I honestly use mine 20 times a day

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[–] 23 points 4 months ago (9 children)

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.

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  • [–] [S] 11 points 4 months ago (5 children)

    I've wondered that cos I don't know anyone whose kettle has lasted more than a couple of years

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  • [–] 9 points 4 months ago

    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.

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  • [–] 7 points 4 months ago

    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.

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  • [–] 12 points 4 months ago* (last edited 4 months ago) (5 children)

    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!

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  • [–] 4 points 4 months ago (2 children)
  • [–] 10 points 4 months ago* (11 children)

    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

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  • [–] 9 points 4 months ago* (5 children)

    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).

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  • [–] 20 points 4 months ago (2 children)

    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.

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  • [–] 6 points 4 months ago

    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

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  • [–] 5 points 4 months ago (3 children)

    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?

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  • [–] 8 points 4 months ago (3 children)

    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.

    https://www.zojirushi.com/category/water_boilers_warmers/

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  • [–] 7 points 4 months ago

    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.

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  • [–] 7 points 4 months ago
    1. I totally support dull she/hers in dull men's club
    2. I got one that has a little tea steeper. And a thermostat so choose the temp and it turns off when it's boiling. Has helped with tea consumption and getting rid of Microplastic tea bags
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  • [–] 6 points 4 months ago

    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.

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  • [–] 6 points 4 months ago (1 child)

    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.

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    [–] 6 points 4 months ago (6 children)

    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.

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  • [–] [S] 4 points 4 months ago (5 children)

    How long has it lasted? And would you say it's worth the money?

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  • [–] 6 points 4 months ago (1 child)

    I've had mine for the past 4 years and it's still rock solid. The temperature hold (especially for non-boiling temps) is super helpful for pour over coffee - the main reason I have it.

    But coffee isn't the only use case, I've also started using it for cup o' ramen and equivalent products (it's more convenient than emptying our microwave and nuking water).

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  • [–] 4 points 4 months ago (1 child)

    I've only owned it for about a year now, although I do use it at least once a day and often several times. I'm not sure if I would say it is worth the money, I don't regret buying it and enjoy using it, but it's also very expensive. Justifying the stupid price to myself wasn't very hard since I use a kettle daily and money isn't tight. You can get a kettle that functions identically but perhaps isn't quite as nice in the hand and save yourself some cash if your priority is cost-efficiency.

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  • [–] 5 points 4 months ago

    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.

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  • [–] 4 points 4 months ago

    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)

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  • [–] 4 points 4 months ago

    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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  • [–] 4 points 4 months ago (3 children)

    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.

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    [–] 4 points 4 months ago*

    Mine's a nice stovetop kettle but it's on an induction hot plate near my coffee maker. Works pretty similar to electric kettles that have the detachable bases, but I can use it on the stove if I want or use the hot plate for other things. The temperature controls on the hot plate also work really well for heating water to just under a boil.

    I bought the induction hot plate to use when the power went out since I didn't have 220v to run my stovetop, so this is how I make use of it so it's not sitting on a shelf until the power goes out lol.

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  • [–] 3 points 4 months ago

    I have an electric kettle, works fine as I don't really do anything "special". The ones with the screen on the base where you can choose temperature are nice for tea and stuff so you don't burn it. I've been meaning to look into getting one

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  • [–] 3 points 4 months ago (1 child)

    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!

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    [–] 3 points 4 months ago (3 children)

    I have a Cuisinart electric kettle that has six presets. In the seven years I’ve owned it, it’s been used at least twice a day, and often more. It works great, though I was annoyed to learn that yes, French press coffee really is better when made at the slightly below boiling point that it can do. I had so many years of drinking coffee that could have been made better if I had just bought it earlier.

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  • [–] 3 points 4 months ago

    Honestly, get an electric gooseneck kettle with around a liter of capacity and something to dial in the temp. I've been using electric kettles for tea and coffee for years (from the US, so a bit out of the ordinary here), and I got one a few months ago and have loved it. Mine is a will sense wk-g1 (it's definitely chinesium, so other models are probably basically the same), but the main feature to look for is making sure it doesn't reset the temp you set it on between boils. The goose neck is surprisingly nice (can pour directly into a ramen cup without worrying about spilling on my hands), and for a $25 used kettle I picked up on marketplace, I've derived an inexplicable amount of enjoyment out of it.

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  • [–] 3 points 4 months ago

    I bought a Russell Hobbs brita filter one a couple of years ago and I think it’s great. I live in a hard water area so I feel better having my tea/coffee with filtered water.
    I got the glass one but there is a plastic alternative that’s half the price.

    https://www.argos.co.uk/product/3311174

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  • [–] 2 points 4 months ago

    I use this one and quite like it. It looks cute on the counter and boils plenty quickly.

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  • [–] 2 points 4 months ago*

    I have a generic electric induction metal gooseneck kettle. Really good for tea and pour over. I used to use the glass ones but they kept breaking when I'd drop them on hard surfaces. Get one with the adjustable temps.

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