I grew up in Doncaster so just used to accept the idea that you have to replace your kettle every six months to a year because of limescale, it's a surreal experience now living just down the road in Sheffield where the water's soft and it doesn't happen.
Same sort of thing happened to me when I moved from a German city to a suburb. I had bought a dedicated filter tap because the water in the city was so hard, but after moving and adjusting the settings, the filter cartridges last several times as long.
Why are you not just cleaning it off with lemon juice? I thought everyone know that and if your pan gets tide marks from boiling water just do a nice tomato soup or pasta sauce in it job done. its just calcium.
Naturally, in North America it would seem that electric kettles are not as popular due to the 120v system that we have which equates to a slower bring-to-boil time compared to 220v units.
This is the usual explanation, though in the film 'Bullitt' I spotted the hero using an electric element on a wire just plugged into the wall (this being before health and safety) to reheat his coffee in 1960s LA. So I wonder why it never caught on.
@Gracemace And the comments found that most the other parts of the world also aren't into tea, and yet still use electric kettles. Even in the US with only 120v, electric kettles are faster to boil water than any other method. They just don't use them because... reasons.
19:20 Even at €5 it’s still very wasteful to throw away a kettle with limescale when cleaning it with citric acid or vinegar is just as easy (or probably even easier) than buying a new one.
Unfortunately that's modern consumerist culture under capitalism -- people are conditioned to behave this way, and many never even bother to learn how to do the simple maintenance and repairs needed to keep things functioning properly...and they're often not even wrong, given how poor the quality of most consumer products is these days! 😕
@ A dirty kettle isn’t broken. When it comes to kettle costs are not an issue for me but I’ll still clean even the the cheapest one and I’ll even try to repair one if I can. I’m aware that I’m the exception and that’s unfortunate imo. I hope that some people reading this will think for 1 second next time they’re about to replace some appliance.
@@Conservator. hence why I said *"maintenance* and repairs" 😘 But I agree with you. It just sucks that in many cases the "this is cheaper/easier" argument is no longer even valid, depending on the particular task and how much the cheapest replacement on Prime is...
The ceramic electric jugs we had in Australia in the early 1900's were interesting, the lid needed to be closed to plug in the lead, that lid was bakelite and broke often, the element was nichrome around a ceramic block. The water was live while turned on
Thanks! Super interesting. Keep up with cars but love this take! Only small omission would be the super expensive thin spout kettles (Fellow) which are inexplicably popular and I found myself succumbing to:)
I didn't think I would be watching a 25 minute long video on kettles today but here I am. Also great video. It reminded of Technology Connections videos.
Along with my Zojirushi micom induction rice cooker, my electric kettle is my favorite kitchen appliance. I brew pour over coffee and tea, so the electric kettle has been one of those best-kept secrets that my fellow Americans simply cannot fathom. I will never return to a stovetop kettle. Even if you don’t drink tea or you prefer an automatic coffee maker, you can still benefit from an electric kettle, as you can preheat your water for cooking.
A small (0.8l) kettle was the first thing my mom gave me when i moved into my first own flat. Now it´s 27 years later and although i haven´t used it in years i still keep it and will never throw it out.
Ever since I got a cheap(ish) automatic espresso machine I use that for hot water. Very quick and uses a lot less power than a kettle, provided you only need 1 cup at a time.
Very interesting! Just two points: The jug kettle also has a smaller footprint, which can be an advantage in some cases. And limescale is easily removed in a few hours with a vinegar solution.
Years ago, I had a Russell Hobbs electric pressure cooker. It's interesting to see, they were key in the development of electric kettles. As an American (US) if I want tea, I just heat up a cup of water in the microwave. Of course, if I needed a whole liter, a modern electric kettle would be much quicker than a microwave, but Americans (US) don't have the need for so much tea day to day Our day to day drink is coffee, & we have electric automatic drip coffee makers that supply plenty of coffee. Americans (US,) drink a lot of iced tea at cookouts or restaurants, but cookouts are occasional, & restaurants are not our household kitchen.
Im always amazed how many people throw out a relatively new kettle due to lime scale, use descaler or a water filter. Interesting video, something we take for granted and will often never think of the innovation.
