Hi - does anyone know if you can use kitchen appliances bought in England - ovens and fridge/freezers - in Switzerland? Is it just a case of changing the plug!? Is that straightforward?
Yup
Though if the destination kitchen is fitted, the sizes of some gaps may be smaller
Technically, you can just change the plugs. What I'm not sure about is the legality of importing white goods vis-à-vis safety and energy use regulations.
Definitely the thing to look out for is the width for fitting in specific spaces . The Swiss units tend to be slightly thinner as a means to protect cross border imports from De/Fr etc. The voltages etc are the same basically and changing the plug ( better for big electrical items / bringing an adaptor ( we kept most plugs and just use adaptors for on work surface items)
So for standalone fridges, washing machines/ driers etc : really no issue
You're imagining too much. There's no problem whatsoever with personally importing and using appliances from other countries.
Possibly there may be building regulations concerning new/refitted properties, but they wouldn't apply to an individual user, just a professional subject to such regs.
Yeah, I did a little Google earlier but nothing turned up.
Thanks everyone - appreciate all your help!
Do check the electrical ratings of the appliance before just plugging it in. There won't be a problem with fridges and freezers which don't take too much power, but Swiss single phase outlets are rated at 10A (2200kW) and if your oven or cooker needs more, you need to rethink. High power appliances include cookers, ovens, dishwashers, washing machines. Look at the rating plate on the appliance.
Swiss ovens tend to use three-phase (440V), but it should be easy enough to wire a single-phase oven to a single one of the phases. You just need to be aware of this, though.
Traditionally, Swiss kitchens were fitted for 55cm wide devices (all types of device, including ovens). So you should check the gap sizes.