Have kettles gone off the boil?

I would be very surprised if a plug-in timer would be reliable if used near its maximum capacity. You would be better to use a hard-wired professional grade timer, or have an isolation switch on the circuit.

I cannot provide you with any facts, but think about the consequences of a leak or failure of a boiling water tap and a kettle. Which would be easier and less expensive to deal with?

garry – I think you miss the point of the Quooker if you intend to turn it off at night. They are basically giant extremely efficient thermos flasks with an element. So leaving them on at night means a very slight amount of electricity is used to keep them at boiling point.

Overall I suspect that with two of us at home and drinking tea and coffee morning noon and night whatever the cost is for the overnight electric we wil have more than made up by the amount of exact amounts of water we put in our cups. Boiling excess water in a kettle is very easily done. For five people I would strongly suspect that the Quooker would actually be more efficient than a kettle – capital costs aside.

I think where the Quooker really scores heavily is obviously convenience, but, more importantly to me is the freeing of worksurface. I have mine so that it is by the main tap – a position that no kettle could occupy.

When I recall electric cables and filling the kettle it seems really quite laughably inefficient. I was going to say I would always have one though on reflection if struck for cash I could go for an induction hob and a suitable kettle. Induction hobs boil water very very quickly and you are losing no space. The downside of course being if someone wants a coffee during Sunday lunch preparations!

Incidentally on the space front I bought some Christel pots and pans used with detachable handles which makes for some very efficient space storage. Space in kitchens is finite so paying for efficient space use is not daft.

dieseltaylor wrote: Induction hobs boil water very very quickly…

Earlier you wrote that it took under two and a half minutes to boil half a pint of water. My kettle cost under £30 and will boil this amount of water in under 50 seconds. A gas hob and a good kettle might be even faster, but there must be a reason why electric kettles are so popular.

A good reason to argue against electric kettles is safety. Having a powerful electric heater in a plastic container is a fire hazard. Fortunately, they boil so fast that they are unlikely to be left unattended.

Good point. I do think Which? has a tendency to silo products to a particular set of tests.

Going to basics like what is the best/easiest/most efficient/ cheapest way to boil water for tea/coffee/ scalding vegetables etc would mean a more discursive article but one that might even mean coffee machines came out on top!

oh! and a bit about if you have gas or solid fuel how it alters the case.