elfman

http://www.slate.com/id/2129285/

I think America is living in the past. According to the tests I conducted (using a gas range at highest heat), our traditional stove-top kettles take eight or nine minutes to boil a mere four cups of water. Pathetic! What's more, the handles of these stove-top kettles—having perched above a hot flame for eight long minutes—are often quite painful and injurious to grab.

People, we are long overdue for a consumer revolution. Like Bob Dylan walking onstage at Newport in 1965, kettles are poised to go electric.

It pains me to tell you that the Brits are way ahead of us on this. It's all about electrics over there. Granted, the higher U.K. voltage allows kettles to boil at light speed. But even using the standard voltage in my U.S. apartment, I found that an electric kettle can boil four cups of water in well under five minutes. That's twice as fast as most of the stove-top kettles I tested (even the most expensive ones).

Meanwhile, the electric kettle's handle—safely shielded from the heating element—remains perfectly cool. Electrics are easier to clean (their wide mouths let you wash out their insides, while a metal kettle has a tiny mouth to help retain heat). Electrics even shut themselves off automatically.

Hiro11

We drink a lot of tea. I bought a DeLonghi one (this one, to be specific) on overstock.com for about $20. It can boil a about 1.5L of water in about 3 minutes, incredibly fast for 110V.

Sophia_S

I bought my electric kettle in walmart about 4 years ago,for $14.99,it's not an automatic,but it boils just over 2 cups of water in the time it takes me to turn around,put a teaspoon of instant coffee (the perc coffee I make is so bad,even I can't drink it!)and a bit of creamer in my mug,so it's just fine for me!

neil

I got a Black and Decker kettle (auto off, water window, etc.) from Amazon about 5 years ago and it's still going strong (Although I did manage to bend the lid too far back recently and snapped the hinges, but the only difference that makes is now you have to hold the lid when filling it up). They don't seem to have that model any more which is a shame as it was only $20 when we bought it.

OverThePond

We got a GE kettle from Target - stainless steel - looks good and functions great. The only thing I hate is making tea with the chorine enriched water - so now use bottled or filtered water. That makes a big difference!

We are thinking of getting a water cooler / heater in our house and not bother with a huge bottled water bill (although I guess running one of these takes it's toll on the electricity bill?) I hate the coffee here - so I normally have an espresso in the morning and then it's green tea for the rest of the day. When I work from home the kettle is constantly on the boil so maybe a water cooler / heater is the way to go.

Tracym

lol well true Titschki, I wasn't thinking about the office, but rather at home.

ok, now I am curious - I'm off to boil four cups of water on the stove, and time it.

The handle on my stovetop one does remain perfectly cool though - and since the only thing that goes in the thing is water - I guess I never thought of a big deal about cleaning it out.

Not arguing or anything, I'm just curious now.

Texas Mom

When I came here a year and a half ago I had great difficulty finding a kettle. Ended up with a stove top that whistles when the water is boiled.
It rather alarmed me that a lot of people I spoke to had no idea what a kettle was
I was almost ready to pack up and leave there and then

Tracym

I just got four cups of water to boil in the stovetop kettle in 2 minutes, 34 seconds with a Revereware copper bottom teakettle.

I do have a decent gas stove though, it would probably take a lot longer with an electric cooker.

ok, my science experiment for the morning is now offically over

Tracym

Just to horrify you more, many of us think of tea as "sick" stuff - we only got it as kids when we were sick, with honey in it.

elfman

hmmmmm

so how come it took you 13 minutes between posts to conduct that experiment, eh?

and did it switch itself off?

Tracym

lol because I did it once - got interrupted and lost the timing.

Then made sure I cooled down the kettle so it would be a fair test.

Then the dog wanted to go out.

Then started again.

Then fiance appeared online and interrupted me.

standard around here.

No lol, doesn't shut itself off - but neither does anything else I cook. And believe me, I would NOT forget - loud whistle is quite a deterrant to leaving it on.

Anyway, to each their own preference, of course, I just wondered why it seemed such a preference - I guess (nostalgia) I'm rather fond of the whistle (for short periods )

another bloody yank

I don't understand the tea thing either, why drink tea when you could have coffee?

If you can't find coffee you like in the U.S., you don't like coffee.

jumping doris

Tea is for early morning, coffee for mid morning and then tea the rest of the day.
Earl Grey tea and Lavazza or Illy coffee. I can buy those coffees here, otherwise I ask my friend to send me some over from France.
I don't like US coffee much. I do like Eight O clock hazelnut coffee though.

Perhaps I have just bought the wrong brand of coffee here.

Tracym

I like Millstone Hazelnut Cream coffee - really the only flavored one I like.

But coffee in the morning for me. Might have tea later on in the day.

(but shhhh don't tell if I don't feel well in the morning it's tea )

snowbunny

My gas range also will boil that amount of water in about three minutes. I like the whistling teakettles, but with my busy life, it's hard to drop everything to go get the kettle -- and invariably when the kettle starts to scream, I've got some domestic emergency to deal with, thus returning to a cooled-off kettle. The electric kettles will keep the water warm until I get a chance to get in the kitchen. I'm thinking of getting a pretty copper one for decoration, though.

KIDS!