Hard to believe, but true
Until I was well until my late 30s I hadn't realised that in this country cold water tends to come from the left hand tap and hot from the right. Until then I suppose I had imagined it was some sort of lottery.

And I'm still not sure about abroad.....
( electric_goat, Fri 19 Mar 2010, 22:16, 15 replies)

I am also in my late 30's
and I have also just found this out. Thanks.
(FUXTIX Not my words, Carol, Fri 19 Mar 2010, 22:33, closed)

Apparently it's for the blind
When I was at school, a friend informed me that her father is a plumber and apparently so that blind people can know which tap is which, the hot tap should be on the left. I'm not blind but still manage to forget this and burn myself quite often.
( lrjlo, Fri 19 Mar 2010, 23:05, closed)

i live a mile away from my mother
my hot tap is on the right, hers is on the left.
( Smash Monkey lowering the tone of the whole internet, Fri 19 Mar 2010, 23:06, closed)

she must be in a different postcode then

(FUXTIX Not my words, Carol, Fri 19 Mar 2010, 23:27, closed)

actually, she is

( Smash Monkey lowering the tone of the whole internet, Fri 19 Mar 2010, 23:35, closed)

What country is this?
My hot tap is on the left, cold on the right.

But then again, the light switch for my kitchen is on the living room side and the one for the living room is on the kitchen side :(
(insomniac-surfer oh go on then, just this once, Fri 19 Mar 2010, 23:27, closed)

Eh?
I always thought it was the other way.
( idonthaveafunnynickname Drink-Aware? Sure. I'm aware I want another drink., Sat 20 Mar 2010, 0:21, closed)

I was the same
I never realised how standardised it was until I got a kitchen with the taps the wrong way around. 9 years here and I still get it wrong.
( Fronds are waving gently on, Sat 20 Mar 2010, 0:57, closed)

I don't know,
seems to be fairly evenly split in my experience. In my house there are three sinks; in the kitchen cold is on the left but the bathrooms both have cold on the right. Our last house cold was on the right, at my dad's it's on the left, same at my mum's. I've stayed in my fair share of b&bs, campsites and hotels without spotting any trends one way or the other, even though I'm always on the lookout for patterns and standards like this.
(Hairy Bob, Sat 20 Mar 2010, 1:12, closed)

Probably depends more on the pipes.
The one closest to the hot water system is probably the hot one.

From what I've seen of the work of builders, they'll simply do whatever is easiest.

Generally, I think the hot one is on the left, though. So that the majority of the population don't absentmindedly turn on the tap with their usual hand and scold themselves.
(stuntsmile, Sat 20 Mar 2010, 7:10, closed)

and in france..
it took me a few moments of scalding my hand to realise that the "C" on taps in France stands for Chaud and not cold...
(micky2shoes has more shoes than feet, Sat 20 Mar 2010, 14:45, closed)

the relationship of tappage posit depends on which hemisphere you are in due to the direction of travel down the plug hole of the H2Oh.
(wheelspanner is cleaning the dead flies off his helmit on, Sat 20 Mar 2010, 14:47, closed)

No

(TheColonel, Mon 22 Mar 2010, 23:09, closed)

Actually, it is *supposed* to be the other way round.
As a construction-y person, the way it was taught to me was thus:

As the majority of people are right handed, the cold tap goes on the right so that, when absent-mindedly turning on a tap first thing in the morning and still half asleep, you will use your right hand and accordingly turn on the cold tap. This is to stop you possibly scalding yourself.

Or it could just be because builders are cunts and they want to wake you with the shock of cold water...
(dxg, Sat 20 Mar 2010, 22:34, closed)

Then can you tell me....
... in your capacity as someone who knows these things...

Our bath is plumbed "backwards" with the cold on the LHS. My wife once said she thought this was deliberate because baths were always plumbed with the cold on the "outside" (furthest from the wall) so that little kiddies who might be able to reach the taps can only reach the cold side. Do you know if this is true? If it's not, it should be - very good plan I thought.
( Ugi , it's a game of give and cake, Mon 22 Mar 2010, 17:51, closed)