AMERICAN vs BRITISH ENGLISH Vocabulary Differences

Vanessa: Hi, I'm  

Vanessa from SpeakEnglishWithVanessa.com, and  today I have a very special guest. Let's see. 

Are you ready to meet my very special guest today?  

You are going to meet Anna from English  Like A Native, and Anna is from the UK.  

So today you will be seeing my kitchen and  Anna's kitchen, American kitchen versus British  

kitchen. We're going to be talking about some  vocabulary differences, some cultural differences,  

and I hope that our chitchat will help you to  expand your vocabulary and have a fun time. 

Thank you so much, Anna, for joining me. Anna: 

Oh, hi, Vanessa. Thank you  for having me on the channel. 

Vanessa: Thanks so much. Well,  

I want to let our students know before we  start with our tours that like always, I have  

created a free PDF worksheet with all of today's  vocabulary, pronunciation tips, cultural tips,  

anything that comes up along the way. So you  can download that free PDF with the link in  

the description. All right, let's get started  by watching the tour of my American kitchen,  

and then after that, we'll take a look at your  kitchen, Anna. Let's watch the tour of my kitchen. 

Welcome to my American kitchen. Today I'd like  to give you a mini tour around the kitchen,  

and I'm curious, what's different from your  country? We all probably have a place to cook,  

but I'm sure that it looks different all around  the world. So let's get started by taking a look  

at the place where we keep our food, the fridge.  Fridges in the US have a stereotype of being huge,  

and it's true. This is our fridge. It is very  big, and it's great for keeping lots of food.  

Because I have kids, the fridge is covered in  memorabilia, things from our children, pictures. 

Underneath the fridge is the  freezer, which you can't really see,  

but it is also very big. It's great for keeping  lots of things. Every two weeks or every three  

weeks, I buy a lot of food. So I guess this is  different depending on the size of your fridge. 

Beside the fridge is the oven or  the stove. So here's the stove top  

and underneath here is the oven, but it's pretty  typical in the US to have either an electric  

stove top like I have or a gas stove top that has  a little flame and it cooks. This is what I have  

there's knobs for turning it on. And over here are  some other little appliances, like our toaster.  

We have a four-slice toaster. There are four  people in our family, so this is very convenient. 

And let me take you over to this side to take  a look at where we wash the dishes. So fun.  

Before we get to the sink, I have my electric tea  kettle. I'd say that having an electric tea kettle  

is pretty common in most homes in the US. Over here is my sink. So this is a really  

typical sink in the US. It has two basins.  These are the sink basins. And there is  

hot and cold water that come out. We also have a  little drinking water spigot right here. This is  

common, but it's not always filtered. It's often  just cold. It might be filtered a little bit more  

than your usual tap water. That water isn't that  great to me. Instead, really excellently filtered  

water tastes so good. We also have a spray  nozzle. This is also really typical in the US.  

Right now it won't spray anything, because I  haven't turned on the water in the sink. But if  

I turn on the water in the sink, I can spray. On this side is my husband's coffee supplies  

and our countertop where we do most of our  food preparation. And a cutting board. I have a  

little thing for compost. It's quite full  right now, actually. I need to take it outside.  

But whenever we have food scraps or things like  that, I can put them in that little compost  

container, because we don't have a disposal, which  is pretty common in the US, especially in modern  

houses, but my house is from the late 1960s. One thing that you might notice I don't have  

in here, and that is laundry. We have a separate  laundry room. It's actually just like a big closet  

that has a washer and a dryer in it. You  will never see a washer and a dryer visible  

in the kitchen. It's possible that it might be  in a closet behind doors that you can't see,  

like a little laundry closet. These rooms are  always separate, and that's just how it is. 

There's one more appliance I'd like to  show you, but I'm going to need to bring  

you down here to show you. In almost  every kitchen in the US, you will find  

a lovely dishwasher. Uh, I love the dishwasher  so much and I feel so grateful for this, but it's  

very typical in the US. I think you would be very  hard pressed to find a house in the US that does  

not have a dishwasher. Beside the dishwasher  is our trash can, and we have a recycling bin  

out of view. In the US, most places, most cities  offer recycling, but usually you just throw  

all of your recycling in one bin and you don't  need to sort it. So you don't need to sort glass  

and paper. I know some countries, you have to sort  colors of glass. There's a really strict process. 

