I’m a mum of two in a hard water area - this Brita jug has earned its fridge-door spot

RRP at time of testing: £30 | Check price at Amazon, Dunelm or Argos

What Mumsnet users say

My verdict

I’ve been using the Brita Style Essential Water Filter Jug for over a month. Every morning, I fill it under the tap while sorting the kids’ breakfasts.

It takes around five minutes, because the jug needs filling slowly. Turn the tap on too enthusiastically and it overflows, which is an irritation nobody needs before 8am. I’ve had to balance it a bit precariously on the sink with the lid open, letting the water trickle in while I make breakfast and pack DC’s PE bag.

Once you get used to the extra step, it’s not a hassle. The water tastes fresh and clean, and the jug means the whole family can have filtered water rather than just me with my Brita sports bottle. Between uses, it either sits in the fridge, which has been very welcome during recent heatwaves, or perches next to the sink within easy reach of my boys.

When full, it’s a little too heavy for them to lift comfortably. At half full, they can manage it, which is handy for encouraging them to help themselves to water without me getting up every five minutes.

You get a water filter cartridge included in the box

We’ve used the filtered water for drinking, cooking and the kettle. We don’t use it for our Philips coffee machine because it already has a built-in filter. Mumsnet users often talk about Brita jugs* in the context of grim-tasting hard water, limescale and kettles furring up fast, and that fits how this jug has slotted into our life.

The main downside is the filling process. The Brita Style Essential is simple to use, but not fast. It requires a slightly slower, more patient approach than I naturally possess. I also fail to see the point of the green light indicator, in all honesty. It’s meant to act as a filter-change reminder, but I found it just as easy to jot a note in our family calendar - plus it's easy to miss given its size. The cartridge filters up to 150L of water, which works out at around four weeks of regular use.

Still, those niggles aren’t dealbreakers. For families who want better-tasting chilled tap water, an easy alternative to bottled water and a jug compact enough to live in the fridge or by the sink, the Brita Style Essential is easy to recommend. It’s become one of those kitchen items I barely thought about after the first week, which is usually a sign that it’s doing its job.

How I’ve tested the Brita Style Essential jug

I tested the Brita Style Essential Water Filter Jug for over a month in a busy family kitchen, using it every day for drinking water, cooking and the kettle.

I used it during a spell of warm weather and heatwaves, so it had a decent trial as a fridge jug for cold water. I also kept it next to the sink at times, where it was within reach of my children and easy to grab during the day.

During testing, I looked at whether the filtered water tasted noticeably better than tap water, how long the jug took to fill and filter, whether it fitted into family routines, how manageable it was for children and whether the Smart Light LED reminder added anything useful.

Brita Style Essential water jug: what’s in the box

Inside the box, you get the Brita Style Essential jug and one Maxtra Pro Pure Performance cartridge. The jug is made up of the main clear body, a filter funnel, the lid with Smart Light LED and the flip-top filling section.

There’s no plumbing, app or complicated installation like you get with RO or undersink filter systems. You wash the jug parts, prepare the filter cartridge as instructed, slot it into place and start filling. The cartridge included is Brita’s Maxtra Pro Pure Performance filter.

For households mostly worried about limescale, Brita also offers the Maxtra Pro Limescale Expert cartridge.

Along with the filter, you also get the filter indicator in a neat little box

First impressions and set up

The Style Essential looks neat and unfussy, with a clear body and clean white lid. It isn’t trying to be a statement kitchen piece, which is fair enough. A water filter jug doesn’t need to make an entrance. It needs to fit in the fridge, pour well and not make everyone cross.

Set-up was straightforward. The only real adjustment came from how slowly it needs to be filled. I found I had to place it on the edge of the sink, open the lid and keep the cold tap running very gently. If I tried to rush it, the water would overflow.

The flip-top lid is helpful because you don’t need to remove the whole lid every time. The Smart Light LED is designed to remind you when the filter needs changing, which makes sense in theory, but in day-to-day use I found it more of a nice idea than a feature I cared about. I didn’t rely on it, and I wouldn’t buy the jug for that alone.

Does the Brita Style Essential make tap water taste better?

Yes. The filtered water tastes fresh, clean and pleasant, and that’s the main reason the jug has earned its place in our kitchen.

