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Original poster

Hob Kettles

10 replies

squaredog · 01/10/2013 09:43

Anyone changed over to a 'hob kettle'?

I'm tiddling around with a cheap one at the moment, convinced they boil 'hotter' water, although I'm told the boiling point is just that (but it IS hotter, I tell you.....), marginally cheaper than electricity to use, and am about to invest in a quality model.

Yes, I know you have to BE there, which for very busy households is a major drawback, but does anyone useing one have any thought?

OP posts:
ShatnersBassoon · 01/10/2013 09:49

It's not hotter. It just seems like it when you're handling boiling water in a container that doesn't seem as robust as a modern electric kettle.

My mum bought one, thinking it would be better because everything was better in the olden days Hmm. She ditched it within days. Too long to make the first brew of the day, too long to make lots of boiling water for pasta etc. Inconvenient, in other words. Perhaps an electric kettle is more expensive to run, but for the convenience I think it's worth paying a tiny fraction more.

PigletJohn · 01/10/2013 15:57

A 2.4kW electric kettle would cost about 34p to run for an hour.

However, to run it for 2 minutes only costs about a penny.

TheHattifattenersBarometer · 01/10/2013 17:17

You do have to be there, which can be a pain...or it can remind you that you were actually going to stop for a cup of tea (which is the case in my house).

I like mine but I mainly bought it because I have a tiny kitchen and not having an electric kettle saves on work surface space. I am also very tight, the kettle I have now will probably last until I am long gone.

I can also still make tea in the admittedly very rare event of a power cut.

gintastic · 01/10/2013 17:25

I love my hob kettle :-) I have a le creuset purple one, it is gorgeous :-) on an induction hob it boils just as quick as an electric one.

thesixteenthtry · 01/10/2013 20:45

You can get ones which whistle when they boil, essential if you keep going away and forgetting it. Mine takes much longer to boil than an electric kettle so I make sure I only fill it as full as I need.

DanielMcSpaniel · 01/10/2013 20:50

They make a nicer cup of tea I think. Something about having no element seems to keep the water clearer. We have very hard water and it really makes a difference. I keep a cheap electric kettle in a cupboard for boiling water for food. My hob kettle is cheap and pink and a bit dodgy looking by now but I still use it several times a day.

I would really really like a Quooker.

SwedishEdith · 01/10/2013 20:54

Boiling on the hob is much quieter than an electric kettle. Our kettle broke recently and I was nearly tempted to replace with a hob one. Boiling in a pan with a lid on didn't take that long, tbh, if didn't fill it.

mrsminiverscharlady · 01/10/2013 21:21

We are on bottled gas and when we started using a hob kettle our gas usage went up hugely. Unless you're using induction it's not as energy efficient as using an electric kettle. Jolly useful when we have power cuts though!

Original poster
squaredog · 02/10/2013 08:27

DanielMcSpaniel....they DO make a nicer cup of tea.

I live in London. V. hard water area, and maybe that's a contributory factor to the difference in taste too.

Gotta like a 'decent' cuppa to tell the difference though, innit?

OP posts:
Gatekeeper · 02/10/2013 13:52

I use a hob kettle when the log burner is on; takes longer but it's frreeeeeeeeeeeeee.

Nice big whistling cream Aga one- you can hear it in the next county!

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