I am considering an electric kettle for my new office, something that will let me have my French press coffee, hot tea, and cozy oatmeal in the mornings. I am looking for something that will heat up fast and keep the water hot enough to make good tea.
Electric kettles are very popular in Europe; in Amsterdam or London my friends rarely put a traditional kettle on the stove. The electric version heats water so much faster. There are many options, ranging in price from low ($11) to high ($90). Some have cords, and others attach to a base for heating and lift off for cordless serving. Here's a few that I've looked at...
Proctor Silex 1-Quart ($11, Amazon) This small kettle is economical and fast, according to Amazon reviews. The cord detaches for easy serving. Some reviewers have complained of a plasticky taste to the water, however.
Presto Electric Tea Kettle ($17, Amazon) This one has a whistle, one of the things I love about traditional kettles. It also is fairly cheap and it has consistently good reviews.
Toastess Cordless Electric Glass Kettle ($59.99, Amazon) This one is significantly more expensive, but it's a cordless model. The base heats the kettle up quickly. There is also an auto-shutoff feature. The advantage, to me, is the glass kettle - it's beautiful and you can watch the water boiling.
Cuisinart Traditional Cordless 1 3/4 Quart ($79.95, Amazon) This one is nearly eighty dollars, but it's also significantly more attractive than the cheaper models. It looks like an old-fashioned teakettle, with a rounded body and curved spout. It also is cordless, with an auto-shutoff feature.
Have you used any of these? Have any other good recommendations?
I have the Proctor & Silex model at home. The plasticky taste went away very after a week of daily use, but was annoying for that week. Despite the detachable cord, I wish I had a cordless model where the kettle locks into a base. I do like the hinged lid though.
I have the Braun WK200 model (currently $35 at Amazon) and love it. We've had ours for a few years, and gave my mother one for her birthday last year as well. It has a base that plugs in and a small enough footprint that we leave it on the counter full-time.
My brother-in-law put our old electric kettle on the stove so we just got a new one (link in my name). It attaches to a base to heat up but you can wind the spare cord into the base so it doesn't mess up your counter. They're great if you are willing to sacrifice the counter space, I know people who always have their kettle on the stove because stove space is much more readily available than counter space to some. But I am a convert to the way of the electric kettle. I recommend against plastic because they seem to get gross faster, the stainless is easy to keep clean (living on the counter, not a clean place all the time).
I bought the Black&Decker stainless steel model, (for pic. click my name). Looks nice, works well. Drawback: the metal surface becomes hot (of course not the handle!) so you have to be careful-not big deal.
Bodum has some that are very nice looking too.
I have a sunny yellow bodum model (click on my name to see the style) and i really like it. it has the automatic switch off, which i love. i can walk away and not worry that i will forget about the kettle on the stove. the water gets quick pretty hot and stays warm for quite some time.
We use a Russel and Hobbes electric kettle at work. It is the best one I have ever used. I think they are on the more expensive side though.
I have a Braun kettle for 6 or 7 years now, and use it almost every day, and it's never been a problem. This one from Bed, Bath, and Beyond seems to be the most recent iteration (click the link in my name).
An electric hot water dispensing pot from ZOJIRUSHI, all the way.
http://www.zojirushi.com/ourproducts/elepots/electricpots.html
It's what I'm going to get when my current electric kettle (black/decker) dies on me.
I bought a stainless steel electric kettle for my folks - they felt like the water didn't stay as hot as it does in a plastic kettle. I don't quite understand why someone hasn't integrated a thermal-carafe type structure with an electric heating element...
I once owned a red plastic bodum electric kettle. It turned the water pink - so I stopped using it.
We've had a T-Fal electric kettle for years now and we still love it.
i steered away from the plastic ones. Something about heating up plastic creeps me out, just the way i don't reheat leftovers in plastic. I bought a Krups stainless model, heats up quickly, auto shut-off, cordless of the base. I drink loads of tea so I use it every day and I also use it to heat up water for boiling pasta, etc, it's quicker than heating up on the stove.
