In my experience not only are the dirt cheap kettles good, they're better than their more expensive counterparts. Plug it in, hit the button, wait a bit, got boiled water. More expensive devices will ask for what specific temperature or offer useless bloat features. It's a simple job, the device should be just as simple to match.
I swear by this Breville kettle. Lasts for years and is honestly worth the price IMHO.
https://www.breville.com/en-us/product/bke700?sku=BKE700BSSUSC
It has a window so you can see how full it is, a switch to turn it on, gives off a ding when the water is boiling and has a small filter at the spout to catch any stuff that got inside or calcium deposits. The lid also has soft open so that it doesn't fling out when you open it.
I got a wide-top multipurpose kettle, with just an on/off switch and no temperature control. Solely for boiling water. It has a glass lid and a steamer basket for eggs, dumpling, and such. Not too bad. Bit expensive compaged to the bog standard electric kettle, but easier to clean. And by expensive I mean $8 vs $6. No kettle is worth more than $10. Unless it can brew a cup of Earl Grey, hot, automatically.
I have 3. One with a wide open top in the kitchen for eggs (electric kettles are great for hard boiled, soft boiled, and poached eggs. 3 minute perfect poached eggs every time in a kettle, seriously) , a small one for travel, and a fancy one with a thermostat for tea.
Never know when you might need a kettle.
A friend of mine who cares a heckton about repairability swears by her duality kettle. She's had it for over 10 years, and has done at least one major repair. It's super expensive though (when I looked, I found one for £80 on sale, but alas, that was too dear for me)
Get a 10€ one from Tesco. They heat water perfectly fine. Seriously, don't over think it. The 90€ ones are no better than the 10€ ones.
I've wondered that cos I don't know anyone whose kettle has lasted more than a couple of years
My $20 one is on year 10 and I could see it going 50.
Oh that's a glorious purchase
I had one that was far far less than 10€, I inherited it from my housemate who moved. It was literally the cheapest possible electric kettle you could buy. It was ugly but I decided to keep it until it died, because why add to the world's waste?
It never died.
10+ years later I replaced it because I inherited a nicer looking one from my grandmother's house. It's maybe the second cheapest kettle around, so not a substantial difference beyond appearance.
I put the old one out on the street with a little sign that said "free! I still work, I'm just ugly". Someone took it within the hour.
My parents have had multiple kettles that were much more expensive die on them. In my opinion, you're better off ensuring its plugged into a decent power strip with surge protection instead of spending the money on the kettle itself. I'm pretty sure all my parents kettles died because of that.
I have an asian brand one with daily use for about 10 years. It’s a glass kettle with an induction base. Being glass it’s easy to watch the water and take turn it off before it reaches a boil for tea.
Agreed. Get the cheapest 3KW one you can find that you like the look of.
Gooseneck and temperature controls are nice. Many teas don't want boiling water.
I have the Phillips 5000 series kettle.
Having it stainless steel inside is important to me because of microplastics. I didn't want any plastics where the water makes contact.
Have had it for over 6 months now and have had no issues. Just need to descale every so often, and not pour too aggressively.
Ahhhh microplastics! I'd not even thought of that thanks
Can't speak to any specific models but the stainless double walled ones will also stay hot for way longer. I could go all morning off my old one with just turning it on once. My housemates got a plastic one when it broke and that thing sucks ass by comparison.
Yeah, this one is double walled, and I love it. Haven't paid attention to the length of time it keeps warm because I only boil what I need.
I used to have plastic, and it was alright, but just wanted one without plastic.
How could you possibly use a kettle that often? How much tea do you drink?
I have used a kettle twice in one day before: a French press and some hot chocolate. However I discovered this is one of those appliances well worth buying even for occasional use. Mind you, I spent $25, nothing fancy, but it’s years and counting
My only real requirement was no plastic in contact with the water. I decided on a glass one because it looked cool. While a double wall stainless would hold temperature much longer, that’s not my use case
I drink several cups of tea, but also warm water not cold as i don't like cold water. I also use tupperware daily and soak it in hot water with bicarb so it doesn't start smelling. Then there's cooking and cleaning as well.
Okay my sister who uses an electric kettle constantly for tea said “anyone who uses it 20 times per day needs one of these: https://store.zojirushi.com/products/cdlfc and reports that her first one lasted more than 7 years!
Edit: fixed the broken link!
I came here to say this. I love my zojirushi, it's the first thing I setup when I move.
Link doesnt work
I think this is what they were trying to link.
Yep that’s the one, I don’t know where the extra characters in my link came from, thanks!
7 years?? Holy shit! Link doesn't work do you know the name I'll Google?