I use lemon or lime juice to descale my kettle. It can boil over so it has to be switched off before it boils but it feels safer than using harsh chemicals. I put lemon juice in sparkling water to make drinks more interesting so I always have some around. If you are making lemon tea and haven't rinsed the kettle out enough, you really don't notice. Also, I started making boiled eggs in the kettle. A cracked shell means that you need to rinse it out, but it is a quick and easy way to cook them.
Tea kettles were not nearly as popular in the States. Instead we had electric and range top percolator coffee pots that were replaced with the electric drip machines eg the Mr Coffee series. While those still are common the K-cup, espresso and Nespresso machines now compete with the drip machines. So we too have seen this progression. Tea or coffee, we all need our caffeine doses! 😎 That reminds me, I'm going to go have a spot of tea. Cheers!
Citric acid or white vinegar is incredibly cheap and can be bought online. half fill the kettle, throw in a cup of either and let it sit for about 10-20 minutes. Pour the water out and rinse a couple of times and you have a sparkling clean kettle without limescale. No need to throw away even a cheap kettle just because of limescale.
Very nice history. Thanks for namechecking us coffee aficionados! One thing we do care about a lot and you left out is spout design. Give me gooseneck or give me death! flowrate and breaking point height really make or break a precision kettle (I’m partial to the big boy Harion Buono)
Might be worth doing an episode on how the reliability of cars has improved. I remember my father not being able to start our little VW bug in the winter time.
Yup, but I'll never understand why they included the 'u' in the name. 'Qooker' is more concise and looks much snazzier, and it's also how they pronounce it: KOO-ker (not KWOO-ker).
Now that's a boiling hot topic. Enjoyed the video. It might been worth mentioning that when you have a range, the kettle can live on top and is always there when you want a cup of whatever. I had a couple of visitors that were astonished that I had a kettle that you can plug in to head . They'd never seen one before. Where they from some primitive third word country? No, they were from the USA - I think Minnesota . I guess you run your randge there most of the time.
You missed out a very interesting and "shocking" design of kettle, still used in some places. I discovered one of these when in Australia in the 1990s. The kettle was made of porcelain (guess plastic ones exist), the element was simply two sheets of metal separated by a small gap, with one directly connected to live and the other to neutral. The water was heated by passing electricity directly through the water. It was extremely fast to boil water, faster than any kettle I've used since. There was a clever lid mechanism that meant you couldn't plug the lead into it without the lid being closed, so stopping it ever being live when the lid was open that could allow someone to reach in and touch the live element. It couldn't boil dry and cause a fire, or accidently be turned on with no water in it, well it could, but no water meant no conductivity between the two plates therefore no heating and no possibility of a fire. There was the added benefit that as the water started boiling, pockets of steam between the plates reduced the surface area in contact with the water and so the current passing through reduced and it self regulated, using less current once the water was boiling.
Since I upgraded to induction cooking, the kettle has become redundant. I keep it because the guests prefer to use it, but the pot on the stove now boils faster, less loud, and I don't have to do the whole descaling thing.
Is that Daewoo kettle a recycled Daewoo Nexia? First thing was I couldn’t take my eyes off your forehead for the first two minutes… then for someone who has often said they live in America, I saw those sockets and the fact you were doing a video about kettles and “That’s not America” because Technology Connections a while back told us why most Americans don’t have kettles, but instead have brewed coffee on the go all the while. I shall say no more about the effects of caffeine. Could not remember if you'd done Daewoo on Big Car but just found it. Must have watched it - must watch it again.
I live 1750m above sea level so my kettle boils a little bit faster than when I lived 5m above sea level. I have a glass russell hobbs that came with blue lights, but it didn't match the lighting in my kitchen so I changed them. I have also never had limescale in any of my kettles or taps, and I just use municipal water with no filters.
What a lovely video to be recommended to me as I'm having my morning tea! I'm right chuffed to have found and subscribed to your channel 😁 (did I use that term right? just a lowly Anglophile here, hope I'm not misqppropriating 😝)
Excellent video! Those 80s plastic monstrosities in beige, red and white remind me of every horrendous cheap jug kettle I’ve had the displeasure to use over the years! I’m fussy about kettles (I’ve designed a couple - I used to be a product designer) - prime thing for me is to be simple, sturdy, long lasting and stainless steel……oh, and repairable, rather than filled with gimmicks!