I'm curious, is your kitchen  different than mine? Let me know. 

All right, well that was my American kitchen.  Now let's take a look at Anna's British kitchen.  

Let's see if there's any differences or any  similarities. And I want you to be thinking about  

your kitchen, too, and comparing it with what  we're showing you. All right. Let's watch that,  

and then we'll have a little chitchat about it. Anna: 

Hello, hello. Here we are today in my kitchen. So  let me show you around. It's quite a large kitchen  

for a house in the UK, and many of our kitchens  are quite small, and we have this little island.  

Now, you don't always have space to have  an island here in the UK. We tend to cook  

here on the hob and we tend to eat at the  island regularly. We eat here, snack here. 

So above our hob we have our hood, and we can  turn on the lights or turn on the extractor fan.  

It's very noisy. And I've got a very messy herb  shelf here, a little herb rack. Now behind here,  

we have our plug sockets and the main switch, a  main power switch to turn off the power to the  

hob as well as the power to the hood here. And  then there's pots and pans in those drawers. 

We have a blackboard that we sometimes use to  write lists or let the children draw on. Now,  

this inbuilt cupboard here is actually our  fridge. So big fridge. As you see, we have  

filled it. And we have our freezer actually  in the garage, which is through there.  

We're lucky to have that extra space there. And  we keep our washer, dryer, and freezer in there.  

Normally that stuff would also be in the kitchen. And then moving around, we have more cupboards  

and our microwave, which is built in up  here. And our oven. It's a mess in there.  

Don't look in the oven. And then these  cupboards here aren't actually cupboards.  

This one houses our dishwasher. And this one  here just below the sink is our recycling drawer. 

The appliances we have out are an air fryer,  which we cook a lot of chips and maybe chicken,  

[inaudible 00:07:59], things like that. Our toaster, then we have our electric kettle with  

all our tea supplies. And we actually have  a soda stream. And then moving around here,  

we have our sink. We tend to have a loose  basin that we can fill, have on the side,  

wash up, and then pour away any excess juices and  water down the sink here. Now we actually have  

a mixer tap and our draining board. Obviously,  I've been doing some washing up this morning. And  

then on the side here, we just have a compost bin  for our waste food, and then our main bin is here. 

And then we have one more appliance out at  all times, which is our coffee machine. Very,  

very important. And then in the lower draws, it's  a mixture of things that we need on a daily basis. 

That is my kitchen. Vanessa: 

Well, thank you so much, Anna, for showing us  your kitchen. There are a lot of similarities,  

but a lot of very interesting differences  that I thought we could talk about. 

Anna: Yeah, there were quite a few that surprised me,  

actually. But I know some common differences,  but there were so many things that I was like,  

"Wow, I did not know that." Vanessa: 

Yes. And especially to have you explain it  with the vocabulary you would use. I think  

one of the first things that stood out to me  was when you were describing the area where you  

would put a pot or a pan, you said the hob. I  thought I knew something about British English,  

but I've never heard that term before. Anna: 

Really? Vanessa: 

Is that pretty common? Anna: 

Yeah, absolutely. You called it a stovetop? Vanessa: 

Yeah. It could be the stove or the stovetop. Anna: 

Yeah. So I think we do use stove, but I think  for us, the stove could refer to the entire  

cooker with hob. But that section at the top,  ours is separate from our actual oven. So that  

section on the top is the hob. So even if it's  on top of a cooker or stove, that's the hob  

and you either have a gas hob or an  electric hub, and I had an induction hub. 

Vanessa: Oh, okay. And  

is it common that it's separate like that, or  is it usually together and yours is different? 

