It boils water. And it looks red. Yay
But does it need an app?
this post was submitted on 10 Dec 2025
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I recently picked up the same kind at a thrift store. Probably an older version. It's great, but I don't like that it beeps... ;-;
We’ve had an electric kettle for a while, and when it’s done it just clicks off. It’s the perfect amount of noise that I now have a Pavlovian response to haha
I have one that looks just like this but black plastic not red. It just clicks.
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I have an older version, without that snazzy red handle.
9+ years old, absolute workhorse.
Hm, seems unpractical. How are you going to lift that hot kettle without a handle?
I don't think water is supposed to look red when you boil it.
What would be really cool, is a kettle which has an alarm if the water is cooking. Some really high pitched noise so that everybody hears it. But the battery would probably die on that pretty soon. Hmm.
With all of the stainless steel kettles offered by "Big Kettle" it's nice to finally see some transparency. /s
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I just got this excellent cephalopod kettle that additionally heats water to specific temperatures. Saves me from having to add one medium size ice cube to my coffee.
Well done, sir. And I would also say it looks red, although I don't want to jump to conclusions.
The moment I understood that I belonged here is when I look at a post about a kettle and immediately go
"oooh...that is friggin' nice!" with no one else in the room with me.
You belong. That squid kettle belongs in my kitchen, though, mail it to me, I don't care if it doesn't like my national voltage.
Don’t buy SMEG. I was hoping its build different but its built the same with other electronics, to maximize profit. Won’t last 7 years, dont expect it to pass on to your kids.
I got a really good one years ago, my wife used it to heat up chicken stock to make gumbo. Never again.
Sorry about the divorce but you had to do it, no other options
This has me fucked up. Did your coffee the next day taste like chicken?
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UK kettles boil faster than North American ones because they are plugged into 240v lines instead of 120v lines. But IIUC, you can pull the same amount of amps from either line. Why can't we make kettles boil just as fast no matter where they are plugged in, by pulling more amps? I guess it's the inherent resistance of the heating coil being the same? Can't we trade something off, use more coils, "plug it in twice," nothing??
I'm seeing that average UK socket circuits are 32A, which is nuts, I'm jealous. So that's it right there, 32A (I know (or hope) the kettle isn't pulling 32A) * 240v is a ridiculous amount of power, obviously more than any kettle would ever pull in a million years. My heat pumps and dryer are the only thing on the double breakers pulling 30A. Couldn't imagine a teakettle.
That's the max you can draw from the mains, not the single socket capacity. Sockets are wired to circuits at 13A. If you want to put a heavy duty appliance like an oven or induction hob, you put them in separate circuits with higher Amperage. Same for home EV chargers.
This is a great video about the topic. https://youtu.be/INZybkX8tLI
I FUCKING KNEW IT WOULD A TECHNOLOGY CONNECTIONS VIDEO. YOU CAN'T FOOL ME, LEMMY.
As soon as I started reading your comment I remembered the fused outlets of Britania. And as soon as I saw the YouTube link, I knew it was the same Tech Connections video that taught me it. I watched a video on British kettles despite being an American who drinks drip coffee.
One of the variables is the amount of water being boiled. For a given kettle, there is a roughly linear relationship between the mass of the water and the time it takes to heat it by a degree. If I get two kettles, plug them both in, and split the water between them, then don't I get my water boiled twice as fast? Why can't we just put two elements in one kettle?
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The loop of sockets could be as high as 32A but most appliance plugs are fitted with a 13A fuse.
A British kettle will pull around 3kW. What splits the wheat from the chaff is how quietly it'll do that, for the most part. Fancy ones will let you pick a temperature, too. Tea is 100°C and poured straight on the bag, coffee is a wimp and cries bitter tears at such a high heat.
I've had friends from Northern Ireland (though anywhere reserves the right to claim proper tea making method) that will fuck you off if you take 10 seconds from the stop of the kettle and the contact of hot water to the teabag.
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So the reason you can't just "add more amps" is US wiring standards. Most houses have 15 or 20A circuits. This puts an upper limit on the amount of wattage a single circuit can pull of either 120x15= 1800W or 120x20=2400W. This is going to be the biggest bottleneck, since going above this rating will either trip your breaker or light the cables on fire in your walls.
Beyond that, most plugs in homes are NEMA 5-15 outlets, which also limits the output of a single plug to 15A. If a manufacturer wanted to use a NEMA 5-20 plug to get that extra 5 amps, you'd need a different receptacle and thicker wiring to safely use it. Since most people don't have 5-20 plugs, there isn't really a reason for manufacturers to make them.
All of this is why pretty much every electric kettle made to work with the US electrical system is slower than ones made for 240V systems. Also, they all take about the same amount of time to heat a specific volume of water, so cheap ones are going to do just as good of a job as expensive ones.
All of these same limitations apply to space heaters as well, since they are essentially doing the same thing.
e=i*r. the coils are usually quartz coated nichrome alloy, which has a resistance based off length and diameter. so to get more amps, you just need more volts. as long as the circuit is basic (no electronics) that's just fine. however, most are rated for 110-240 or so volts, so it is only realistic in the us, and would require replacing the plug.
Can I use two kettles to boil a quantity of water in half the time that one kettle will do it? And if so, why can't I make a "double kettle"?
I have a double coffee pot, so why not. Maybe someone already makes one?
Still, amperage on a single outlet is usually limited by the circuit breaker, yours might pop if you plug in two kettles. 120v double outlets in the us often have a little breakaway tab so you can wire the top plug into a separate breaker from the bottom plug. I actually have one like that downstairs at my place.
Stoves and ranges often have high wattage hookups. They also often host electrical outlets. Seems weird there are no high speed boiling devices that exploit it.
my ascot 1.5 liter boils cold water in 7 minutes or less. that is quite a bit, enough to speed up ramen and coffee. much faster than a quart cup in the microwave. not enough to make a full thermos of tea in one brewing though, and definitely not enough to brew a full gallon of tea at once. a better pot would be more than twice the size, and need more power to brew as quickly.
I get the appeal, but I think cost and counter space would be limiting issues. of course, what annoys me isn't the seven minutes, but the small size. then again, a gallon of boiling water in a heating unit is going to weigh too much.
however, I don't think i'd put two boilers on the counter just because I make too much tea.
faster would be slightly more convenient, but would push the price up (not that there aren't outrageously priced regular water kettles.)
I think it is like most other appliances: they use the nominal 1500/1875 amp target because that's what a lot of 110 infrastucture peaks at.
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I went to a store to look at kettles the other day, didn't find any I liked, need to go to another store and look at more kettles
I'm going to buy an electric kettle when my tired old coffee pot finally shits the bed. My kitchen is limited in size and is already in the grips of Too Many Small Kitchen Appliances.
1.7L
That's a lot of tea
Happy cake day! There's no such thing as too much tea, tho.
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3000 watts? Yes please ;(
Request denied 🇺🇸
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