I highly recommend the Braun WK200W Electric Water Kettle ($35 at Amazon). It's my fav. appliance and, as a Brit, I use it all day long. It's awesome!
I loved the Bodum Ibis for the year that it lasted. It's fast, and it's tall and thin so it doesn't take up much counter space. I would have bought another one if any were in stock.
Bodum Ibis is fantastic. Ive had mine for 2 years, its one of my favorite things in the kitchen, and works great.
My boyfriend's mother, who is English, and I both have the Chef's Choice International Deluxe kettle, and we love it. I make tea all day long, and I've never had a problem. A little glass cleaner keeps it super-shiny.
http://tinyurl.com/3dmddg
However, a fellow tea-lover just showed me the Breville SK500XL Stainless Steel Electric Kettle, and I have to admit it's completely awesome. It has a blue LED to hilight the water level, a pleasing ding when it finishes boiling, and a slow-closing lid that is just really cool.
http://tinyurl.com/39ud5k
We have a Russel and Hobbes which we love, but I think they've been sold to Salton (?) and the manufacturing isn't as good anymore. Whatever kettle you buy, please do spend the money to get one with a base so you can lift the kettle and leave the cord behind. It's so much safer, and also more convenient. I had a cheapie with a cord and it was such a pain in the butt, I always felt like I was going to spill boiling water everywhere.
regards,
trillium
I bought a cheap plug-in kettle at the dollar store a few years ago and it has served me quite well in boiling many a cup of tea. I even used it to hard-boil eggs in college. I don't know what I'd do without it, especially since my new house seems to be entirely without heat.
I have a Russell Hobbes for 10 years now...have always used RH's as I grew up in GB..they are the best!!
I have to agree with JenPDX. I LOVE my Zojirushi. Panasonic also makes similar models...these things are indispensable in any Asian household. Unlike the electric kettles featured above, the Zojirushis give you instant hot water at the press of a button and you can set it to instantly re-boil itself every hour or so. So handy, particularly as I am a big tea drinker. Everyone I've ever lived with has fallen in love with it.
I do love the old-fashioned look of the Cuisinart kettle though, but I can't imagine ever giving up my Zojirushi. On another note, we've got the Proctor Silex model in the office and it definitely gives the water a mildly icky taste, plus it gets rather grody looking after a while.
I have the Cuisinart KUA-17 Cordless Electric Kettle and it's a godsend. I use it for tea, oatmeal - the same things you want to use it for. I have a 5-gallon water dispenser, and it has hot and cold water taps, but the heating element died (exactly 1 day after the warranty expired) - so I bought the electric kettle. It heats up quickly and it turns off automatically so you can walk away from it,unlike the stovetop version. Quite simply, I can't say enough good things about it. (Mine doesn't have the old-fashioned look to it. Very round.)
Anything with an electic heating element has a finite lifespan, so I probably wouldn't go so far as to pay $80 for one, but there a $40 model with the right features should serve you well. We use a Philips kettle that we bought at Target about 6 years ago and it's still great, as is my sister's Chef's Choice model (currently about $50).
The features I've found essential are a separate base (safer and so much more convenient), an automatic shutoff, and an interior that can be cleaned easily and does not allow reactive metals to contact the water. If you don't like the idea of a plastic interior (I know some can give a plastic taste although our Philips kettle never has), glass or stainless steel would be ideal.
If you like tea, I'd advise against a hot-water dispenser that continually heats and reheats the same water throughout the day. The standard tea instruction of using "freshly boiled water" actually turns out to have a scientific basis--as water is repeatedly boiled it loses more and more oxygen, which causes tea made with it to taste flat and metallic. Strange but true!
I'm with JenPDX on this one. Water Boilers/Dispensers are GREAT! This is one that I have
http://food.allevolve.org/images/WaterBoiler.jpg
I paid $45 for mine at an Asian grocery store. They can cost as much as $200, though - depending on the brand and how large the container is. Mine holds 3.2 Liter. Most of them boil the water and then keep it at a constant temperature of 208. I use it more than any other appliance in my household.