Can you link to one or two you designed Simon? I'd be curious as to what they were. Having done the video, and thinking about what kettle I'd buy, I was struck by how ill informed my kettle buying decision would be before doing this video. It's the little things that make any item usable or annoying, and it's something we spend so little time thinking about, mainly because it's hard when we're evaluating options.
@@LittleCar Sadly nothing made it to production - they were uni projects - my production stuff ended up being computer monitors, television sets and vcrs……then I moved onto designing architectural metalwork for airports and railway stations. However, you showed a picture of the stainless steel Russell Hobbs jug kettle I tend to favour near the end of the video (I’m on my second one - I could only repair the first so many times!)
Great video. I hate any plastic in my kettle. Level indicators never stay clear for long and plastic taints the water. Stainless steel jug kettle where you pick it up-to feel if there's a pint of water in it is where i am today, and a copper kettle on the wood burner to pre heat water, thats a gallon of hot water for ( sort of) nothing. I liked the thirties and fiftiesand sixties kettles. You could replace the element and service the bimetallic switch.
Downside of the sixties kettles was they were slow. I made my own stainless kettle, commissioned a company to do the welding. I used a 2.5kw 220v element, solid state relay, automobile thermistor, 5v power supply and arduino nano. had it about 7 years now, happy with it, now the bugs are ironed out.
I had an all-singing and dancing Breville with blue LEDs. I knew it was no good when the first LED pegged out at 1 month. Over the next 6 months they all croaked it, and after the end of the warranty period the kettle developed a terminal leak. Load of junk, and it cost sixty quid. Relatedly, I've only had about one water-level indicator kettle that didn't leak from the indicator strip. More junk. I came to the realisation that paying more than the base price for a kettle isn't worth it - the expensive ones aren't any better at doing the job and generally don't last any longer than the cheap ones.
I also still use an MS Natural too. I got one of the elite's with the + shape arrow keys in 96 and used it 8 to 16 hours a day until the end of 2019 when it finally broke beyond my skill of being able to fix it, and I got one of the new ones, and they are terrible, but I still have a few of other 90s and early 2000's ones, with the multimedia keys, but I wish I had one of the 90's elite ones again.
I stockpiled a couple. This one's only been out of the box for 6 months, but it's my last. 😒 You can get German keyboards that are similar, but they're not quite as good. www.amazon.com/gp/product/B075GZVD4T
@@LittleCar I have found a few of the new old stock, or 2nd hand still in box ones on ebay, but shipping to South Africa is so expensive that I could buy 4 of them for the price it would cost to deliver it. My elite was so "used" that the space bar, tab, enter and braces/brackets and a bunch of keys were paper thin from typing code, but you could see the characters because they were "impregnated" into the plastic, on the new one the painted characters had worn off after 3 months, and most keys are just glossy now.
Interesting video. Amazing the improvements that have been made that we now take for granted. Was it a decent cup of tea that you made? I think tea tastes better in a fine bone china cup (preheated of course). Using a bag of Yorkshire Tea, let it brew (no stirring) for 5 minutes (set a timer). After 5 minutes give the bag a quick squeeze and then add fresh skimmed (controversial I know!) milk. No sugar. Give it a go!
Getting a smart kettle to keep the water an exact temperature for you for up to 30 minutes is very stupid, I'm sure we've all put the kettle on and forgot we were making tea or coffee, the kettle is well insulated enough that you just click the switch again and it reboils in 20 seconds or less!
I have not had a kettle in years, I just use a small pan on my gas cooker as the cost of gas is alot less, I definitely noticed a big dip on my bill when the kettle broke, I use a lot more gas then electricity looking at my usage by kilowatt hours yet my gas bill is like consistently £26 a month compared to like £80+ for the electric. I'm thinking of getting a camping kettle as it would probably boil faster, my pan has no lid and to buy one that size is more money then buying a bog standard cheap camping kettle.
Well, I'm about to abandon the kettle, as in my kitchen, which I have in order I will have a Quooker. This is a tap which delivers boiling water instantly.
I just scrap the whole mess & use the microwave to heat portions of water in the same vessel in which I'll drink the beverage! One less thing to keep clean! And living at about 1800m elevation, water boils at a lower temperature anyway. So no point in being particular!
Saying things in $ or £ or whatever doesn't work for people from different countries, and it's also dependent upon inflation. If someone watched this video in 5 years time, that number would be meaningless. I've been trying to use other terms that are more meaningful in my videos. For example, I'll talk about how much a car is 20 years ago by measuring it against how much a similar car is today. It's not a precise science, but hopefully it's more meaningful.
