New kettle advice

[elsmandino]

Hi there.

My kettle is giving up the ghost and I am on the lookout for a new one.

I have been doing a bit of research and there is a staggering amount of models and advice on what to go for.

Based upon everything I have read, I have three requirements:

* Variable temperatures
* No plastic in contact with the water - i.e. glass or steel
* Less than 500ml minimum boil (not the end of the world, if it does not have this, but it does seem wasteful to keep boiling so much for a single cup of tea).

Whilst I would like something as economic as possible, I am not convinced by kettles that claim to have a "quick boil" function to save power - surely these put more power in, in a short time, so the net use of electricity is roughly the same.

Any advice or model recommendations would be much appreciated.

 

[dragnlaw]

Can kettles come with varying temperatures?

I put water in my kettle to the level I want - it boils - it turns itself off.

As an electric kettle I've only ever seen them in plastic.

Stove top kettles I've stopped buying, even whistle ones, I burn them out dry and melted within 2 months.

 

[taxlady]

I have an electric kettle that does all of that. I'm pretty sure that the spout is metal. I'll have a look at it in a little while and tell you more about it.

 

[taxlady]

I have an electric kettle that does all of that. I'm pretty sure that the spout is metal. I'll have a look at it in a little while and tell you more about it.

Okay, I checked on it. It's from Kitchenaid. It holds 1.7 litres. It has a minimum fill of 0.25 litres for it to boil. We have had it for about four and a half years. You can see the water through a window on the side of the kettle and it lights up blue when it's heating. The window is made of plastic, so water does touch that. There is some sort of guard over the inside of the spout that is made of plastic. I think that's to keep water from coming out the top if you tip it too far while pouring out water. I don't think water usually touches that. The rest of the inside seems to be metal. Oops, I forgot to look at the bottom side of the lid, so I can't say about that. I'll check that later and let you know if you want. I can set the temperature for when it stops heating, in 10°C increments. It can be switched to read out the temperature in °F.

We wanted a kettle that would plug in to the Australian electrical outlet (220W) that my father-in-law installed on our stove. Much faster than the standard 110W outlets that are available in Canada. We had to order from Australia, so we wanted something from an international company, that could be repaired locally. Kitchenaid also has a good reputation.

The only issue we have had with it is that after a year or two, the lid stopped popping open, when you push the button. You have to hold the button and lift the lid. Not a serious problem. I'm attaching two pictures. I took one of the pix with my phone camera, which made it look like it's smaller at the bottom. It isn't. The other picture is from Kitchenaid and shows the proper proportions.