Unbelievably, our tests have found that some kettles are as loud as an electric drill. No wonder noisy boiling is one of your biggest kettle bugbears. Does your noisy tea-maker make you boil over with rage?
Whenever we ask what annoys you most about your kettle, noise comes top more often than not. A third of you named it your biggest bugbear in our poll last year, ahead of leaks and difficult lids.
So we wanted to find out just how noisy kettles are compared to other familiar sounds.
For every kettle we test, we measure the decibel level it reaches when boiling. The quietest unit we’ve tested in the past few years reached 79 decibels (dB), while the loudest hit an ear-splitting 95dB.
And that wouldn’t just drown out the noise of your TV – that kettle would be louder than a lawnmower (around 90dB) and as loud as an electric drill in some cases (a drill is typically between 95dB and 100dB).
How to find a quiet kettle
However, our kettle tests cover more than just volume. We also get a panel of experts to provide a subjective noise rating. This means that they can mark down kettles which make a particularly annoying noise, even though they may not sound too loud on a decibel level.
We combine this with the decibel level to create our overall noise rating. So, if noisy boiling bothers you, use our ‘compare features and prices’ tool to pick out the kettles which get four- or five-star ratings for noise.
Ultimately though, truly quiet kettles just don’t exist. The volume of a conversation is typically 60-65dB – much lower than even the quietest kettle we’ve tested. So until manufacturers figure out a way to make kettles much quieter than they are now, you’re going to need to raise your voice or turn up the volume on the TV while you’re making a cuppa.
How loud is your kettle? Does the noise bother you, or are you able to ignore it?
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