Anna: I think it just depends on the layout  

of the kitchen. In the past, it wasn't common,  but now with new technology and fancy designs,  

it's becoming more common. Vanessa: 

Ah, and you called it a cooker underneath? I would  call that an oven, but you called it a cooker. 

Anna: Yeah. So I think for us, the unit that  

is the entire grill, the oven, and the hob in one,  that is a cooker. We'd actually call the bit that  

you bake in and cook in, we'd call that the oven. Vanessa: 

Oh. I don't think I would use the word cooker.  The only time I might use that is if I said  

a slow cooker. Do you use those? It's like the  separate device that you can plug in and cook meat  

overnight or something? Anna: 

Yeah, we keep it on top of our cupboard. We  actually used to have two, because we like  

to make big stews. Vanessa: 

But did you notice any other differences  as you were watching this video? 

Anna: Yeah. So above your stovetop, you didn't have  

an extractor fan or it didn't seem like you did. Vanessa: 

Ah, yes. Anna: 

So what do you do when you are ... I'm assuming  you never burn anything because you seem to be a  

whiz in the kitchen, but sometimes things are very  steamy or a little bit smokey. What do you do with  

all the steam and stuff? Vanessa: 

The microwave almost always in American kitchens  is placed above the stove, and there's a little  

button on the microwave you can push and it's  for a fan, because underneath the microwave,  

there's a little fan. But I don't think it goes  anywhere. I could be wrong, but it's certainly  

not as intense as yours is. Anna: 

One thing that came up for me was I was  surprised to see that you actually had a  

kettle in your kitchen, because I thought  that it wasn't very common in America  

to have a kettle. I thought you guys just had your  coffee and your coffee pots, but you have a kettle  

and you called it a tea kettle. Vanessa: 

Yes. It's almost always called a tea kettle,  maybe because we only use it for tea. 

Anna: You also had a very interesting sink. 

Vanessa: Yes. Your sink was  

much different than mine. What did you notice that  was striking to you about mine compared to yours? 

Anna: You have two sinks, which I think seems like a bit  

of a blessing, really, especially when you've got  a family. We have this plastic bowl in our sink.  

But actually if we had two sinks, I think I'd  probably work a bit differently when I'm washing  

up. How do you use those sinks? What do you do? Vanessa: 

Well, first of all, I don't wash up. This is a  very British English phrasal verb. I love it. I  

think the first time that I heard wash up, I'm  not sure why, but it just struck me as being so  

cute. I wonder why cute was the word that came to  mind? We would say, "I wash the dishes," or, "It's  

time to do the dishes. I have to do the dishes."  I would never say, "It's time to wash up," or,  

"I need to wash up." I would just use that full  expression, "Wash my hands, wash the dishes."  

But I think a lot of Americans use the double sink  basin for rinsing the dishes and then for putting  

really dirty dishes in, or they use it for two  different purposes. But for us, I've never really  

found that to be the cleanest way to do dishes.  But I think that's what a lot of people do is  

they'll fill up or they'll soak the dishes on one  side and then they'll just set them on the other  

side. But that's a common way to use it. Anna: 

Yeah, I think there's a common belief that in  the UK, we don't wash our dishes very well.  

Because I remember doing a little short  video about washing up once and people were  

shocked that we rinse the soap suds off  afterwards, like, "The British don't do that." 

Vanessa: That's a funny  

stereotype that you're just going to eat with  the soap suds still dried onto the plates. 

Anna: Maybe some people do do that,  

but it's not what I do or people I know do. Vanessa: 

So you would wash and rinse the dishes or lightly  rinse them, I guess, and wash them and then put  

them in the dishwasher. Anna: 

Yeah. Normally I'd put a nice, big, hot bowl of  soapy water and then I'll rinse the dish before  

I put it in if it's gloopy and nasty so that I'm  not dirtying the water too much. And then wash the  

dish, rinse the dish or whatever it is, and then  put it on the drainer. But yeah, I've never really  

understood washing dishes before putting them in  the dishwasher unless they're absolutely caked in  

egg or something that's sticky and  hard for the dishwasher to break down. 

