Electric Kettles

I have a plain old Elite Platinum that I bought at Target or some such place. No temperature controls. Holds about 12 cups max (advertised 10 cups) and boils it all in about 7 minutes. Is very loud, though, which prevents me from taking it to work. I got it because I got tired of running to the kitchen to turn on the burner for the tea kettle over and over again. Because the inside tube that heats up doesn’t cool off right away, the water stays hot for awhile- good for teas that should steep at lower temperatures.

I got the Zojirushi 4 liter water boiler a while ago and I love the thing to pieces. Though my love for tiny Japanese appliances know pretty much no bounds. It’s a bit much to drop on a water heater, though, and it’s definitely not cheaper than the VarieTEA.

I have Dirt Devil Aquagrad. It has a dial to select desired temperature in 5 degrees steps. I’ve been using it for 5 years and it is perfect. Heats up water to 80 degrees Celsius in 30 seconds.

http://uk.shopping.com/Dirt-Devil-Aquagrad-Electric-Kettle-With-Temperature-Regulator-stainless-steel/info

So, not meaning to be a negative Nancy here (and by no means do I intend to offend anyone named Nancy, or anyone particularly negative)… but let me tell you what kettle NOT to buy :).

I bought a Saeco Electric Water Kettle off of Amazon, since it was fairly cheap and Missy liked that it changed colors at various temperatures (a feature which is decidedly lacking on any other model).

It is not a product I would recommend. It does a very wonderful magic trick, in which it manages to convert itself from ‘Electric Water Kettle’ to ‘Water Pitcher With Plug’ before we actually had a chance to use it to make tea.

So they sent us a replacement, and the replacement performed the exact same trick!

Le sigh. So I now have two broken Saeco kettles that need to be mailed back.

http://www.hamiltonbeach.com/products/electric-kettles-large-18l-liter-cordless-kettle-k6080.html

That’s what I use. Super basic, no frills, but it gets the job done. I’d rather have something I could monitor/set the temp on, but as it stands I don’t have the money for those. I need to pick up something small that I can keep in my locker at work.

I recently purchased the Kalorik Cordless Electric Kettle. In several months of use, it has been flawless. Variable temperature works well on it. The build quality seems good relative to some cheaper electric kettles I have had in the past. It’s almost all stainless steel where it comes in contact with the boiling water, which is important to me. I question the safety of some of the cheap electric kettles that have a lot of plastics that come in contact with the boiling water.

http://www.amazon.com/Kalorik-JK-28345-Cordless-Electric/dp/B003FGWA5O/ref=sr_1_3?s=home-garden&ie=UTF8&qid=1333024687&sr=1-3

I have 2 of the Aroma AWK-115S that I purchased at Target (one at home and one at work). I really like them overall.
Pros:
- Cheap
- Decent looking
- Easy to see water level
- Cordless
- Lid is insulated and seems to keep water hot for a while
- Durable (used daily for over a year)
Cons:
- Very loud
- Not variable temperature
- Occasionally takes a little too long to automatically shut off

I’ve been wanting a variable temperature kettle and finally got the Cuisinart CPK-17 a couple days ago.
Pros:
- Very nice looking
- Variable temperature
- Keep warm feature
- Cordless
- Seems well made
Cons:
- Price
- Large and heavy
- Lid is not insulated and gets extremely hot
- Hard to see water level

I’m thinking about getting the Chef’s Choice 681. I went to my local BB&B and they only had 4 models…WAlmart had nothing…along with Shopko…but looking online at Shopko supposedly they have 3 in store…I just couldn’t find them I guess. Anyways…here’s the link.

http://www.amazon.com/Chefs-Choice-Cordless-Electric-Kettle/dp/B0058VCYUU/ref=sr_1_7?ie=UTF8&qid=1363237710&sr=8-7&keywords=electric+kettle

I was looking at the English Tea Store’s website and they sell them and I even looked at Consumer Reports and it listed (at least the 677) model as the “best” of it’s category. I was hesitant at first to go with a Chef’s Choice but when I compared the weight of the 4 at BB&B it was light and easy for me to pick up. I don’t want something heavy and cumbersome for me to move all the time.

It looks like everyone here has a different machine from varying companies, lol.

www.firebox.com/product/6068/iKettle

Just came across this one… If I was in the market for an electric kettle I would consider it!

For many years I’ve used a series of inexpensive Kamjove electric kettles with a milk frother thermometer (the kind with a small circular temperature indicator over a long metal probe) slipped into the steam hole. The Kamjoves work on the weight of the water inside, so as soon as you lift the kettle off the stand/heating coil, the heating element shuts off. As soon as the water reaches the temperature I want, I just lift the kettle off its stand.

That setup ought to work pretty well with any kettle that have a small steam hole in the lid and where you can stop the heating element easily.