The idea of my boiling water sloshing around between the coils of some mystery metal PRC heating element does not spark joy. That and I've always written off electric tea kettles for being in the same vein of appliances as bread-makers; i.e. superfluous space wasters. I can already boil my water in the microwave in a non reactive glass container or in a pot on the stove. I could even use my stove for other things like s'mores. I can't make s'mores with a tea kettle you know what I'm sayin'?
This is giving Technology Connection vibes.
I'll be doing toasters next! 😉
This is less annoying and more on point 😊
@ true, although I have a soft spot for Alec dialogue
@@monishbiswas1966 "And with the magic of buying two of them..."
No need to do Christmas lights now though
I grew up in Doncaster so just used to accept the idea that you have to replace your kettle every six months to a year because of limescale, it's a surreal experience now living just down the road in Sheffield where the water's soft and it doesn't happen.
Same in Hampshire. Got a shock at how long a kettle can last since I moved to Cornwall! Lol
Same sort of thing happened to me when I moved from a German city to a suburb. I had bought a dedicated filter tap because the water in the city was so hard, but after moving and adjusting the settings, the filter cartridges last several times as long.
Just boil some vinegar or water with citric acid! It comes right off!
Why are you not just cleaning it off with lemon juice? I thought everyone know that and if your pan gets tide marks from boiling water just do a nice tomato soup or pasta sauce in it job done. its just calcium.
Naturally, in North America it would seem that electric kettles are not as popular due to the 120v system that we have which equates to a slower bring-to-boil time compared to 220v units.
This is the usual explanation, though in the film 'Bullitt' I spotted the hero using an electric element on a wire just plugged into the wall (this being before health and safety) to reheat his coffee in 1960s LA. So I wonder why it never caught on.
I think it was found that all in all, Americans don't use kettles mainly because they're simply not that much into tea
@Gracemaceand they go to drive thru for their coffee 😅
@Gracemace Perhaps not but a lot of us make pour-over coffee.
@Gracemace And the comments found that most the other parts of the world also aren't into tea, and yet still use electric kettles.
Even in the US with only 120v, electric kettles are faster to boil water than any other method. They just don't use them because... reasons.
19:20 Even at €5 it’s still very wasteful to throw away a kettle with limescale when cleaning it with citric acid or vinegar is just as easy (or probably even easier) than buying a new one.
Unfortunately that's modern consumerist culture under capitalism -- people are conditioned to behave this way, and many never even bother to learn how to do the simple maintenance and repairs needed to keep things functioning properly...and they're often not even wrong, given how poor the quality of most consumer products is these days! 😕
@ A dirty kettle isn’t broken.
When it comes to kettle costs are not an issue for me but I’ll still clean even the the cheapest one and I’ll even try to repair one if I can.
I’m aware that I’m the exception and that’s unfortunate imo.
I hope that some people reading this will think for 1 second next time they’re about to replace some appliance.
@@Conservator. hence why I said *"maintenance* and repairs" 😘
But I agree with you. It just sucks that in many cases the "this is cheaper/easier" argument is no longer even valid, depending on the particular task and how much the cheapest replacement on Prime is...
@@dancoroian1 Yes we agree! 😁
I was mere sputtering my frustration unintentionally at you. 🙈😁
The ceramic electric jugs we had in Australia in the early 1900's were interesting, the lid needed to be closed to plug in the lead, that lid was bakelite and broke often, the element was nichrome around a ceramic block. The water was live while turned on
Thanks! Super interesting. Keep up with cars but love this take! Only small omission would be the super expensive thin spout kettles (Fellow) which are inexplicably popular and I found myself succumbing to:)
Glad you liked it, and thanks for the tip!
When I was a teenager I had something that made me a cup of tea when it was time to wake up. It was called Mum!
Denmark calling (so the Viking ancestors... sorry): we still call it a "kedel"! Great video ☺️👍🇬🇧🇩🇰
I once met a Norwegian guy called Kjetil.
@ Thats quite common in Norway ☺️👍
Kettle in Swedish is vattenkokare, directly translated as water cooker.
Same in German, where it is Wasserkocher.