I already use a personal Brita water filter sports bottle, but the jug means the whole family can have filtered water easily. Instead of filtered water being something I use when I remember to grab my own bottle, it’s there for everyone: in the fridge, by the sink or ready for cooking and the kettle.

Taste is one of the strongest themes in Mumsnet user feedback around Brita jugs too. Users talk about tap water tasting fresher, hard water tasting grim before filtering and chilled filtered water being much more appealing. My experience fits that pattern. The biggest win isn’t dramatic or showy. It’s simply that everyone has access to nicer-tasting water without buying bottles.

It’s worth being clear about what this jug does and doesn’t do. The Style Essential is an everyday taste improver for already safe tap water. It isn’t a solution for unsafe water or serious contamination concerns. If your tap water is safe but tastes unpleasant, this is where it makes sense. If you have concerns about parasites or contamination, you need water-quality advice rather than a jug in the fridge.

The branding is distinctly Brita

Is the Brita Style Essential good for hard water and limescale?

We used the filtered water in our kettle, as well as for drinking and cooking. We didn’t use it in our coffee machine because that already has a built-in filter.

Using filtered water in the kettle feels like one of the most practical reasons to own this kind of jug, especially if you live in a hard water area. Limescale is one of those boring kitchen problems that doesn’t look like much until your kettle starts sounding like it’s boiling gravel. Over time, hard water can affect how well a kettle works and how long it lasts, so anything that helps slow down the build-up is worth a look.

Mumsnet users often talk about water filter jugs in relation to hard tap water, kettles furring up and water that tastes unpleasant straight from the tap. That chimes with how we used the Brita Style Essential day to day. It wasn’t just for nicer-tasting drinking water; it also became part of the kettle routine.

The Style Essential comes with the Maxtra Pro Pure Performance cartridge, which Brita positions as its everyday taste filter. For households mostly worried about limescale, the Maxtra Pro Limescale Expert cartridge is likely to be the more relevant choice.

After a month of use, I’d say the jug has been most valuable as a drinking-water upgrade and kettle helper. It’s not a miracle cure for hard water, and I’d want to test it over several months before making any big claims about limescale build-up. But if you’re trying to keep your kettle cleaner for longer, using filtered water feels like a sensible low-effort habit.

How quickly does the Brita Style Essential filter water?

This is the jug’s biggest irritation. It takes around five minutes to fill and filter enough water for regular use, and you do need to go slowly.

I found I had to balance the jug at the sink with the lid open and the tap turned down to a very gentle flow. If I tried to fill it too quickly, it overflowed. This isn’t difficult exactly, but it does require a bit of patience and adjustment.

The Style Essential has a 2.4L total capacity and 1.4L filtered water capacity. That’s enough for several glasses, but in a family home it needs topping up regularly. I got into the habit of filling it every morning while doing breakfast, which made the slow filtering less annoying. If you only remember when everyone suddenly wants their water bottles filled, it will feel more inconvenient.

This is also where household size matters. For our family, it worked well because we used it consistently and kept it topped up. If you have a larger family that gets through litres of water quickly, or several children filling school bottles at the same time, the capacity and fill speed could start to grate.

The filter status indicator is a nice design - but is it necessarily needed?

Is it easy to use every day?

Yes, once you accept that it needs filling slowly. After a few days, the Style Essential became part of the rhythm of the kitchen.

Most mornings, I filled it while sorting breakfast. Between uses, it either sat in the fridge or next to the sink. During recent heatwaves, having cold filtered water in the fridge was particularly useful. When the weather is sticky and everyone is wilting, chilled water that actually tastes nice is a small win.

The jug is manageable for adults, but a bit heavy for children when full. My boys can usually lift and pour it when it’s around half full, which makes it more family-friendly than I expected. When full, it’s better handled by an adult, unless you enjoy mopping up water while saying, “It’s fine, it’s fine,” through gritted teeth.

As a family option, then, it works well with caveats. It gives everyone access to filtered water, but it isn’t a giant-capacity jug and younger children may need help when it’s full.

Does it fit in the fridge door?

The Style Essential is designed to fit in a fridge door, and that slim shape is one of its biggest advantages. During the recent heatwaves, ours spent plenty of time in the fridge so we had cold filtered water ready to go.

