In a lot of UK homes cold water comes directly from the mains supply and hot water comes from a local storage cistern, which is normally kept in the attic. They use separate pipes and taps to avoid fresh “drinking” water being contaminated by non-fresh “washing” water.
That plumbing set up was common during the 1940s-50s, when a lot of UK houses were built due to the post-war economic boom. My older home doesn’t use this system and I have mixer taps in both my kitchen and bathroom and recent builds don’t use it either but some people prefer separate taps as it’s what they’re used to.
In a lot of UK homes cold water comes directly from the mains supply and hot water comes from a local storage cistern, which is normally kept in the attic. They use separate pipes and taps to avoid fresh “drinking” water being contaminated by non-fresh “washing” water.
That plumbing set up was common during the 1940s-50s, when a lot of UK houses were built due to the post-war economic boom. My older home doesn’t use this system and I have mixer taps in both my kitchen and bathroom and recent builds don’t use it either but some people prefer separate taps as it’s what they’re used to.