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Do you own an electric kettle? Do you use it?

Do you own an electric kettle? Do you use it?

  • Yes, I own an electric kettle, and I use it.

    Votes: 36 67.9%

  • Yes, I own an electric kettle, but I don't use it.

    Votes: 3 5.7%

  • No, I don't own an electric kettle.

    Votes: 14 26.4%
  • Total voters
    53
Rhea

Rhea

Ideal_Rock
Premium
Joined
Oct 20, 2007
Messages
6,418
A little bet with my DH. I'm American by birth and growing up I didn't have an electric kettle. After meeting DH in university I returned to the States and struggled to find one, finally spending a relative fortune for one at Wal-Mart.

British DH thinks my family was odd and doesn't understand how anyone can survive without a kettle. He thinks visiting my family is like going back to the dark ages kettle wise. I think it's an inconvenience now when we visit, but consider it fairly normal. I don't recall any of my American friends or family having one growing up.

So, do you have an electric kettle? And if not, DH would like to know how you survive :rolleyes:
 
Canadian here. We've pretty much always had one. When we moved houses we didn't for a while, and I just heated up a cup of water in the microwave if I was making tea or something. My work was giving one away a kettle, so now I use that. It seems wasteful to me to heat up the stove to heat only a bit of water, and it takes longer. So I like microwave or electric kettle.
 
I love my electric kettle! First one was bought in Anchorage when I hosted a GTG for prospective students at my alma mater and I wanted to offer various teas and hot chocolate. It's an Oster and I still have it.
 
HI:

I use mine everyday.

cheers--Sharon
 
My parents use one and gave me one as a gift a few years ago, but... I have a gas stove that seems pretty efficient for boiling water, and when I was at work, it was easier to just heat water in the microwave. So I donated it to one of the workplace fundraising efforts. I value the counter space more than whatever modicum of convenience the electric kettle might have offered. My mother was from Europe and visited there several times as an adult, so that might have influenced her to buy one.

I'm never without a stovetop tea kettle, though!
 
Electric?!?!?

Never!!!!!!

My grandparents always used this metal kettle on the stove (or on the woodstove in power outage) to heat water for tea. When Grandma died, I got the kettle. It sits on our stove and is used all the time. (like multiple times per day)
 
I don't understand electric kettles. Can someone explain why you own one? What is wrong with the kettle on the stove?

My husband and I were just having this discussion because a friend sent us a french press and some beautiful coffee from Italy. He said we needed an electric kettle. I just don't understand why. :confused:
 
bought one....took it back.
prefer kettle on the gas stove..
 
When I was growing up in Hong Kong, we had one of these electric kettles that would keep the water hot after boiling it first for as long as I could remember.

And I have used an electric kettle since coming to the UK in 1979, at school, at rented accommodations and in my own homes.

There is a separate one dedicated for camping use too.

With an electric kettle, one does not need to keep an eye on it as it will stop automatically.

Don't like whistling kettles, especially when I go camping.

DK :))
 
Also Canadian and I've always had one. When I moved away for school my roommates all had electric kettles. They sell them a Walmart here, Best Buy etc. I just got a fancy one from Costco where you can set the temperature for your specific tea type. They run anywhere from $15-50.

Actually come to think of it my work even has an electric kettle. I just thought everyone had them.

Maybe Canadians are weird about tea. I have around 10 varieties of tea on hand at any given time.

Eta: I always thought of them as safer. They have an automatic shut off so you can forget about it without burning the house down.
 
I love mine and use it multiple times a day. It sits in my studio so I have a continuous supply of hot water for my tea.

Besides sitting in my studio so I don't have to go to the kitchen to refresh my tea (ok, I am lazy!) it is much more convenient than the stove top: it is faster and it has an auto shut off, so no risk of boiling dry.
 
Of course I do! (But I'm in Australia - I don't think there would be a household in Australia that doesn't have one).

I suppose it depends what you use the water for, for tea making it's by far the best. The auto shutoff means the water isn't boiling and boiling before you get to it to turn it off. Over boiled water is murder for tea. The same with microwaving, how can you tell when it's at the right temperature? Besides, I like to use the microwave as little as possible.

My electric kettle is cordless (the base station plugs in) so it's still convenient to refill or carry to where you need it.

Plus there's the safety aspect, not having hot elements or gas flames, boiling dry risk when you don't need to.
 
I have two!

Both are Breville, and I use them all the time. Not just for tea either. Any time I need hot water I use it. Once a month, when I put bleach down the drains to prevent clogs, I heat the drain first, and then put in the bleach, then flush that with another kettle of boiling water. If I am making pasta, or anything that I need boiling water for, I heat that first, then I have nearly boiling water ready when I need it. otherwise it takes forever for a pasta pot of water to boil.
 
I don't know how can one live without it. My Krups is at least 20 years old and still going strong. It boils much faster than stovetop kettles and shuts off on its own. I can have hot water for tea or french press coffee in 3 minutes. They are very easy to find where I live in US - every drugstore and supermarket carries them.
 