Vanessa: What did you call that thing  

that you dry the dishes in? Anna: 

A drainer. Vanessa: 

A drainer. Oh, okay. I would call that a drying  rack. I have a little one beside our sink,  

but it's just one of those kinds with the pins  that come up and you put bottles in it, and  

we don't use bottles, but for some reason that's  the one that stuck because we don't really hand  

wash many dishes. So it's just a tiny thing. Anna: 

We've just changed our tap. Because normally, we  have these separate taps, which is quite common  

in the UK. And I know other people find that  surprising. This comes down to our very old  

plumbing system in the UK. It was necessary  for hygiene, I think, to have separate taps.  

But now as things are improving, we're able to use  mixed taps more often. And so we installed a mixed  

tap. And our mixed tap is very special because  you can have it squirt, like spray, or just  

the normal. Vanessa: 

Oh. It's got a button and you can choose  the amount of water that comes out? 

Anna: Yeah. Yeah. But you've got one that's  

separate. I thought that was quite fancy. Vanessa: 

Yeah. So we have hot and cold water nozzle.  It comes out of the faucet or the spigot.  

I like how you called that a mixer tap. When  I first heard you say that, it sounded like  

something with alcohol, like a mixed drink. Anna: 

So you just call that a faucet. Vanessa: 

Yeah, it would be a faucet. I think I might have  used the word spigot, too. A spigot or a faucet. 

Anna: [inaudible 00:15:38] water spout  

thing that you had going on. Vanessa: 

Oh, yes. And that's the spray nozzle,  and that's just for washing out  

the sink. So that's pretty common in the  US, though, and I think it's pretty handy. 

Anna: Remembering how you  

went around your kitchen. I'm now remembering,  you talked about having your cutting board- 

Vanessa: Yes. 

Anna: ... on your lovely wooden side.  

I found that fascinating because we don't call  it cutting board, although that's very practical.  

It's what it's for. We call it a chopping board. Vanessa: 

For chopping. Okay. Sometimes we use  the verb to chop for actually what you  

do. "I need to chop some carrots," but  it's always a cutting board in the US. 

Anna: A cutting board. 

Vanessa: Yeah. I wanted to ask you about your  

refrigerator and your dishwasher, too, because  they are so smoothly hidden into the cupboards  

that you wouldn't even notice that they're  there. I haven't ever seen that in the US.  

It looks so nice. I love that aesthetic. Anna: 

I think we call it integrated. So I think  you might say it's an integrated dishwasher,  

because it's integrated into the kitchen unit.  Dishwashers, it's very common for them to be  

integrated. Fridge is not so much. It's really  handy. It makes the kitchen look nice. And the  

only problem is I can't do that lovely thing that  you've done with your fridge, which is to have  

all the magnets and all the things on the front  of the fridge because it's just a wooden door. 

Vanessa: Oh, it's not metal? It's not magnetized? 

Anna: No. I wanted to ask you about the refrigerator  

as well, because we do use refrigerator,  but more often than not, we just say fridge.  

Do you always say refrigerator? Vanessa: 

No. We say both. I think I did just say  refrigerator before, but fridge is great. Yes,  

absolutely. And that's what I often tell  my students, too, is just easy, fridge. 

Anna: Nice and quick and short. 

Vanessa: There was one thing  

I wanted to mention about your coffee maker. I  think it said espresso on the top. Does it make- 

Anna: Nespresso. Nespresso. 

Vanessa: ... espresso? Just an espresso drink? 

Anna: It's the brand. So  

the brand is Nespresso coffee and they provide  their own brand of coffee beans, little pods.  

