With a score of 93/100, the Bosch Sky kettle is our best overall kettle

RRP at time of testing: £105 | Check price at Amazon, John Lewis or Bosch directly

My verdict of the Bosch Sky kettle

Most family kitchens don’t need a kettle with endless tricks. They do need one that’s easy to fill when you’re half-awake and pours without soaking the worktop. They also need one that can heat water to a sensible temperature for children’s hot chocolate or tea you want to drink without a ten-minute wait. 

A temperature-controlled kettle can sound like an unnecessary extra, but after two months the Bosch Sky has made those settings feel useful rather than gimmicky. It gets the basics right too, which is why it’s our top choice in our kettles guide.

Speed is the first thing I noticed with this one. One cup boils in under 60 seconds with ease and four cups take around 90 seconds, which is useful in a house where the kettle goes on at least four times on an ordinary weekday. It isn’t silent, but it doesn’t wobble, screech or derail a work call in our open-plan kitchen. The beep at the end is useful without being loud enough to summon you from another room.

The touch-control base looks rather snazzy and is genuinely easy to use. I’m still not convinced a kettle needs quite such a fancy control hub, but being able to lower the temperature has proved handy for the children’s hot chocolate and for tea I can drink without sacrificing the roof of my mouth. The cool-touch body, clear water gauge and controlled pour earn their keep every day.

My only real reservations are the wide footprint and the price. £105 is steep, even for a kettle this nicely designed. I’d happily pay £70 to £80 and would recommend keeping an eye out for a sale. Price aside, this is the kettle I’d keep over our previous Graef.

How we’ve tested

I tested the Bosch Sky TWK7201GB for two months as our family’s main kettle. There are four of us, two full-time working parents and two primary-school-aged children, and it handles at least four boils on a normal weekday. I used it mainly for decaf tea and children’s hot chocolate, with extra rounds when grandparents visited at the weekend.

I timed one-cup and four-cup boils, used the variable temperature controls with dry and damp hands, and checked filling, pouring, noise, the water gauge and the cool-touch body in ordinary family life. I also cleaned the exterior and removable filter, monitored limescale in our hard-water area and compared it directly with the Graef kettle we’d been using before.

Bosch Sky TWK7201GB kettle: what’s in the box? 

The box contains the Bosch Sky kettle with its removable limescale filter, the touch-control base and the instruction manual. There’s no real setup. Bosch recommends boiling fresh water twice before first use, then it’s ready for its first proper brew.

Unboxing the Bosch Sky TWK7201GB kettle

Design and setup of the Bosch Sky kettle

The brushed steel body, white upper, handle and base suit our kitchen, where most of the appliances are white. It feels premium without looking as though it’s trying too hard. The touch controls sit on the base, which keeps the kettle itself uncluttered and makes the temperature easy to see.

That base is also the main design compromise. At 25.8cm high, 23.8cm wide and 15.8cm deep, it has a fairly wide footprint. We’ve got the worktop space and it’s still much smaller than the coffee machine next to it, but it’s worth measuring up in a compact kitchen. There’s a cable tidy underneath and the 75cm lead gives a reasonable amount of flexibility.

The hinged lid opens at the press of a button, so I can fill it one-handed. The 1.7-litre capacity is plenty for us and we rarely need a second boil. Best of all, the water gauge is clear and easy to read, a welcome change after our Graef, which didn’t have one.

Setup is straightforward out of the box with this kettle

It's easy to lift with one hand and open the lid, too

Boiling speed and noise of the Bosch Sky kettle

This is a fast kettle. One cup boils in under 60 seconds with ease, while four cups take around 90 seconds. It has been reliable throughout testing and stops automatically when it reaches the selected temperature.

You can hear it boiling, as you’d expect, but it’s not particularly noisy. My husband has set it going while I’m on a work call in our open-plan room and it doesn’t disrupt the conversation. It beeps when it’s ready, but not loudly enough to hear from another room.

Temperature controls on the Bosch Sky TWK7201GB 

The illuminated touch controls respond to a light press and have worked with damp hands too. Both my husband and I understood them straight away, with no need to hover over the manual. You can choose a temperature from 70°C up to boiling, which has been most useful for the children’s hot chocolate and for making tea that’s ready to drink sooner.

The display is clear, although the novelty soon fades into the background once the kettle becomes part of the daily routine. Bosch also includes a keep-warm function that can hold the selected temperature for up to 30 minutes. I didn’t use it during testing, so I can’t judge how useful it is in practice.

The base lights up to show you the temperature you've set the kettle at

For boiling, simply swipe it right to the very edge

Bosch Sky kettle: pouring, capacity and safety

Pouring is where the Bosch pulls properly ahead of our old Graef. The flow is smooth and controlled, with no splashing, dribbling or water running down the body. At 1.5kg before filling it isn’t featherlight, but the handle is comfortable and it doesn’t feel awkward in use.

The double-walled body stays cool to the touch, which I appreciate with two children in the house. The lid latches shut and the kettle also has automatic switch-off, lift-off shut-off and boil-dry protection. Those last features sit in the background, as safety features should, while the cool exterior is the one I notice every day.

Cleaning and maintenance of the Bosch kettle

Our hard water has left some limescale in the bottom after two months, so it’s nearly time to descale. The removable filter is easy to take out, clean and refit, and the covered heating element leaves the inside relatively straightforward to deal with.

The exterior only needs a wipe. Despite the white sections, it hasn’t picked up visible grime or questionable marks, although it has mostly stayed in one place. Nothing has loosened and the controls, lid and handle all still feel well made.

A closer look inside and at the base

Bosch Sky kettle vs other five-star kettles 

In our best kettles guide, all three kettles below have earned five stars in Mumsnet testing, but they suit slightly different priorities. The Bosch is the family-friendly all-rounder, Sage suits tea and coffee drinkers who want clear presets and Ninja offers the most temperature flexibility.

Final verdict: is this the kettle for you? 

The £105 price gave me pause, but the kettle itself hasn’t. It’s quick, reliable, comfortable to handle and significantly better to pour than our old Graef. The clear gauge and cool-touch body are the unglamorous details that make the biggest difference when you’re making several rounds a day around two children.

The cordless kettle taken off the control hub

The temperature controls are a little showy, but they’re intuitive and useful for hot chocolate and drinkable-now tea. Smaller kitchens will need to make peace with the broad base, and I’d still look for it around the £70 to £80 mark. If you find it on offer, it’s an easy recommendation and a full five-star kettle for our family.

About the author

Rebecca Roberts (aka Beccy) is our resident lifestyle expert with a practical focus on sleep, wellness and everyday comfort. She’s equally at home tackling frank, NSFW‑adjacent topics as she is road‑testing kitchen appliances, mattresses and vacuums that work for real parents. As a mum of two, she writes with the time‑poor, sleep‑deprived in mind - honest product reviews, realistic routines and products that make parents’ lives easier.

When she’s not at her desk, she’s probably product‑testing with her two helpers, corralling a PTA or walking her two dogs up and down country lanes.

About Mumsnet reviews

All Mumsnet product reviews are written by real parents after extensive research and testing. We work hard to provide honest, independent advice you can trust. We sometimes earn revenue through affiliate links, but this never influences our coverage.

All prices are correct at time of publication.

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