My kettle's broken and I need to replace it and I'm being stupidly indecisive. So to let LJ run my life for me - what kind of kettle should I buy. Reasoning very welcome in comments.
My personal opinion of kitchen appliances is that they Don't Make Them Like They Used To. I personally have a moderately old Russell Hobbs kettle and a hot spare (badumtish!) for when it goes wrong. Which I doubt it will for a while ;) Likewise I don't expect my 1970s gas cooker to die any time soon, though I don't think I'd recommend a kettle anywhere near that old. :)
The most environmentally-friendly thing to do is probably to repair your broken kettle, as I suspect there is more energy used in manufacturing these things than they ever consume.
Hmm, I like fixing things, but I don't particularly want to start playing round with something that handles both electricity and water!
I'm not going to buy the same model again - I'll probably buy one that's slightly more expensive, but hopefully no more than £15 if I go for the 'buy as cheap as you can' route.
Dunno what the power consumption is like, but how about a fast boil kettle but limit the amount of water you put in (which is basically all the ECOK does - 40 quid?!)..?
Indeed. Easiest way to only boil as much water as you need is to put the water from the tap into your mug, then pour that into the kettle.
If you have a microwave I might suggest the 'no kettle at all' option, as it only takes a couple of minutes to make the water hot enough for tea - not significantly longer than the kettle, really. I'm not sure about actual power consumption of microwave vs. electric kettle.
I love my stovetop kettle, because of the noise it makes.
Of course you should only boil the water needed, but the ECOK looks like an expensive way of measuring how much you put in. I bet you end up warming the reservoir too.
A cheap, fast (so you spend less time heating the surroundings) one with a clear 'how much is in this' guide.
I think ours was then either the cheapest or nearly so from Argos - a translucent plastic Philips Comfort.
I deliberately avoided the very cheapest ones at Argos (ie the £4.99 Cookworks ones) to hopefully avoid having the thing break after about a year.
From memory my first kettle lasted two and a bit years at uni. The next one is still going (it got taken to the shop when the one that was there stopped working) and then there's this one that's lasted just over a year. I'm wondering if it's worthwhile paying a bit more in order to not have to buy a new kettle every so often.
If I do get a cheap one from Argos it won't be a repeat of the one that's broken and it won't be one of the very cheapest ones.
I got that kettle! Sadly it disappeared when everyone moved out two weeks after me, as asking someone to hang on to it for me didn't seem to work. I had no problems with it in the year that I had it, and I'd definitely buy one again.
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Likewise I don't expect my 1970s gas cooker to die any time soon, though I don't think I'd recommend a kettle anywhere near that old. :)
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Or avoid buying the unreliable model again :)
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I'm not going to buy the same model again - I'll probably buy one that's slightly more expensive, but hopefully no more than £15 if I go for the 'buy as cheap as you can' route.
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If you have a microwave I might suggest the 'no kettle at all' option, as it only takes a couple of minutes to make the water hot enough for tea - not significantly longer than the kettle, really. I'm not sure about actual power consumption of microwave vs. electric kettle.
I love my stovetop kettle, because of the noise it makes.
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I'd go with this one because the other one didn't seem to have anything special about it, and it was too expensive for not having much more.
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UNDER NO CIRCUMSTANCES are you to go without a kettle.
*solumn nod*
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How often do you use it ??? If you use it often a better one and one with low energy usage is worth.
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A cheap, fast (so you spend less time heating the surroundings) one with a clear 'how much is in this' guide.
I think ours was then either the cheapest or nearly so from Argos - a translucent plastic Philips Comfort.
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From memory my first kettle lasted two and a bit years at uni. The next one is still going (it got taken to the shop when the one that was there stopped working) and then there's this one that's lasted just over a year. I'm wondering if it's worthwhile paying a bit more in order to not have to buy a new kettle every so often.
If I do get a cheap one from Argos it won't be a repeat of the one that's broken and it won't be one of the very cheapest ones.
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I voted ! :)