What would you recommend for an electric kettle?
I'm looking for:
1) Reliability
2) Simplicity
3) A nice design
I like this design:
... The one I have now is similar, though unfortunately not matte. They had a matte model which was gorgeous, but it started failing very soon, and when I'd replaced it under guarantee two or three times (the store clerk started yelling at me!), I gave up and got the shiny "chrome" model.
You'd think that with something this simple, you could just buy anything and get a good product. But looking at reviews, that's just not the case. One very fancy kettle has tons of bad reviews because the lid sticks and the beautiful graphite covering starts to peel.
My current front runner is this one. I can get it at Amazon UK, I really like the looks, and the reviews are very good.
Hmm, I don't think I have ever had a kettle with the traditional design with the handle on top. One reviewer says it's better, and for sure it's better balanced.
Update:
Thank you all for the helpful feedback and tips! There were many things to consider.
I've decided to go with a Morphy Richards:
I like black or silver (and glass) a lot. But I have so much of these (in hardware, cameras, and gadgets!), that I decided to go for something a bit more colorful this time. And this one has the features I want, and good reviews.
17 comments:
We use a Breville - designed in Australia, made in China (what isn't?) and available in the UK at http://www.breville.co.uk/products/kettles.html?limit=all Ours has different settings depending on what sort of tea you want to make, I don't see that feature on this listing. Good hunting!
We bought one of these a few months ago and had no problems with it. It's a Kambrook (Australian like Breville) and looks very similar to the jug kettle at the top of your post.
One problem I remember from the traditional style of kettle is if you need to boil more water immediately after boiling andf pouring some out. As your hand will be over the body of the kettle you risk steam burns.
Oh ya, you have to tip it too, didn't think of that. I guess that's why the side-handle has become more prominent.
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Mark, they look nice.
different settings depending on what sort of tea you want to make
Confusion. What does it do differently??
... Mmm, I can set the kettle down if refelling while it's hot.
But I'm guess that with normal pouring steam burns is not a problem, there is 28 reviews on A.co.uk, and I think some would have mentioned it.
Somebody mentioned this one here. I hadn't thought of glass, it looks nice.
... Dang, it doesn't seem to be sold in Europe/UK, and I don't want to set it up with a boxy volt translator.
A UK has a few other glass kettles, but not as good looking.
I'm very pleased with my current kettle, a Bosch Styline. It's quiet, quick, very well insulated and gives a choice of temperature settings 70,80,90,100 degrees C (I use 90 for coffee). I had a glass kettle before. The novelty soon wore off and it was slower and noisier.
Thanks, David. Something like this? here?
So many different choices!
There's an intriguing Russel Hobbs one here, but it seems to often have mechanical problems, poor spout and lid.
Eolake, mine isn't quite like that. It's a Bosch Styline Collection Kettle Twk8633gb. The one you show looks like a newer model and I don't see how you would vary the temperature on it - of course you may not need that facility.
PS Of course if I actually used my eyes I would have seen from your link that
(i) the newer model does let you control temperature
(ii) mine is on the same page, bottom left.
I think the new one takes up a little less space.
ours is a http://www.breville.ca/beverages/kettles-tea-makers/variable-temperature-kettle.html but of course it is for N. American current (~120V). The Australian one appears to be identical but may be made for 220V current. The manual (8 pages, for a kettle!) explains the details: http://www.breville.com.au/media/mediaappearance/11703/BKE820_IB_new.pdf
Additional thought - we have hard and unpleasant water in Calgary, it scales up the kettle very quickly and seriously affects the flavour of the beverage. Strongly recommend getting a reverse osmosis or similar water purifier - the flavour makes it worth it!
Eolake, the "different settings depending on what sort of tea you want to make" will probably just determine what temperature you want the water to be. I have this kettle from Cuisinart which has a particular temperature for green tea, one for white tea, one for black tea, etc.
Thanks guys.
I do have a reverse osmosis filter.
But fortunately the water here is *very* soft, even the first couple of years before I got that filter showed no build-up in the kettle that I could see.
This is very differnet from Denmark, due to being flatland it has *extremely* hard water. Just a couple of months builts up at least a milimeter of scale! I have seen kettles where the heating coils at the bottom were complete buried in lime stone! (Some people only get around to descaling when the kettle virtually stops working.)
When I was developing film in Denmark, there was no way around whiping the negatives when they were still wet, despite the risk of scratches, because any little drop would leave a very noticable blot of dried lime stone. (I hope that's the correct word, the danish word (kalk) covers many things.)
Update:
Thank you all for the helpful feedback and tips! There were many things to consider.
I've decided to go with a Morphy Richards:
(pic in post)
I like black or silver (and glass) a lot. But I have so much of these (in hardware, cameras, and gadgets!), that I decided to go for something a bit more colorful this time.
I too liked its design. Kind of adorable piece. But the update you bought for sure will fill its place. :)
It looks great, and it has worked perfectly for four years so far.
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