Electric kettle?

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AClaire11

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I’ve been thinking about asking for an electric kettle for Christmas, but I’m not sure if it’s worth it. I drink a few mugs of tea during the day and it would definitely make that a more efficient process, but my husband doesn’t drink tea or coffee. We do boil water for pasta every few days, but don’t use boiling water for anything else. We do have a stove top kettle that my husband had before we met, but it’s old and beat up. Using it and then pouring the water out and sticking in a thermometer to see when the water is the correct temp for green tea and then pouring it onto the tea is a huge pain, especially with a very mobile child chasing the cats around in the background.

Do any of you have electric kettles? What do you use them for? Is it a good investment?
 
No, you don’t have to have one, but if you actually care about getting the right temperature for your tea water, of course it would be nice to have a tea kettle with a thermostat. In addition to the time you’ll save, most also have an auto-off feature. If you’re distracted by caring for a child, there will be some comfort in knowing your water pot is off when the question hits you fifteen minutes *after *you leave the driveway, already running late. (If I’m not mistaken, you’ll spend less money heating tea water every day, since the heating coil is typically enclosed in the unit.)

Saves time. Saves energy. It might even save money. It has safety features that the old-fashioned way of heating water does not have. It does not save counter space or cupboard space. Those are your trade-offs.

This piece reviews the kinds of things you’d want to consider. There are tea sites that also kick this question around.
bestreviews.com/best-electric-kettles
 
Do you have a microwave? I’m sure the tea purists would cringe, but that’s how we heat water for tea. I just use a Pyrex cup measure and then pour into a mug.
 
I’ve used 3 different electric kettles.
The first two were well used, broken and replaced.
The third one is packed away because I no longer have a pressing need to keep it on the counter.
Life changes.
Needs change.

Do you really need it?
 
Here in the (adoptive) land of tea (The UK) not having an electric kettle would be really odd. They are very much the norm. Yes they are worth it
 
pensmama87 said:
Do you have a microwave? I’m sure the tea purists would cringe, but that’s how we heat water for tea. I just use a Pyrex cup measure and then pour into a mug.
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If you’re willing to spring for it, an instant hot-water dispenser is also easy to get used to in the kitchen. It has all sorts of uses. Obviously, though, the true tea purists wouldn’t want water from a microwave oven or an instahot when they could have just-heated-right freshly-drawn water.
 
AClaire11 said:
I’ve been thinking about asking for an electric kettle for Christmas, but I’m not sure if it’s worth it. I drink a few mugs of tea during the day and it would definitely make that a more efficient process, but my husband doesn’t drink tea or coffee. We do boil water for pasta every few days, but don’t use boiling water for anything else. We do have a stove top kettle that my husband had before we met, but it’s old and beat up. Using it and then pouring the water out and sticking in a thermometer to see when the water is the correct temp for green tea and then pouring it onto the tea is a huge pain, especially with a very mobile child chasing the cats around in the background.

Do any of you have electric kettles? What do you use them for? Is it a good investment?
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If you drink multiple cups of tea a day, yeah, . You can grow old heating water on the stove top. Of course, keep the electric tea kettle away from the baby.

I used to use mine all the time, but I’ve moved over to using a Keurig and drinking coffee.
 
I bought one over a decade ago when I lived in a college dormitory and I still use it regularly. Tea and instant oatmeal. I’ve also brought it to hotels with me and on camping trips. I think it’s really useful.
 
OK thanks! I was discouraged from drinking tea a few times today by the hassle, plus it won’t boil dry. Our utilities are fixed here, but it would save money when we move elsewhere. Plus there are only so many burners on the stove haha
 
We have one, as Joe is the Irish tea drinking sort.
We use it for everything that requires hot water. It boils water REALLY fast…and much easier to pour than from a microwave. Large amounts of water.
We love ours.
 
Yes. Our cheapo electric kettle has been useful to us nearly every day for a couple of years now. It takes up very little space.
 
One relative told me I need to boil only cold water for tea and only use a stove top kettle. Craziness! I do use cold water, but only because we keep the filter pitcher in the fridge.
 
Yep! We love ours! 🙂 We have a basic Hamilton Beach auto shut off model (shuts off once water is brought to a boil.) $25 I believe.

Nice and quiet. Much faster than stovetop or microwave, especially when boiling a quart or two. Great for brewing hot or iced tea. Also good for many instant, frozen or easy fix foods that require hot water. No need to wait forever to get water to boil for cooking. Great for cleaning and sanitizing too!

The only drawback is that it isn’t washable. You have to make sure it is emptied each time and left to dry with top off. You sanitize it by filling to max fill, bring to a boil, dump water out and then it’s done. Some have a filter so if you have hard water or lime issues it doesn’t fill your water with residues.
 
When my ancient kettle broke, I held off buying a new one… until I put some water in a pan on the stove to heat, and then forgot about it. Super scary when the water boiled down and I was cooking the pan. :nope:

Electric kettles with auto-shutoff are the only way to go in my opinion. The hot water isn’t just for tea or coffee either. As others have pointed out, the water heats super fast and can be used for just-add-boiling-water foods, as well as cleaning.

Love that kettle. 👍
 
My tea drinking British husband has introduced the electric kettle to me and I now can’t imagine being without it. Seriously, it is very convenient.
 
I LOVE my electric kettle. Great for tea. Mine has an automatic shut-off after the water boils. It also has a keep feature that keeps the water at boiling temp, however, that feature does not automatically shut off so I don’t use it unless I am going to be home all day while I’m drinking numerous cups of tea. Anyway, the kettle boils water very fast.
 
The electric kettle is such a key part of a British kitchen I can’t imagine life without one. One option if you only need the odd mug for yourself would be a smaller travel kettle, they boil more quickly and only contain enough water for a mug or maybe 2 small ones.
 
wheelie said:
Here in the (adoptive) land of tea (The UK) not having an electric kettle would be really odd. They are very much the norm. Yes they are worth it
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Yes. Same in Ireland. I never considered that anyone would NOT have an electric kettle.
 
AdamPeter said:
Yes. Same in Ireland. I never considered that anyone would NOT have an electric kettle.
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People in the States are more likely to have coffee machines, I think. Neither of us cares for coffee and I only recently started drinking tea a few years ago.
 
AClaire11 said:
People in the States are more likely to have coffee machines, I think. Neither of us cares for coffee and I only recently started drinking tea a few years ago.
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I have a coffee maker. But lots of Irish just drink tea. Also my wife loves peppermint and herbal tea so a kettle is handy. I’d reccomend having g one even if you don’t often use it. They’re not expensive and they can also be useful for getting a little hot water for shaving if you don’t want to heat the whole tank up.
 
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