That said, no jug exists in a vacuum. Fridge-door space is already hotly contested by milk, juice, sauces and several jars I don’t remember buying. The Brita Style Essential is compact enough to be practical, but it still needs a spot.

When we didn’t have room in the fridge, it perched neatly next to the sink. I liked having it there because it meant the boys could reach it more easily, and it made refilling glasses during the day very straightforward. So yes, it fits in the fridge, but it also works as a worktop jug if your fridge door is already operating at condiment crisis point.

It fits neatly in our kitchen door with ease

What is the Brita Style Essential like to clean?

The jug is dishwasher-safe, apart from the Smart Light LED, which makes cleaning relatively straightforward.

In everyday use, I found it easy enough to keep clean because the design is simple. The main jug, funnel and lid sections aren’t awkward, though the lid does need a little more care because of the indicator. As with any water jug, you’ll want to clean it regularly rather than assuming that because it only holds water, it magically stays pristine.

The spout cover is useful if the jug is in the fridge or near the sink, where crumbs, splashes and general family kitchen debris have a way of finding anything left uncovered.

How long do the filters last and what are the running costs?

Brita says each Maxtra Pro cartridge filters up to 150L of water, or lasts around four weeks. A six-pack should therefore cover around six months of use, depending on how much filtered water your household gets through.

We used the filtered water daily for drinking, cooking and in the Graef kettle we’ve been using. Over a month, the jug became part of everyday use rather than something we reach for now and again, so replacement filters are something to factor into the cost.

At the time of writing, a six-pack of Brita Maxtra Pro Pure Performance cartridges cost £37.49 on the Brita website. That works out at £6.25 per cartridge, or around 4p per litre based on Brita’s 150L-per-cartridge guidance.

Mumsnet users often frame water filter jugs* as a cheaper and less wasteful alternative to bottled water, and I think that’s where the Style Essential makes a lot of sense. If you’re buying bottled water because your tap water tastes unpleasant, this is a practical swap. You still have the ongoing cost of cartridges, but you avoid carrying home heavy bottles and filling the recycling bin with plastic.

Over the month-long testing period, we used one filter cartridge.

The lid has an easy lift latch for refilling between cleaning

Is the Brita Style Essential good value for money?

The Style Essential is good value if you’ll use it every day. That’s the key point. A water filter jug is only worth buying if it becomes part of your actual routine, not another worthy kitchen object that sits there looking faintly accusing.

For us, it did become part of the day. I filled it in the morning, used it for drinking water, cooking and the kettle, and kept it in the fridge or next to the sink. It made filtered water available to the whole family, rather than just whoever remembered to fill a personal bottle.

The ongoing cartridge cost means it isn’t a one-off purchase, but compared with buying bottled water, it still makes practical and environmental sense for many households. It’s especially useful if your tap water tastes heavily chlorinated, your local water is hard or you want chilled filtered water ready in the fridge.

It’s less compelling if your tap water already tastes fine, you’re short on fridge space or you know the slow filling will irritate you beyond reason. Likewise, if you want the lowest-faff option and are happy to spend more upfront, an on-tap filter may suit you better. A jug is cheaper and simpler, but it does ask you to refill it.

Final verdict: is the Brita Style Essential Water Filter Jug worth it?

Yes, if you want a simple, family-friendly filter jug that makes tap water taste fresher and gives everyone in the house easy access to filtered water. It’s especially useful if you like chilled water from the fridge, want filtered water for the kettle or are trying to cut back on bottled water.

The Brita Style Essential isn’t perfect. Filling it is slow, it can overflow if the tap is running too quickly and the Smart Light LED feels more like a nice extra than a useful feature. It also won’t suit every household. If you have a large family that gets through litres of water at speed, the 1.4L filtered capacity could become annoying.

But after more than a month of daily use, I’d recommend it for families who want an easy everyday filtered water option without installing anything. The water tastes good, the jug is easy to live with and it has become a surprisingly regular part of our routine. Not thrilling, no. But useful? Very.

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 weeks of hands-on testing. We never accept payment for coverage, and our verdicts are independent and honest. We may earn a small commission through affiliate links, which helps fund our work - but it never influences our opinions.

All prices are correct at the time of writing.

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*mumsGPT conversational analysis, 30 June 2025 to 30 June 2026