I got one as a gift. Electric, gooseneck with temp control. It's been great. I love that it's faster to get it to just the right temp without overshooting. I don't like my hot drinks very hot. Just a bit above lukewarm. And speed matters for me because I was coming in from the cold.
Who the fuck uses a stove top kettle in this millennium? At the end of the day you could buy a cheap normal kettle and be fine. That said last one I bought is a Kitchen Aid. Works well, has settable temp, looks pretty, cost not a huge amount for a kettle, but also wasn't cheap, probably boils water at about the same rate as a cheap one .. would buy again
Who the fuck uses a stove top kettle in this millennium?
My house was built in the 19th century, the kitchen was built in an addition constructed about 80 years ago and the electrical was updated about 50 years ago. I do not have the counter space nor electrical outlets to plug in single purpose kitchen gadgets, so I just use a stovetop kettle. It's fine, it doesn't take noticably longer than the electric kettles I've used when visiting family
I have a gas stove and the stovetop kettle is way faster. You can't pull enough current out of a 120v 15a plug socket to match the power output of a good gas burner (18,000 btu for mine).
Technology Connections did a video on this, his findings and my experience tend to be quite the opposite of yours... With a gas burner, you're dumping so much of that energy into the space surrounding the kettle (hold your hand above the kettle.. all the heat you feel is being wasted by not warming your water), whereas an electric kettle keeps the heating element inside the heating chamber and only loses a small amount of heat warming up some escaping air.
When making noodles and such, I boil the water in the kettle, then pour it into the pot that's been sitting on the stove on "low". It's a million times faster than just boiling in the pot.
American btw.
In europe the electric tea kettles are much faster. Being an american with a gas stove, i also find the stove top ones faster.
i could not find a English source, but according to the German wikipedia using a stove top kettle on a gas stove is the cheapest option:
Für das Jahr 2019 ergeben sich in Deutschland[7] für den Gasherd 1,59 ct pro Liter (Gaspreis: 6,34 ct pro kWh, Wirkungsgrad: 38 %[8]) und für den Wasserkocher 3,3 ct pro Liter (mittl. Haushalt-Strompreis: 30,85 ct pro kWh, Effizienz: 89 %[8]). Auch bei Wirkungsgraden von 30 bis 40 % für Gasherde[9] hatte Gas stets einen Preisvorteil.
Zum Vergleich liegt die Effizienz einer Ceran-Kochplatte zum Erhitzen von 1 Liter Wasser um 80 Kelvin bei 56 %.[8]
https://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wasserkocher#Leistung_und_Effizienz
I've also heard that using a stove top kettle on induction electric stove is as energy efficient as a normal electric kettle.
Why do you prefer to use a normal kettle?
I cannot find a reliable source, but it appears the gas prices have since doubled, making it about on par. [https://www.globalpetrolprices.com/Germany/natural_gas_prices/ ]
I bought a Zojirushi water boiler. It keeps up to 4L of water at any of 4 set temperatures ready to make tea at any time. I love it. It has a vacuum sealed inner tank so it doesn’t use much electricity to keep the water hot once it is up to temp. When it is getting low I just top it up. I let it go 24/7 and it has been amazing.
For tea? Black, green, herbal, oolong? Temperature control might be useful.
For coffee? Gooseneck are, for me, irritating except in the specific case of pour over.
If you don’t need temp control or gooseneck, the cheapest auto shutoff with most power is probably the best option. There’s comfort features sometimes that matter so if you don’t like beeps or certain tactile feeling then you need to handle the device to find out. But they’re a simple device.
The one I use was <$15 from Mal-Wart^tm^. No temp settings, but it shuts itself off once the water hits a rolling boil. I usually shut it off myself once the water starts to bubble a little and it's usually the perfect temp for my tea.
I have a Stagg EKG Pro Studio. It heats up quickly, you can set it to whatever temp you want, it feels good in the hand and well balanced. I don't really have any complaints about it so far. The only problem I've run into was a result of user error - if you fill it up all the way you have to be careful when pouring so water doesn't come out of the vent in the lid. The only real drawback is the cost. It was stupid expensive.
I love my Bonavita kettle and use it daily for pour over coffee. If you don't care about that, a non-gooseneck water boiler/warmer would probably be a better choice, especially if you're using it 20 times a day. Either one is great for tea and soup as well!
+1 We have a similar (but simpler) Bonavita and use It at least once per day. Still working great after about six years.
I use this one and quite like it. It looks cute on the counter and boils plenty quickly.
Electric kettle is one of those things where once I got one I wish I had waaaayyyyyy soooner. We don't even drink that much tea or anything but being able to make hot water at a specific temperature on demand is way useful. slow or clogged drains with plastic drains. carpet cleaner. cleaning in general. and of course hot beverages. set it and forget it. way easier than a microwave or stovetop.
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