What 220 Volt Appliances Do You Need?

As I have talked about before, electricity is different in the United States than it is in Europe. This means you have to put a bit more thought into the appliances you use each day. Some of your 110 volt appliances will work fine, other times it is easier to purchase new (or gently used) 220 volt appliances.

Bringing the 110V kitchen and other appliances is a bit of a risk. Of course you can use a transformer, but it is not a perfect option.  Transformers use more electricity than the appliance would by itself. Also, a transformer does not perfectly change the voltage from 220V to 110V. This makes your appliances wear out more quickly than they otherwise would.

If you don’t mind dealing with the inconvenience of plugging everything into a transformer or replacing appliances, then the transformers work well enough. I have low tolerance for cords and boxes, so I chose to get a few appliances that were 220 volt.

Some of the 220V appliances I use because I don’t want to mess with the extra space of a transformer. Others because they use so much wattage that I don’t want to buy a bunch of huge converters to use around the house.

How to Choose Which Appliances Should Be 220V

1. How often do you use the appliance?
I use my coffee maker everyday. The same with my blow dryer. I don’t like to fool around with figuring out how big of a transformer I need. So, I just got 220V versions of them.

2. How many watts does the appliance use?

The more watts that an appliance uses, the larger the transformer you need. So if you are using a transformer on an iron, it needs to be bigger than a transformer for your XBox. The larger the transformer the more expensive it is.

3. Do you have to move the appliance often?

When I vacuum, I have to drag it up and down stairs and from room to room. My house does not have that many central outlets. Each time I vacuum a room a room, I have to plug it in somewhere else. If I have to drag a transformer around, I would vacuum even less than I do now! 🙂

What 220V appliances do I use?

Here is my list room by room:

 Kitchen:

Coffee Maker (750 watts)
Microwave (800 watts)
Slow Cooker (300 watts)
Mixer (100 watts)

Bathroom:
Blow Dryer (1500 watts)

General Appliances:
Fans (90 to 200 watts)
Iron (1100 watts)
Vacuum Cleaner (60 watts)

As you can see, some of the 220V appliances I use out of convenience (the vacuum cleaner) others because they require a large transformer (the blow dryer.) The wattage I mention is variable from one brand of appliance to another and may not match the wattage of your appliance.

One 110V Appliance You Can Always Use in Europe

Your lamps can easily be converted to 220V with little effort. Go out and purchase two things: 220V light bulbs and a plug converter. Replace your 110V light bulb with the 220V light bulb and put the plug adapter on the U.S. plug end. Voila…your lamps are good to go!

The One 110V Appliance You Should Never Use in Europe

Your clock that runs on 110V is useless here. If you use a transformer your clock will function, but not properly. Because the clock works at a certain frequency and the transformer works at a different frequency. This means your clock will operate slower than it did in the U.S. Not a good thing to happen if you have to get the kids to school on time!