MishB|1426982488|3850780 said:
Of course I do! (But I'm in Australia - I don't think there would be a household in Australia that doesn't have one).

I suppose it depends what you use the water for, for tea making it's by far the best. The auto shutoff means the water isn't boiling and boiling before you get to it to turn it off. Over boiled water is murder for tea. The same with microwaving, how can you tell when it's at the right temperature? Besides, I like to use the microwave as little as possible.

My electric kettle is cordless (the base station plugs in) so it's still convenient to refill or carry to where you need it.

Plus there's the safety aspect, not having hot elements or gas flames, boiling dry risk when you don't need to.
Click to expand...
+1

Another Australian here and I don't think I've ever been to a house that did not have an electric kettle! I use mine everyday.
 
No I don't but we have an instant 190 degree hot water dispenser at the kitchen sink that we use to make coffee, tea, instant oatmeal, miso soup (from Costco). Very convenient.
 
Cordless kettles are great, as it makes filling and pouring easier.

My camping kettle is a hand-me-down corded one, and I shall replace it with a cordless one when it dies.

DK :))
 
Darn! I was so confident I was right about electric kettle use that I didn't even bother to separate out Americans vs Australians, Canadians, and Europeans. I figured it was mostly Americans who post on PS and therefore it'd balance out for not having an electric kettle even with the Australian, Canadian, and European population. Pride comes before the fall and all that. I see a lot of people stated where they live so perhaps if it's still swayed DH's direction I can use that information in my argument. Not that I'm a poor loser ;))

I don't know a European or Canadian without an electric kettle. They heat water very quickly which saves energy, and have an automatic shut off for safety. I don't think Americans, in general, are quite the hot tea drinkers that Europeans are (but maybe I'm wrong about that too!) and most European households I've been in have a cafetière for coffee rather than a filter coffee machine so heating water quickly is a must.
 
I have never owned a filter coffee machine, as it takes up too much space, and prefer to use a French Press/cafetière instead when I am entertaining.

DK :))
 
Rhea, I got an electric kettle when I was doing my residency at West Point and needed a way to get hot water for my tea at work and I never looked back. Greatest invention ever (well almost because air conditioning gets my number one spot LOL) and I am not sure about other Americans but I cannot imagine being without one. :appl:
 
Rhea - I think you are correct. I see most of the Americans posting here are the ones that have one. American here. I have never owned one. I have never seen the need for one, but I think that is BECAUSE they are so infrequently used here. Put up an infomercial, and everyone will own one, haha. The only time I've seen them have been when traveling in Europe. We drink tea occasionally, and would just boil water in a small pot on the stove. We don't even have a kettle!

I also cannot think of any friends who have one. I have, however, recently heard of people using their keurigs for hot water for oatmeal and such. There is no way to know for sure, but I am going to guess more Americans own keurigs than own electric kettles, lol. They are heavily advertised. My own husband, who doesn't buy anything, recently bought one!?!?!?!?
 
ricezo|1427016069|3850879 said:
MishB|1426982488|3850780 said:
Of course I do! (But I'm in Australia - I don't think there would be a household in Australia that doesn't have one).

I suppose it depends what you use the water for, for tea making it's by far the best. The auto shutoff means the water isn't boiling and boiling before you get to it to turn it off. Over boiled water is murder for tea. The same with microwaving, how can you tell when it's at the right temperature? Besides, I like to use the microwave as little as possible.

My electric kettle is cordless (the base station plugs in) so it's still convenient to refill or carry to where you need it.

Plus there's the safety aspect, not having hot elements or gas flames, boiling dry risk when you don't need to.
Click to expand...
+1

Another Australian here and I don't think I've ever been to a house that did not have an electric kettle! I use mine everyday.
Click to expand...

+2 Another Aussie and I agree most homes here have them. We have one upstairs for boiled water and one downstairs for tea/hot drinks etc.
 
I have an electric kettle, it was only about $15 from walmart but is plastic. I use it at work only.
 
We own one but don't really use it all that much. My son uses it when he is here.
 
American here. I didn't even know they existed until I went abroad to New Zealand in high school for a year. I can safely say that nobody I know (here) owns one.
 
American. I've never owned a kettle, didn't have one growing up, don't know any other person who has one. :confused:

I thought tea kettles were sort of an exclusively British thing.
 
American. I have one and use it all the time. I like that it turns off once the water boils so you never have to worry about walking away from the stove and forgetting. (a whistling kettle is useless unless you are within ear shot of it)
 
Yep! We have one! Growing up we were huge tea drinkers and always had various kettles. My sister got me this one as a housewarming gift. It has different temperature settings for different types of tea. Can't wait to get back into my tea obsession!

uploadfromtaptalk1427044253616.png
 
monarch64|1427040702|3850949 said:
American. I've never owned a kettle, didn't have one growing up, don't know any other person who has one. :confused:

I thought tea kettles were sort of an exclusively British thing.
Click to expand...

I want to add that I live in an area of the country where people LOVE iced "sweet" tea. Maybe that's part of the reason kettles aren't prevalent here.
 
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