I love our kettle

[yello]

The electric one packed up so we thought we'd buy an old school stove top (gas in our case) kettle, with a whistle and everything. This is a few weeks back now and I didn't think I'd be so moved as to eulogise.... however... I feel my life has been transformed (well, ok, not quite but whatever), I love this new addition to our domestic bliss

 

[HLaB]

I use my electric kettle a fair bit and touch wood after 11years and a house move its still going but my parent have been through a dozen kettles in that time.

 

[Paulus]

A good friend of ours in a moment of menopausal madness put her electric kettle, which she had had for many years, on the gas hob and turned the hob on.
She didn't notice for a little while until the smell of a burning kettle alerted her to what she had done.

 

[yello]

A good friend of ours in a moment of menopausal madness put her electric kettle, which she had had for many years, on the gas hob and turned the hob on.
She didn't notice for a little while until the smell of a burning kettle alerted her to what she had done.

I did something similar.... in someone else's kitchen!

 

[ianrauk]

A friend of mind had one of those Quooker taps fitted. Instant boiling water. No need for a kettle. Brilliant.
Strange at first making tea straight from the tap though.

 

[Mo1959]

I find it difficult to find decent kettles that don’t have plastic. Currently using a Russell Hobbs stainless steel. I’ve had a glass one too from Amazon but it gave up the ghost within a relatively short time. I suspect a Chinese import.

 

[ColinJ]

A friend of mind had one of those Quooker taps fitted. Instant boiling water. No need for a kettle. Brilliant.
Strange at first making tea straight from the tap though.

I would worry about the risk of a lapse of concentration leading to a terrible scalding accident!

Is there a foolproof*** safety feature to prevent that?

I suspect a Chinese import.

Nearly everything we buy these days IS effectively a Chinese import, including all of your beloved Apple products! (Okay, they may be a US company, but like almost everyone else their products are made in giant Chinese factories.)


*** Many such 'foolproof' features that I have encountered in the past only proved that I can be a fool!

 

[ianrauk]

Is there a foolproof*** safety feature to prevent that?

Yes there is. Until you are shown how to use it, there's no way to accidentally turn on the boiling water without knowingly doing so.

 

[HLaB]

A friend of mind had one of those Quooker taps fitted. Instant boiling water. No need for a kettle. Brilliant.
Strange at first making tea straight from the tap though.

The last two offices I've worked in have had them.

 

[HLaB]

Yes there is. Until you are shown how to use it, there's no way to accidentally turn on the boiling water without knowingly doing so.

The one in my first office had a cool tap built in and IIRC you had to have either the hot or cold switch pulled up and the other one in the down position and press the buttons on the front to get water out (I think one for cold and two for hot) whilst you lift the front lever. The amount of folk who couldn't work it out I've not seen anyone have problems with the one in my current office but it just has the hot tap and the switch is always in the right position, so its just the button press and lever raise

 

[numbnuts]

I've got a shiny kettle, can't post a photo if I did I'll get banned

 

[MichaelW2]

Most new electric kettles are really noisy. I found a Russel Hobbs model that was advertised as "quiet" and it really is. The first one leaked. The warranty replacement leaked and warranty replacement replacement seeps a bit.
Why are waterproof kettles noisy?

 

[annedonnelly]

I think I might have the same "quiet" Russel Hobbs model. It's getting on for two years old and hasn't leaked yet but it's not as quiet as it used to be. It went through a whiny noise stage a few months ago but seems to have settled down again now.

My most important criteria for a kettle is a small minimum fill amount. Too many waste energy by forcing you to boil more than you need (and lots of people over-fill anyway)

 

[yello]

Too many waste energy by forcing you to boil more than you need

That was a factor for us getting a new kettle. With the old one (and it was some cheapo one - probably from Argus or somesuch) we could have a bath in the water it needed.

I've burnt a kettle out before now by not putting enough water in it - but then I think we've already established that I don't make good decisions sometimes.

 

[Tenkaykev]

I think I might have the same "quiet" Russel Hobbs model. It's getting on for two years old and hasn't leaked yet but it's not as quiet as it used to be. It went through a whiny noise stage a few months ago but seems to have settled down again now.

My most important criteria for a kettle is a small minimum fill amount. Too many waste energy by forcing you to boil more than you need (and lots of people over-fill anyway)

It's the most energy efficient way to boil water. They did a comparison of boiling a set amount of water starting at the same temperature and compared electric kettle / traditional kettle on gas hob / jug in microave and worked out the amount of energy required by each method.
We've got a Dualit electric kettle and It has been giving sterling service for years.