Don't joke, it's one of the few things I'm qualified to cook without burning it. 😂
I didn't think I would be watching a 25 minute long video on kettles today but here I am. Also great video. It reminded of Technology Connections videos.
I would like to have a toyota kettle probably it will be the most reliable, Daewoo sounds a little bit troublesome
I've got Russell Hobbs 3104. I've had it for about 40 yrs. Still works, as new
Nice vid. I had no idea I would be interested in kettle history LOL
Loved my Mum's whistling Swan kettle in the 60s. Hope your injuries are not too painfull and you feel better soon.
Surprisingly the injury is almost invisible now!
Along with my Zojirushi micom induction rice cooker, my electric kettle is my favorite kitchen appliance. I brew pour over coffee and tea, so the electric kettle has been one of those best-kept secrets that my fellow Americans simply cannot fathom. I will never return to a stovetop kettle. Even if you don’t drink tea or you prefer an automatic coffee maker, you can still benefit from an electric kettle, as you can preheat your water for cooking.
Great deep dive into something we just take for granted. Enjoyed learning the timeline of the kettle improvements
Bro made a whole video of electric kettles, wild.
A small (0.8l) kettle was the first thing my mom gave me when i moved into my first own flat. Now it´s 27 years later and although i haven´t used it in years i still keep it and will never throw it out.
I love videos like this showcasing the history of a product. I'd love to see a video on the history of dishwashers too.
15:00 Limescale can very easily be removed with some citric acid.
Vinegar works almost as good but has a less pleasant smell.
Ever since I got a cheap(ish) automatic espresso machine I use that for hot water. Very quick and uses a lot less power than a kettle, provided you only need 1 cup at a time.
Very interesting! Just two points: The jug kettle also has a smaller footprint, which can be an advantage in some cases. And limescale is easily removed in a few hours with a vinegar solution.
Nice to see you Branch Out In A Different direction! 2:46
Last week my old kettle stopped working and bought a new one the other night
Strange to find a kettle video pop up
Years ago, I had a Russell Hobbs electric pressure cooker. It's interesting to see, they were key in the development of electric kettles.
As an American (US) if I want tea, I just heat up a cup of water in the microwave. Of course, if I needed a whole liter, a modern electric kettle would be much quicker than a microwave, but Americans (US) don't have the need for so much tea day to day Our day to day drink is coffee, & we have electric automatic drip coffee makers that supply plenty of coffee.
Americans (US,) drink a lot of iced tea at cookouts or restaurants, but cookouts are occasional, & restaurants are not our household kitchen.
There's a deleted scene where I talk about microwaves: ruclips.net/video/gwjVd7vPJ9A/видео.htmlsi=Dgl088HUe5Wi64lT&t=1330
Im always amazed how many people throw out a relatively new kettle due to lime scale, use descaler or a water filter. Interesting video, something we take for granted and will often never think of the innovation.
Well done for making such a fun interesting video on a fairly dull item 👍
My family loves our electric kettle (US version). Best investment in kitchen gadgets we made in years!
See, we're told you don't have them due to lower voltage, but you have electric cookers which use much more power.
Just watched a kettle boil on a Friday night…thanks for giving me the inspiration to do something better with my life.
"I don't see the point of a kettle keeping it's temperature"
"I use a tea urn that keeps the water at the temperature I like"
...just for 30 minutes. Who wants another brew within 30 minutes?
@LittleCar only those strong enough
Straying into Technology Connections territory NEXT a specific type of Christmas lights and Rice cookers 😂
I use lemon or lime juice to descale my kettle. It can boil over so it has to be switched off before it boils but it feels safer than using harsh chemicals.
I put lemon juice in sparkling water to make drinks more interesting so I always have some around. If you are making lemon tea and haven't rinsed the kettle out enough, you really don't notice.
Also, I started making boiled eggs in the kettle. A cracked shell means that you need to rinse it out, but it is a quick and easy way to cook them.
THe little car kitchen looks incredibly tidy! Perhaps it's only used for electric kettle videos!
I had to do a lot of cleaning and moving stuff out the way!
Tea kettles were not nearly as popular in the States. Instead we had electric and range top percolator coffee pots that were replaced with the electric drip machines eg the Mr Coffee series. While those still are common the K-cup, espresso and Nespresso machines now compete with the drip machines. So we too have seen this progression.
Tea or coffee, we all need our caffeine doses! 😎 That reminds me, I'm going to go have a spot of tea. Cheers!
