(no subject)

[the_rck]

I want a new kettle. We bought this one about a year ago to replace the old one which was too small. Unfortunately, the size is about the only thing I like about it. Well, the color's pretty, too, I suppose. It's turquoise. At any rate, this kettle doesn't whistle. That makes it easy to forget about and boil dry (I haven't done it very often, but I've done it). I have to pretty much guess when it's at a full boil, based on the sound of the water in the kettle and the amount of steam coming out the spout. It also doesn't pour well. If the water's just off boiling, the kettle spits and burbles while I pour so that about a third of the water goes all over the counter. Letting it cool off for thirty seconds helps that at least sometimes but isn't great when I actually want boiling water. The kettle is also heavy enough that I can't tell how much water is in it simply by lifting it.

Scott doesn't find the kettle nearly as annoying as I do. I think that's because he doesn't use it often. I make instant coffee daily and often make tea later in the day. He only occasionally makes tea, generally when he has a cold.

Comments

[laurajv]

Kettles are a pain in the butt! We replaced our stove-based kettle with an electric one years ago & will never go back. If you have the counter space, I highly rec that option. We have 2 of these: http://www.amazon.com/Aroma-AWK-115S-X-Press-2-Liter-Cordless/dp/B000KDVTJI/ (Why 2? Well, we have a giant old house, and use the former servant's quarters -- really! -- on the top floor as a master suite. Going all the way down to the first floor at 11pm to make chamomile tea or a hot toddy is no one's idea of fun. Also, old drains run slowly, and pouring boiling water down them helps -- so the upstairs kettle does that, too.)

It has a water gauge on the side and automatically shuts off when it reaches full boil. We've had our older one for maybe 7 years now, and the newer one for almost 4, and they are clicking along happily (the older one gets daily use for coffee and tea, and I'm drinking coffee from it now).

ooooh, a slightly-larger pretty red one: http://www.amazon.com/AROMA-AWK-125R-Stainless-Electric-Kettle/dp/B00ATX6HB4/

[the_rck]

Unfortunately, we have very little counter space. We can keep a kettle because it lives on the stove. We can't afford to add anything else to the counters. Otherwise, an electric kettle sounds like a good idea.

[laurajv]

bummer. yeah, we only got our first kettle when we were able to redo the kitchen. it just wasn't possible at all before that.

[adrian-turtle.livejournal.com]

I hate that it's so hard to find a kettle that holds enough water and is still light enough to be easy to lift. I hope you can find something good.

[the_rck]

I can lift up to about twenty pounds, so I can handle most kettles. I couldn't cook with cast iron, though. We found that out the hard way-- We asked for cast iron cookware for our wedding and got it, but I couldn't lift it safely, not with hot food in it.

[booniverse.livejournal.com]

UGH! We have a kettle that I got from my parents when I moved out (and they probably got as a wedding gift). It needs replacing since the part the handle is attached to is slowly failing but I can't find a kettle that has all in one pot: whistle ability (I would run that sucker dry all the danged time if there wasn't a whistle), capacity, a flip top opener which is not placed such that you'd burn your fingers trying to open the pour spout (I do not understand why some companies put the lever right on the spout - do they not understand that the steam is going to be blowing right past the lever which opens up the spout lid??!?), a wide opening for the flip top lid since we have a dishwasher attachment that makes the sink spout significantly longer (alternately, a reservoir lid which is conveniently placed for easy filling) and I'd like it to look halfway decent. All of these our 40+ year stainless kettle accomplishes and none of the kettles I've been looking at over the past 5 years do.

[evalerie.livejournal.com]

Me personally, when I want hot water, I always just microwave water in a Pyrex measuring cup. I know exactly how many seconds gets X amount of water to exactly the temperature I like best. Would microwaving a mug of water work for you? I'm not too clear on what the point of using a kettle is, but maybe I don't drink enough hot beverages to get it. :)

[the_rck]

My mug is large and metal, so it can't go in the microwave. Also, if the water's not hot enough, the coffee is nasty, and tea won't work at all. I've never been able to get water to actually boiling in the microwave. Also, isn't it not safe to heat water that hot in a microwave? I seem to recall hearing that it can kind of explode in a person's face if it's been heated too hot. Something about not heating water in a microwave unless one put in a microwave safe spoon or something similar to keep that from happening.

