 "2019-01-14T23:09:22Z")
First of all, those are not corridors, they are hallways. In 72 years I have never heard anyone refer to a hallway in a residence as a “corridor”. Dennis ---
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [January 14, 2019, 11:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/european-housing-whats-with-all-the-doors-and-corridors/827713/40 "2019-01-14T23:13:29Z")
> [@mixdenny](#): > > In 72 years I have never heard anyone refer to a hallway in a residence as a “corridor”. Well, then you learned today that some people call hallways “corridors.” See, 72 isn’t too old to learn something. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/european-housing-whats-with-all-the-doors-and-corridors/827713.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/european-housing-whats-with-all-the-doors-and-corridors/827713.md?page=3)