Here in New Zealand, we tend to call the upright electric kettle, a jug. And the 'normal' style a kettle.
I use a stovetop kettle on my induction hob, it takes just about 2 minutes to get to a boil with a liter of water in it.
Citric acid or white vinegar is incredibly cheap and can be bought online. half fill the kettle, throw in a cup of either and let it sit for about 10-20 minutes. Pour the water out and rinse a couple of times and you have a sparkling clean kettle without limescale. No need to throw away even a cheap kettle just because of limescale.
Very nice history. Thanks for namechecking us coffee aficionados! One thing we do care about a lot and you left out is spout design. Give me gooseneck or give me death! flowrate and breaking point height really make or break a precision kettle (I’m partial to the big boy Harion Buono)
Might be worth doing an episode on how the reliability of cars has improved. I remember my father not being able to start our little VW bug in the winter time.
Great video ! would love to see one on stove tops (gas powered vs electric vs vitro-ceramic vs induction) !
And the quooker now makes the kettle disappear if you are rich enough.
Yup, but I'll never understand why they included the 'u' in the name. 'Qooker' is more concise and looks much snazzier, and it's also how they pronounce it: KOO-ker (not KWOO-ker).
@SpiritmanProductions probably because Dutch there is always a u bekend a q.
@ But brand names don't need to follow convention. They often don't: Lyft, Xero, Kleenex, Tumblr, Flickr.
In the late 90's I bought a Philips kettle that used a halogen element that did boil very quickly
Now that's a boiling hot topic. Enjoyed the video. It might been worth mentioning that when you have a range, the kettle can live on top and is always there when you want a cup of whatever. I had a couple of visitors that were astonished that I had a kettle that you can plug in to head . They'd never seen one before. Where they from some primitive third word country? No, they were from the USA - I think Minnesota . I guess you run your randge there most of the time.
You missed out a very interesting and "shocking" design of kettle, still used in some places. I discovered one of these when in Australia in the 1990s. The kettle was made of porcelain (guess plastic ones exist), the element was simply two sheets of metal separated by a small gap, with one directly connected to live and the other to neutral. The water was heated by passing electricity directly through the water. It was extremely fast to boil water, faster than any kettle I've used since. There was a clever lid mechanism that meant you couldn't plug the lead into it without the lid being closed, so stopping it ever being live when the lid was open that could allow someone to reach in and touch the live element. It couldn't boil dry and cause a fire, or accidently be turned on with no water in it, well it could, but no water meant no conductivity between the two plates therefore no heating and no possibility of a fire. There was the added benefit that as the water started boiling, pockets of steam between the plates reduced the surface area in contact with the water and so the current passing through reduced and it self regulated, using less current once the water was boiling.
Did it also electrolise the water to produce hydrogen and oxygen?
Since I upgraded to induction cooking, the kettle has become redundant. I keep it because the guests prefer to use it, but the pot on the stove now boils faster, less loud, and I don't have to do the whole descaling thing.
Is that Daewoo kettle a recycled Daewoo Nexia? First thing was I couldn’t take my eyes off your forehead for the first two minutes… then for someone who has often said they live in America, I saw those sockets and the fact you were doing a video about kettles and “That’s not America” because Technology Connections a while back told us why most Americans don’t have kettles, but instead have brewed coffee on the go all the while. I shall say no more about the effects of caffeine. Could not remember if you'd done Daewoo on Big Car but just found it. Must have watched it - must watch it again.
technology conlittle car
I live 1750m above sea level so my kettle boils a little bit faster than when I lived 5m above sea level. I have a glass russell hobbs that came with blue lights, but it didn't match the lighting in my kitchen so I changed them. I have also never had limescale in any of my kettles or taps, and I just use municipal water with no filters.
Remember the smutty Goblin Teas Maid ? LOL
I boil in e-kettle and then pour into thermoses for later use. Maybe not so fancy, but gets job done
i had a Microsoft keyboard just like that, loved it
I stockpiled a couple, so even though they've been out of production for a while, I can still use them.
