Drinking fountain - #71073

[Katya]

http://theboard.byu.edu/questions/71073/

I am from Utah. I have never lived in a house with a drinking fountain, nor did I ever have a friend with a house with a drinking fountain. I'm very curious to know where in Utah these people grew up (apparently not middle class Provo).

[Indefinite Integral]

I had one friend with a drinking fountain in his house, but he lived in the "notoriously rich" gated community section of my high school boundaries. My house was nowhere near cool enough for that. (Another friend who lived in the same community had 9 bathrooms, and another had a small theater room, just to give you an idea of the neighborhood)

[chillygator]

I knew a few people with drinking fountains. Only one of them made sense to me and it was the house with the ballet studio in the basement.

[Squirrel]

Do the drinking fountains look like the ones in church buildings, or do they look homey?

[Giovanni Schwartz]

My piano teacher's house had a drinking fountain in the backyard.

[Yarjka]

Grew up in Provo, never heard of a drinking fountain in a house. Though I do drink water direct from the faucet sometimes. Just keep it away from the bathroom--someone might think it's a bidet.

[C is for]

The bishopric member's house at which I attended FHE last week had a drinking fountain. It seems to be an affluent neighborhood (until you cross the fence! Then you can see my dilapidated bedroom window).

I grew up with two friends next door to each other. They were cousins. They both had drinking fountains. Their houses are not big. Not small...not fancy.

And they all had the little round button off to the side that you pushed to eject the water. Kind of old-school, but definitely what I was used to.

[Katya]

My piano teacher's house had a drinking fountain in the backyard.

See, that makes a bit more sense to me.

[UffishThought]

I loved when I lived in DT and we had drinking fountains. It's weird, and I didn't know anyone had them in their actual house (!!), but I do kind of love the idea. I already drink out of the faucet more often then out of cups.

[Yarjka]

My wife's family has one of those water coolers like they have at offices. I assume that is because they live in Arizona and need a constant supply of water even in a drought. A water fountain would probably make sense for them--I'll have to ask them why they never installed one.

They actually have a separate faucet for boiling hot water at the kitchen sink, and while it's useful for a quick cup of hot cocoa or instant soup, I find it to be incredibly dangerous (I've burned myself more than once on that thing).

[Emiliana]

I have definitely never heard of this.

Also if Eirene weren't married and I weren't engaged and it weren't against her religious beliefs (I assume), her answer would totally make me want to marry her.

[thatonemom]

So, are these free-standing water fountains? Or something else? My mom's house has a little spout thing by her kitchen sink. Like this

I've never heard of a regular water fountain in a non-public building. I wonder if those other houses twere built about the same time. Maybe it was a thing back then?

[Yarjka]

Here's the first one that comes up on my Google image search. It's definitely a drinking fountain. I would think there'd be a way to design something that looked a bit less like a drinking fountain, but there's probably not enough demand for it.

This one looks like the same model.

A lot of other ones are coming up for cats and dogs. Those seem much cooler.

[TheAnswerIs42]

My Uncle has one in his backyard up in Salt Lake, and I always thought that was cool. I'm not sure I would put one indoors though. My husband grew up with one of these whales, though, and loved it. We bought them only to find they wouldn't fit on our faucets.

[Chrysanthemum]

I'd just like to point out that while drinking fountains are strange, the idea of elevators and circular staircases is, to me, normal. EXCEPT if you have a house like these people I know, where the elevator goes between the first and second floors, and you take the circular stairs up to the third. that was weird.

[krebscout]

My YSA branch president in Colorado had a drinking fountain (a wall-mounted kind, a la most public buildings) as well as a big buddha statue in the living room, a stoplight, a defunct ice cream truck in the back yard, and lots of other fun things. I loved that man. He seemed well-enough-off but his house wasn't a mansion.

[Marduk]

From Utah, and I've seen it exactly once. And it wasn't like you guys are showing, it was the huge kind with cooler attached (aka, the only worthwhile drinking fountains.)

And Yarjka, I've seen the water spigots for boiling water, but those I've seen have been above the stovetop, not the sink (which strikes me as far more convenient, say, for filling a pot to boil pasta, etc.)

[Katya]

I'd just like to point out that while drinking fountains are strange, the idea of elevators and circular staircases is, to me, normal.

Elevators in single-family houses? Where did you grow up?

[Talons]

My wife grew up in Utah and only knew of one. Her wealthy friend had one that was in the wall.

[Craig Jessop]

I remember seeing one at a friend's house. It was in the backyard though.