For most herbal teas and for all black teas and oolongs I've seen, one needs water that's actually boiling in order to get the tea to release it's flavor. (Sun tea is different, but that takes direct sunlight for several hours and requires a large enough glass container.) Green tea and white tea need water that's just a little shy of boiling (about 90 C). Usually, one heats the water to boiling and then lets it cool for a set amount of time. That's easier than trying to heat the water to the precisely right temperature.

A kettle also lets us heat enough water for all three of us to have tea (about four cups of water) all at once.

[evalerie.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I have read that overheated water from the microwave could fountain up. But I heat water in the microwave all the time and have never had a problem. It helps that I know exactly how much time it takes for my microwave to get it to the right temperature, so I'm not overheating it way beyond boiling, which is when the problem would occur. However I rarely heat the water even to boiling, since I like hot drinks that are warm but not scalding hot, so it's possible that you are looking for water hotter than I ever make it.

[chorus-of-chaos.livejournal.com]

heating water in the microwave does not necessarily make it boil, but it does get to a boiling temperature. When you add something to it (like instant coffee) or move the cup and break the surface tension of the water, for some scientific reason I can't explain right at the moment it can cause the blistering hot water to fountain all over the place.
http://www.snopes.com/science/microwave.asp

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2FcwRYfUBLM

I bought this electric tea kettle and am fairly please with it except that it does not have an on/off switch, you have to plug it in and unplug it to turn it off/on. It does whistle and has a "boil dry" saftey shut off feature.
http://www.walmart.com/ip/Presto-Electric-Tea-Kettle/5969533
there are more examples of electric kettles here.

http://www.walmart.com/search/search-ng.do?ic=16_0&Find=Find&search_query=electric+kettle&Find=Find&search_constraint=0



Most electric kettles you can't take apart and wash, you you simply rinse them out peridocially, you do not brew in them, you brew in a teapot or mug.I can not recommend strongly enough that you use bottled spring water or distilled water or drinking water in them. Tap water leaves mineral deposits and will kill your kettle.

[leorising1959.livejournal.com]

The thing about the water in the microwave is absolutely true. (Well, I'm sure the rest is true, too. ^_^) If you heat water in the microwave you have to be careful when you break the surface tension, don't have your body over it and use a long spoon.

[the_rck]

We're unlikely to get an electric kettle because we don't have counter space or storage space for such a thing and because we want something in which we can use tap water. Unfortunately, looking at kettles on Amazon, I'm not finding anything that I like. Scott wants me to pick something and order it.

[the_rck]

Our old kettle was nice. It actually whistled. It was just too small to make tea for all three of us at one time, and we need that.

I use a washcloth to open the spout of our kettle. It's got a handle over the top with a pressure bar that raises the lid on the spout, and I find that that handle is too hot to touch without something to protect my hand.

[louiselux.livejournal.com]

Have you tried a plug-in electric kettle? I find it's the most useful for boiling water and they usually have a cup gauge so you can boil exactly what you need.

[leorising1959.livejournal.com]

Yes, I came to suggest this, too. They're very convenient and most have automatic shut-offs.

[louiselux.livejournal.com]

Yes, the auto shut off is brilliant as it will never boil dry, and another good thing is that they allow your arm to be in a much more natural position when pouring.

[the_rck]

An electric kettle sounds attractive, but there are barriers to our getting and using such a thing. We have nowhere to put it when it's not in use and no good place where we could use it.

[the_rck]

We don't have any counter space to spare (nor any storage space where we could keep such a thing when we weren't using it). Any kettle we get needs to live on the stove. I'm also concerned because someone up thread said that electric kettles require distilled water or they end up with kettle destroying mineral deposits. I don't think our tap water is dreadfully bad that way, but I don't know.

[anderyn.livejournal.com]

They do sell tea specific kettles that heat the water to the specific temperature that the tea you're making requires. They have dials for all the different teas. I had one for a while, and loved it. The best thing was that once it hit that temperature, it would stay there as long as it was plugged in. It was pricy (I used part of my legacy from my mother to buy it) but the last I checked, they're somewhere in the $50 to $100 range, unless you get the super-fancy one at Teavana, which will cost you somewhere around $200. Problem was that someone (not me!) broke the temperature control knob and that made it less than useful for me.

Edited to add: Adagio has the UtiliTEA kettle, which is the one I had, for $59. Not a bad price as these things go.

[the_rck]

Thanks for the recommendation! There are barriers to us getting and using an electric kettle, however. We basically have nowhere to use or store such a thing. Our counters are quite crowded.

Scott has me browsing Amazon for stove top kettles. I just can't find anything that looks reasonable. Everything has reports of parts melting or corrosion or shows bad design just based on the pictures.