What a lovely video to be recommended to me as I'm having my morning tea! I'm right chuffed to have found and subscribed to your channel 😁 (did I use that term right? just a lowly Anglophile here, hope I'm not misqppropriating 😝)
Excellent video! Those 80s plastic monstrosities in beige, red and white remind me of every horrendous cheap jug kettle I’ve had the displeasure to use over the years! I’m fussy about kettles (I’ve designed a couple - I used to be a product designer) - prime thing for me is to be simple, sturdy, long lasting and stainless steel……oh, and repairable, rather than filled with gimmicks!
Can you link to one or two you designed Simon? I'd be curious as to what they were.
Having done the video, and thinking about what kettle I'd buy, I was struck by how ill informed my kettle buying decision would be before doing this video. It's the little things that make any item usable or annoying, and it's something we spend so little time thinking about, mainly because it's hard when we're evaluating options.
@@LittleCar Sadly nothing made it to production - they were uni projects - my production stuff ended up being computer monitors, television sets and vcrs……then I moved onto designing architectural metalwork for airports and railway stations. However, you showed a picture of the stainless steel Russell Hobbs jug kettle I tend to favour near the end of the video (I’m on my second one - I could only repair the first so many times!)
Induction hob test comparison required
Probably be the same.
A gas hob test comparison though, now we're talking.
I have an always on water boiler, boiling filtered water on tap, and cold water fauset on the sink. :)
Not quite boiling I have it set to 90c.
Were immersion heaters ever a thing in the UK? I grew up in a household with one and as a child, I thought kettles were strange.
I think we'll be heading back to old fashioned kettles in no time to due mad Ed Milliband.
Great video. I hate any plastic in my kettle. Level indicators never stay clear for long and plastic taints the water. Stainless steel jug kettle where you pick it up-to feel if there's a pint of water in it is where i am today, and a copper kettle on the wood burner to pre heat water, thats a gallon of hot water for ( sort of) nothing.
I liked the thirties and fiftiesand sixties kettles. You could replace the element and service the bimetallic switch.
Downside of the sixties kettles was they were slow. I made my own stainless kettle, commissioned a company to do the welding. I used a 2.5kw 220v element, solid state relay, automobile thermistor, 5v power supply and arduino nano. had it about 7 years now, happy with it, now the bugs are ironed out.
I had an all-singing and dancing Breville with blue LEDs. I knew it was no good when the first LED pegged out at 1 month. Over the next 6 months they all croaked it, and after the end of the warranty period the kettle developed a terminal leak.
Load of junk, and it cost sixty quid.
Relatedly, I've only had about one water-level indicator kettle that didn't leak from the indicator strip. More junk.
I came to the realisation that paying more than the base price for a kettle isn't worth it - the expensive ones aren't any better at doing the job and generally don't last any longer than the cheap ones.
I also still use an MS Natural too. I got one of the elite's with the + shape arrow keys in 96 and used it 8 to 16 hours a day until the end of 2019 when it finally broke beyond my skill of being able to fix it, and I got one of the new ones, and they are terrible, but I still have a few of other 90s and early 2000's ones, with the multimedia keys, but I wish I had one of the 90's elite ones again.
I stockpiled a couple. This one's only been out of the box for 6 months, but it's my last. 😒 You can get German keyboards that are similar, but they're not quite as good. www.amazon.com/gp/product/B075GZVD4T
@@LittleCar I have found a few of the new old stock, or 2nd hand still in box ones on ebay, but shipping to South Africa is so expensive that I could buy 4 of them for the price it would cost to deliver it. My elite was so "used" that the space bar, tab, enter and braces/brackets and a bunch of keys were paper thin from typing code, but you could see the characters because they were "impregnated" into the plastic, on the new one the painted characters had worn off after 3 months, and most keys are just glossy now.
Interesting video. Amazing the improvements that have been made that we now take for granted. Was it a decent cup of tea that you made? I think tea tastes better in a fine bone china cup (preheated of course). Using a bag of Yorkshire Tea, let it brew (no stirring) for 5 minutes (set a timer). After 5 minutes give the bag a quick squeeze and then add fresh skimmed (controversial I know!) milk. No sugar. Give it a go!
I like Earl Grey, and pretty weak, so not sure that'll work for me!
Also the best plug in the world!
…provided you don’t step on it :)
Getting a smart kettle to keep the water an exact temperature for you for up to 30 minutes is very stupid, I'm sure we've all put the kettle on and forgot we were making tea or coffee, the kettle is well insulated enough that you just click the switch again and it reboils in 20 seconds or less!
