When I first heard that in the US you often find things in the rooms you rent - even refrigerators - I was a bit shocked. After all, how should THEY know what refrigerator you want? - Just as one example.
Here rent rooms with furniture are mainly for seasonal staff (harvest, tourist, construction worker) and students, and the interior tends to be very very cheap.
These differences are interesting, aren't they? You don't find many furnished apartments in the US, but they all have refrigerators and stoves/ovens. If you like the apartment, you just take what comes with it. I've not rented apartments before because they had electric ranges instead of gas. In Japan, you have to buy your own oven, stove, washing machine, etc. Maybe that's pretty typical outside of the US, though. I really don't know.