You don't have Nespresso in the States? Vanessa: 

If it makes espresso, like a little concentrated,  what I would think is concentrated coffee, it is  

not super common in the US. If you have an  espresso machine in your house, it's very  

fancy. That's high level. Usually you just have  a big coffee pot. To see that your only item  

makes espresso might be a little bit shocking for  Americans visiting a house or staying somewhere in  

the UK, and that's their only option for coffee. Anna: 

It doesn't just do espressos. It would make  an Americano if that's what you wanted,  

but it doesn't do a big pot. Vanessa: 

Was there anything else you wanted to mention  about the kitchen before I tell them about our  

other video that we made together? Anna: 

Yeah. There were a couple of things. So you don't  have a waste disposal unit, but it's really common  

in America, isn't it? Vanessa: 

Yes. Anna: 

In the UK, it really isn't. But all  I know about waste disposal units is  

what I know from horror films. It's like  someone gets caught in the waste disposal  

unit in the film. Vanessa: 

Yeah. A disposal. We call it a disposal.  The disposal is pretty common to have. 

Anna: We have a compost bin,  

which is almost identical to yours. Vanessa: 

I saw that. It looks so similar. Anna: 

The only difference is that  you call the waste food scraps. 

Vanessa: Yeah. Scraps of food, like ends of carrots and the  

seeds in the middle of a pepper. That's scraps. Anna: 

Yeah. So I think we just call it food waste.  The scraps is something I'd give to the dog,  

give the dog some scraps, which are just some like  last little bit leftover bits of meat or whatever.  

It refers to the same thing, but when  I'm putting food into the compost bin,  

I just call it food waste. Vanessa: 

In the US, it's not very common  to have a compost bin. The only  

reason we have that is because we have  a garden and we have a big compost pile  

in the back. And that way we can use it on the  vegetable garden and those types of things. But  

most people would just put their food scraps  in the trash or down the disposal if they have  

a disposal. Anna: 

Wow. And the last thing was obviously there's  a difference in vocabulary with your bin. Yours  

is a trash can, when we just say bin. We never say  trash. We might say trash when we're talking about  

on the computer, like the little trash can on the  computer, but we always say a bin or a rubbish bin  

or a waste paper bin if it's one of  those little metal ones in your office. 

Vanessa: Oh. What do you throw  

into the bin? Do you throw trash into the bin? Anna: 

No, never. Just rubbish. Vanessa: 

Oh. So you've got rubbish. You've  got bin. We have trash and trash can. 

Anna: And then you said you do all your  

recycling. Does that go all in the trash can? Vanessa: 

There's a separate recycling. It's a blue bin,  and you put everything in there, and you know  

what? A lot of places in the US don't even have an  option for recycling. So you just put everything,  

glass, cans, anything straight in the trash, which  I think is a big shame. I don't know. What's it  

like for you? Anna: 

We have this system where we have to prepare  everything in the way that it's supposed to be  

prepared depending on where you live. So there'll  be a different system whichever borough or council  

you come under. And it's frustrating, because  you have to do a lot to prepare everything. All  

the plastic and glass has to be washed,  cleaned, but then you hear that actually  

all we're doing is shipping it halfway across  the world where they can't cope with our waste  

and they have to burn it or it ends up in  the oceans and you're just like, "Well,  

why are we bothering if our government can't deal  with it in the way it's supposed to deal with it?" 

Vanessa: Thank you so much, Anna, for talking  

about your kitchen, talking about my kitchen, just  being here on my YouTube channel, too. Thank you. 

Anna: It's been a real pleasure,  

an eye-opening experience. Vanessa: 

I'm so glad. Well, if you all enjoyed this  comparison video, we also did one about  

bathrooms on Anna's channel. I'll put a link  to that in the description. It's English  

Like A Native. And you can see our bathroom  similarities, some shocking bathroom differences,  

all of these types of things, and see what it  is like in your country to compare with what  

your experience is. And like always, make sure  that you download the free PDF for this lesson.  

All of our kitchen vocabulary, kitchen cultural  concepts that we talked about. And like always,  

at the bottom of the PDF, you can answer Vanessa's  challenge question so that you never forget  

these wonderful British and American expressions. Well, thank you so much, Anna, for joining me. I  

hope you have a wonderful day. Anna: 

Thank you. Thank you for having me. Vanessa: 

Thanks so much. And we'll see you all next Friday  for a new lesson here on my YouTube channel. Bye. 

Anna: Bye.