I have not had a kettle in years, I just use a small pan on my gas cooker as the cost of gas is alot less, I definitely noticed a big dip on my bill when the kettle broke, I use a lot more gas then electricity looking at my usage by kilowatt hours yet my gas bill is like consistently £26 a month compared to like £80+ for the electric. I'm thinking of getting a camping kettle as it would probably boil faster, my pan has no lid and to buy one that size is more money then buying a bog standard cheap camping kettle.
Genuinely thought that this was a technology connections video when i clicked on this 😅 and thats fine by me
Apparently tea tastes better in hot water
LED light is “blue when it boiled and change to red when it boiled”
I wonder if stovetop kettles will become more popular again with the advent of induction hobs?
I had one of those millenium kettles!
How well would a kettle work, if it were on an induction cooktop or even came with it's own "induction base"?
I stopped using mine since I got an induction stovetop.
8:25 I have the wedgewood CP2 coffee pot (plain version thankfully)
1.23 , minutes microwave cup in an American USA kitchen 2000 decades.
Well this video was about as exciting as watching water boil. 🤣🤣🤣
If anybody would know something about kettles, it would be an Englishman.
Well, I'm about to abandon the kettle, as in my kitchen, which I have in order I will have a Quooker. This is a tap which delivers boiling water instantly.
Bloody hell - that's one expensive tap - £1,250!
It is doable considering total.price of the kitchen. In Netherlands a lot of people buy them these days. Almost standard here.
Y'all are still using some weird electric jugs but 🇺🇸 AMERICA 🦅 has the power 💪 of MICRO WAVES!!11!
We boil our water in the time it takes you to close and open the door! Just wait until you see a Qooker
There's a deleted scene where I talk about microwaves: ruclips.net/video/gwjVd7vPJ9A/видео.htmlsi=Dgl088HUe5Wi64lT&t=1330
@@LittleCar wow when I wrote this comment I did not expect to see the director's cut😀
Good thing for America that the Brits invented the cavity magnetron that's in every microwave oven !
3kw kettle masterrace coming troooough
I just scrap the whole mess & use the microwave to heat portions of water in the same vessel in which I'll drink the beverage! One less thing to keep clean! And living at about 1800m elevation, water boils at a lower temperature anyway. So no point in being particular!
23:28 - very Mr.Beanish :D :D :D :D :D
Hello dear. How can i contact you?
Better? Doubt, Kettels peaked some ways back and screens on fridges does not for innovation make.
Are the number of Starbucks drinks the latest SI unit now?
Saying things in $ or £ or whatever doesn't work for people from different countries, and it's also dependent upon inflation. If someone watched this video in 5 years time, that number would be meaningless. I've been trying to use other terms that are more meaningful in my videos. For example, I'll talk about how much a car is 20 years ago by measuring it against how much a similar car is today. It's not a precise science, but hopefully it's more meaningful.
Wiki says cast Iron was invented in the 5th Century BC, well before the industrial revolution.
Not sure Iron was "invented". Maybe discovered? But I'm talking about cast iron.
@@LittleCar So is the wiki but "invention" was your word.
Hrmph. Well that wasn't the right word, was it?!? 😉
My kettle glows blue even it is boiling. Kinda irritating as it is a color everyone associates with cold.
11:51 "cord"?! I don't think I've ever heard a Brit say "cord" instead of "cable".
That's what you get from spending 30 years in the USA.
@@LittleCar Ha! at least you didn't lose your British accent :)
Only a "liddle" bit of American crept in.
Who on earth has opened the lid to fill a kettle since the 80s? The spout is perfectly fine for filling
Fair point. I'm not that accurate in pointing my tap!
Electricity will never catch on.
Too bad there’s not an instant iced tea kettle.
Don't like electric kettles - boiled water has bad taste, the noise they make is too harsh, they get dirty pretty often, etc.
Oh really? .. Go on then 😂
What is wrong with my comment w.r.t. egg cookers?
The idea of my boiling water sloshing around between the coils of some mystery metal PRC heating element does not spark joy. That and I've always written off electric tea kettles for being in the same vein of appliances as bread-makers; i.e. superfluous space wasters. I can already boil my water in the microwave in a non reactive glass container or in a pot on the stove. I could even use my stove for other things like s'mores. I can't make s'mores with a tea kettle you know what I'm sayin'?
Still not part of culture in America